Nicholas John De Noia Jr. (May 14, 1941 – April 7, 1987) was an American director, screenwriter, and choreographer known for his work as choreographer of the

Chippendales Chippendales is a touring dance troupe best known for its male striptease performances and for its dancers' distinctive upper body costume of a bow tie, collar, and shirt cuffs worn on an otherwise bare torso. Established in 1979, Chippenda ...

dance troupe and for his ''

Unicorn Tales ''Unicorn Tales'' is a series of eight musical theatre, musical short films for young audiences created and directed by Nick De Noia in association with NBC that aired sporadically as television specials as well as 16 mm educational films. E ...

'' shorts for young audiences, for which he won two

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s. De Noia was married to

Jennifer O'Neill Jennifer O'Neill (born February 20, 1948) is a Brazilian-born American actress, model, author, and activist. She is known for her modeling and spokesperson work for CoverGirl cosmetics starting in 1963, and her starring role in the Oscar-winnin ...

from 1975 to 1976, although he was a closeted homosexual.

Murder

On April 7, 1987 at 3:40 PM, De Noia was shot in the face with a large caliber pistol while sitting in his 15th floor office desk at 264 West 40th Street,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

located near the garment district. He was shot by Gilbert Rivera Lopez, recruited by Ray Colon, an accomplice of Somen ("Steve") Banerjee who originally hired Colon to murder De Noia. At the time, De Noia no longer worked for Banerjee but had a licensing arrangement through a company called Chippendales Universal to use the name Chippendales for tour engagements. Banerjee was dissatisfied with the business arrangement which was memorialized on a cocktail napkin. Banerjee tried unsuccessfully to break the contract in New York courts. The murder of Nick De Noia was orchestrated by Banerjee along with the burning of a competitor's Red Onion nightclub. Banerjee pleaded guilty to murder, arson and RICO charges in July 1994. Under a plea bargain, Banerjee pleaded guilty and sentenced to 26 years in prison. He died by suicide in prison while awaiting final sentencing. Chippendales was inherited by Banerjee's wife.

Legacy

Actor

Murray Bartlett Murray Bartlett (born 20 March 1971) is an Australian actor. His roles include Dominic "Dom" Basaluzzo in the HBO comedy-drama series ''Looking'', Michael "Mouse" Tolliver in the Netflix revival of ''Tales of the City'', and Armond in the HBO sa ...

portrays Nick De Noia in the

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

miniseries, ''

Welcome to Chippendales ''Welcome to Chippendales'' is an American biographical drama miniseries created by Robert Siegel inspired by the book ''Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders'' by K. Scot Macdonald and Patrick MontesDeOca. It stars Kumail Nanjiani as Somen "St ...

''.

References

1941 births 1987 deaths American television directors American choreographers Deaths by firearm in Manhattan American people of Italian descent People murdered in New York City American gay writers LGBT choreographers LGBT people from New York (state) Male murder victims American LGBT screenwriters Gay screenwriters {{tv-director-stub