Go Go owner seeks to warm up to Austintown officials, police

By Elise Franco

A decision on whether the strip club can remain open is expected early next week.

YOUNGSTOWN — Sebastian Rucci, owner of the Go Go Cabaret, says he wants a better relationship with Austintown Township.

“I feel very humbled,” he said. “I believe in the business doing well, but my relationship with the community was poor. That was an extreme error on my part.”

Rucci said he looks forward to mending his ties with the township trustees and police department to make his business better. Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court won’t issue a judgment until early next week on whether the business should remain closed. But Rucci said his own work begins today.

“I need to sit down and have dialogue with them,” he said of township officials. “I’ll start by doing things they’d like to see, like removing the satellite dish.” The club’s large dish featuring the silhouette of a woman’s face is now covered with a tarp.

Rucci said he also plans to dismiss two federal appeals filed after the Austintown Township Board of Appeals ruled in March that signs and lighting on the property violate zoning codes.

A court hearing began Friday to determine whether the cabaret should remain closed after a May 1 raid, when police made drug arrests. Both sides waived closing arguments Wednesday and are waiting for a decision from the judge.

The cabaret has been in operation since December 2007 and has been the source of police, fire and zoning complaints. The prosecution argued the business has become an Austintown nuisance.

Assistant Prosecutor Robert Bush said he thinks the trial went well for the township.

“We anticipate a [nuisance] abatement order,” he said. “We put on enough evidence for the township, and we think we’ll be successful.”

Rucci said he will take the judge’s ruling in stride.

“I don’t think a short closure will impact us,” he said. “We would hope to come back stronger and better — better at public relations, better at entertaining, better at policing drug activities.”

Rucci said to shed more positive light on the Go Go he must do several things, including taking into consideration suggestions brought up during the trial.

“I want to have a better relationship with the township so I am recognized as a business owner trying to do my best,” he said. “I have already learned many things about how to do things better.”

Some of the new rules Rucci plans to implement include searching dancers and employees for drugs before they enter the club and performing background checks before hiring.

He said he had also been looking to hire someone with narcotics training to work inside the club, and will continue that search.

Rucci said although he is making plans for the club’s future, he knows he shouldn’t get ahead of himself.

“I don’t want to talk ahead of myself,” he said. “We’ll see what the court decides to do.”

efranco@vindy.com