Welcome to the Chippendales, a new miniseries out on Hulu, tells the story of America’s first male strip club. The story is about the rise and rise and major fall of Somen Steve Banerjee, the man who once ran the Chippendales empire and took desperate measures to not let the empire slip away from his hands. 

Steve Banerjee was partnered with Nick De Noia, the man leading Chippendales’ growth. A producer and choreographer, De Noia’s creative differences with Steve led to him branching off and starting his own Chippendales company. 

Nick De Noia was murdered in April 1987. 

Who was Nick De Noia? 

Nick De Noia, an Emmy-winning television producer, was born on May 14, 1941. De Noia was married to Jennifer O’Neil, although he was a closeted homosexual. In the 1980s, Steve Banerjee hired Nick De Noia to help upgrade the Chippendales empire, according to ABC News. He recommended the company go out of the Los Angeles bubble and set up a base in New York, the New York Post reported. 

The plan worked and Chippendales was a huge success in New York City. With Chippendales’ success, De Noia wanted to make his partnership with Steve Banerjee official. The two made a deal detailed on the back of a napkin that gave De Noia nearly half of Chippendales touring profits.

However, it is said that Banerjee was growing increasingly jealous of De Noia and very possessive about his business. De Noia was a smooth talker and a television favorite. He started getting referred to as Mr Chippendales and Banerjee and De Noia started having troubles, including vicious verbal fights, Variety said. 

De Noia was found dead inside his New York City office from a gunshot wound to the face from April 8, 1987, the New York Times had reported. Years later, a hitman would emerge who would establish the connection between Steve Banerjee and De Noia’s murder. 

Following De Noia’s death, Banerjee exerted himself to take complete control of the Chippendales brand. When an employee went out to start a new touring group called Adonis, Banerjee hired a hitman named “Strawberry” to kill members of the group with cyanide. Strawberry came forward to FBI officials. 

The FBI managed to take Banerjee down in 1993. He was arrested and charged with murder for hire. But he hanged himself to death a day before his sentencing.