Mobster Indicted For Failed Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts Eateries

A former Mafia soldier in Arizona who orchestrated the nationwide collapse of two star-powered country restaurant chains has been indicted on federal fraud charges, The Arizona Republic reports.

Frank Capri, who was behind the financial failure of Toby Keith and Rascal Flatts-branded restaurants from Hawaii to Florida, was arrested Wednesday.

The Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office announced that Capri, 52, his mother, Debbie Corvo, 68, and an unnamed third person were indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 28 on 16 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Capri is the focus of an ongoing investigation by The Arizona Republic that began in 2015. The Republic exposed Capri as an ex-mobster who was given a new identity through the Federal Witness Protection Program and used it to bilk developers out of millions of dollars.

Capri, whose real name is Frank Gioia Jr., was a former soldier in New York's notorious Lucchese crime family. He flipped to become a government witness in the 1990s. He moved to Arizona in the early 2000s, where he made a name for himself as a real estate and restaurant developer.

The Republic documented how Capri's restaurant career was built on failures. He is known for the epic collapse of a nationwide chain of Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill restaurants, which went under in 2015 amid allegations of fraud and theft.

Capri or his companies negotiated deals to build Toby Keith restaurants with mall owners and developers throughout the United States, then took tens of millions of dollars meant to pay for construction and walked away, The Republic reported.