SOMEN Banerjee was an Indian entrepreneur who founded the Chippendales male strip club in the 1970s.
Banerjee achieved enormous success until his business dealings and relationships quickly deteriorated eventually leading to his arrest.
Who was Chippendales founder, Somen Banerjee?
Somen "Steve" Banerjee was an entrepreneur who was born on October 8, 1946, in Mumbai, India.
He moved to the United States in the 1970s, and bought a failing Los Angeles bar, and relaunched it as Chippendales, a ladies-only “male exotic dance night".
In 1979 a male stripper dance troupe performing to a female audience was the first of its kind and it soon became an instant hit.
Banerjee became known as the founder of the "world's greatest male-stripping empire."
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Banerjee was living the American dream, but it all came crashing down after a series of questionable business deals and allegations.
In the 1980s Banerjee teamed up with Emmy-winning producer Nick DeNoia and the duo eventually opened a Chippendales location in New York City.
However, the pair had disagreements over the creative direction of the show and the relationship quickly deteriorated.
Banerjee and DeNoia cut a deal where the latter would get 50 percent of the profits from a touring version of the Chippendales.
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But Banerjee got upset with DeNoia's success and in 1987 hired a man named Ray Colon to kill his business partner.
Colon would then hire a man called Gilberto Rivera Lopez, who actually pulled the trigger.
Banerjee would then hire Colon again for a few more hits, but the authorities were informed before the plans were carried out.
After some months in jail, Colon would eventually cooperate with the authorities leading to the arrest of Banerjee.
In October 1993, a federal grand jury indicted Banerjee on seven counts, alleging murder, murder for hire, racketeering, and arson, according to Bustle.
He later pleaded guilty in July 1994 to racketeering and arranging the murder of his business partner, Nick De Noia.
Banerjee ultimately agreed to a deal that carried a 26-year prison sentence.
What happened to Somen Banerjee?
Banerjee was scheduled to be sentenced in October 1994 for his role in the murder-for-hire plot but never made it before the judge.
He was found dead in his jail cell just hours before his sentencing of an apparent suicide, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Reonard McFadden, the executive to the warden at the detention center, said: “Mr Banerjee tied a piece of bedsheet around his neck, placed it on a wall-mounted jacket hanger and pulled down on it while he kneeled, causing the flow of air to be cut off; that caused his death,”
McFadden added that the 47-year-old had been suffering from depression, but insisted that there was no indication that he would take his own life.
McFadden said: “Banerjee, like every other inmate, had been interviewed by a staff psychologist. There was no indication he was suicidal.”
Banerjee's story can now be seen in the true crime mini-series Welcome To Chippendales, which premiered on Hulu in November 2022.
Does Somen Banerjee have children?
Banerjee married his wife, Irene, in the 1980s and later welcomed two kids, Lindsay and Christian.
When Banerjee died, Irene was left with the kids and the family business, but she died in February 2001 after a battle with cancer.
While Lindsay has stayed out of the spotlight over the years, Christian quickly followed in his family's legacy and became a male stripper.
Christian told the New York Post in March 2022: “It wasn’t the fact that I wanted to be a stripper. It was my destiny,.
“It wasn’t like I saw ‘Magic Mike’ and wanted to emulate what I’ve seen. This came from a much deeper place in my soul.”
Along with being a male stripper, Christian is also the founder of Strippendales and hopes to continue his father's legacy.
Christian continued: “Nobody was brave enough to send out male strippers. And nobody monetized it like my father did.
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"...I’ve always had this connection with my dad, even though he wasn’t living, through Chippendales.
"I think he’d want to push me in this direction. He’d want to continue his legacy through his son."
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
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