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For reasons mostly editorial, the "web extra" chapter you are about to enjoy was spiked from my book, Six Degrees of Paris Hilton. So, to celebrate the 2nd season of Paris Hilton's "My New BFF," I give you...
In September 2002, when Timmy Iannello was still involved with the Garden of Eden, a doorman named Michael Tardio was murdered off-premises in a bizarre incident in North Hollywood where he and a friend from Las Vegas were shot and killed. According to police, their rented Mercedes SUV was set on fire to destroy the evidence.
"Tardio was trying to fence jewels and it caught up to him," says Darnell. "Timmy took a lot of heat when he made some specific statements [to police], against the nightlife code of ethics. I was back and forth to New York when all that went down. I made sure to stay clear, once someone got popped. I had priors for that, and if my name would have come up, even in the slightest, I could have become a 'person of interest.'"
Tardio, 35, a family man with two kids, was well-liked within the club community. He was also, according to multiple reports, dating Sandy Bentley, who along with her sister Mandy (nee Amanda) comprise the Bentley Twins, two of Hugh Hefner's polyamorous posse of multiple girlfriends, circa 2000 (they both appear on the cover of Playboy in May 2000). Dave Osokow, the bar manager at Citizen Smith, who later dated Mandy Bentley, confirms that her twin sister "ripped off a bunch of jewels and tried to fence them through Tardio." Tardio's friend, Chris Monson, a stunt man and occasional actor who had flown in from Phoenix, was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Bentley Twins
The jewelry in question, estimated at worth up to $700,000, had been gifts from Mark Yagalla, a 23 year old private hedge fund manager in Pennsylvania who was convicted of embezzling over $50 million from investors and sentenced in 2002 to five years and five months in prison. According to a June 2001 article in Philadelphia Magazine by Ben Wallace titled "The Prodigy and the Playmate," the definitive account of the Yagalla saga, the 5' 3" classic nerd, nicknamed "Urkel" in high school, was a day trader at fifteen and millionaire by twenty, who dropped out after a year at the Wharton School just in time to ride the tech bubble and subsequent collapse. He eventually made his way to A-list concubines with the help of Nici's Girls and its proprietor Michelle Braun, an online escort agency specializing in high end clients, who he eventually brought for the first time to the attention of Federal authorities. Braun had "a connection to Playboy," which allowed Yagalla to use issues of the magazine as his own private home-shopping catalogue for girls whose services he wished to engage, including two Playmates of the Year and top porn star Jenna Jameson (a charge Jameson denies). Yagalla eventually settled on Miss May 1999 Tishara Cousino and Sandy Bentley as semi-permanent co-girlfriends, initially buying each of them a house and car. On their way to Crazy Horse Too - a Vegas strip club where Bentley once danced - Cousino is quoted as saying, "We'll be a happy family." (Bentley also dated Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein, another habitué of the Crazy Horse Too and a top lieutenant of Tony "the Ant" Spilotro - basically, the Joe Pesci character in Casino - who also paid for her breast implants, presumably sometime before he was shot three times in the back of the head.)
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Transcontinental Madam Michelle Braun (mug-shotting above with ex-husband Farrell Kellener) had seen better days leading up to her '07 cocaine bust in Boca. Around the turn of the century, she was reportedly enjoying a 60% commission off her free-spending list of rather obvious clients including: the 'roid raging Jose Canseco, legendary lecher Charlie Sheen, Rick "Scum" Salomon, serious thespian Mickey Rourke, and talent manager Jeff Kwatinetz (who would shell out six-thousand shekels to dip his schmeckle in a former Playmate). Also, one of Braun's former prosties who sub-contracted via a pimp she just settled a six-figure claim against reports that creepy magic guy David Blaine was a frequent Nici's Girls client, and even lapsed Kabbalah enthusiast Courtney Love would often order up girls for threesomes with her boyfriend.
During her glory years, Braun boasted an unrivaled list of white slaves ripped from the pages of Playboy:
Nici's Girls: Playmates Alexandria Karlsen, and Victoria Silvstedt.
Madam Braun has reportedly been under investigation since 2000, But she slipped up in 2007 when she electronically pimped out another Playmate to an undercover operative in Orange County for $15,000. Identified only by her initials in court documents, a source close to the investigation tells Hollywood, Interrupted that the harlot in question was none other than former Playboy Playmate, Carrie Stevens. And, from the looks of her specs, the undercover agent would have gotten his money's worth.
However, Hollywood,Interrupted has learned that former Playmate Stevens claims she does not know Michelle Braun, and has never engaged in prostitution. Fair enough. Incoming e-mail messages now suggest that the hooker in question is Playmate of the Month for May 2002, Christi Shake. So many alleged Playmate prostitutes, so little time for Madam Michelle.
As previously reported, on May 11, Braun will be sentenced to a cushy 6 month stretch of luxury home arrest where she'll no doubt be penning her tell-all book. But really...How much more is there to tell?
Nici's Girls client/girl list (circa 1999) after the jump:
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Super Madam Michelle Louise Braun aka "Nici" of the notorious South Florida-based "Nici's Girls" escort service is being sentenced in Santa Ana Federal Court on May 11 on charges of Interstate Transportation of an Individual to Engage in Prostitution, and Money Laundering. She pleaded guilty to one count each. Braun could have faced 20 years on both counts, but it appears that the Madam who filled the hole that Heidi Fleiss left wide open will only be doing 6 months of house arrest, and forfeiting about a million dollars in assets. It also looks like she's keeping her house in Florida, her cars and any additional money she undoubtedly has stashed away.
Braun is the Madam that had all the usual celebrity suspects on speed dial, and she undoubtedly cut a sweet deal with the Feds who now own her "black book" MacBook, her T Mobile Sidekick and her I-Phone. An inside source who has been investigating Braun tells Hollywood, Interrupted, "The Feds are going to pick some juicy, big name clients to make an example of. They will probably be sports figures. I know for a fact that Jose Canseco was one of her guys." (Another big client of Braun's was reportedly talent manager Jeff Kwatinetz, late of of The Firm, who has worked with Limp Bizkit, Kelly Clarkson, The Backstreet Boys and other luminaries.)
How do you make a Madame roll? Stipulate this: "Defendant further agrees to cooperate fully with the United States Attorney's Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, and any other federal, state or local law enforcement agency." Now that Braun is flipping, all her clients (past and present) and her spiderweb of sub-contracting pimps, madams and sundry hookers will be running for cover. Watch for the names popping up here. In the meantime, enjoy the complete court files and plea agreement after the jump:
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