What a Creep
Season 15, Episode 10
The Chippendales Murder
Somen “Steve” Banerjee grew up in Bombay (now known as Mumbai) and came to California in the 1960s hell-bent on becoming a success story. Starting with owning a gas station and then a nightclub in Los Angeles, his prospects seemed underwhelming until a club customer turned friend encouraged the shy, competitive Banerjee to play disco music and attract and female crowd. What started with female mud wrestling by future Creep subject Paul Snider turned the Destiny 2 club into -Chippendales-the first premiere spot for male exotic dancers. Once Banerjee brought on Emmy-winning producer Nick DeNoia the show became the premiere male stripping empire that took LA, NY, and eventually America by storm.
Eventually, Banerjee lost control of himself, DeNoia, and his empire, brought down by his greed, paranoia, and addiction, which caused the death of one of his biggest enemies.
Trigger warnings for this episode: murder, sexual language, and talk about drugs
Sources for this episode:
Wikipedia (Chippendales)
All That is Interesting.com
ABC Chicago
Secrets of the Chippendales Murders
The Independent (UK)
Oxygen
The Daily Beast
Curse of Chippendales
Welcome to Your Fantasy podcast
Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murder by K. Scot Macdonald & Patrick Montes DeOca