How did Steve Banerjee die? Cause of death explored ahead of Secrets of The Chippendales Murders premiere

Chippendales, founded by Somen "Steve" Banerjee, is a nightclub that aims to allure women with a concept that was new during 1979, male striptease. A&E's Secrets of The Chippendales Murders is a four-part documentary that will give viewers "a look beyond the bright lights into the dark world of drugs, arson, a love triangle and a murder."

After Steve Banerjee pleaded guilty to charges involving the murder of former Chippendales choreographer Nick De Noia, he died by suicide in jail. He was also charged with plotting the murder of former dancer Read Scot and other dancers. Authorities reported that Banerjee died by suicide at the age of 47.

The show's official bio reads,

"Through exclusive interviews, never-before-seen crime scene video and declassified FBI surveillance audio, the limited series unravels the hidden tale of how sex, jealousy, arson, hefty-bags filled with cash and mafia shakedowns all led up to one of the most outrageous murders in American history."

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Details of events leading to Steve Banerjee's death

Steve Banerjee, an immigrant from Mumbai, India, owned a nightclub in Los Angeles called Chippendales and launched his first show featuring male strippers in 1979. The idea, as well as the show, was an overnight success and soon had lines of women gathered outside his club every night.

With the idea of expansion in 1980s, Banerjee hired former Emmy award-winning television producer and choreographer Nick DeNoia to help him upgrade the performance. They eventually opened a new Chippendales show at a club in New York City.

Soon, the duo's relationship began to sour and the tension between them reached its height when DeNoia held on to the touring rights of Chippendales and launched Adonis with several former dancers, becoming a competing male striptease club.

According to FBI special agent Scott Garriola, Steve Banerjee, frustrated with DeNoia's success, hired a man named Ray Colon to help carry out an attack on his former business partner. Colon recruited an accomplice named Gilberto Rivera Lopez, who shot DeNoia in his office and fled before the police arrived.

According to Garriola, as more male strip clubs and performances popped up to compete against Chippendales, including Adonis, Banerjee wanted the people killed. In 1991, a Las Vegas FBI agent received a call from an unknown informant, who went by the name Strawberry, who reported that Colon had tried to approach him with an offer to possibly murder Adonis' employees.

According to the FBI, while raiding Colon's house, they found 46 grams of cyanide, enough to kill over 200 people. Colon was arrested and charged with conspiracy and murder for hire.

Colon eventually agreed to cooperate with the FBI and confessed that Steve Banerjee was behind DeNoia's murder and plotted to kill the Adonis dancers. The first sting operation arranged by the FBI, which would secretly record Banerjee admitting to his crimes in a conversation with Colon, failed. He knew that Colon was arrested and was suspicious of his sudden release.

Garriola revealed his new plan. Colon pretended to be a fugitive on the run overseas and wanted Banerjee to meet him in Europe. The duo met in Zurich, Switzerland. For Banerjee, it was business, but Colon was just a pawn used to arrest the former. The FBI secretly recorded their conversation, which had enough evidence to arrest Banerjee.

In September 1993, Steve Banerjee pleaded guilty to extortion of money and murder for hire. But in 1994, a day before he was to be sentenced, he died by suicide. Colon received a reduced sentence for his cooperation with the FBI in bringing down Banerjee and was released in 1996.

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, the host of Welcome to Your Fantasy podcast, talked about the importance of telling the Chippendales story. She said,

"I think that the story of Chippendales is still important to tell... in terms of how an apparent business success can go murderously wrong. It's a kind of instructive morality tale about human nature and the perils of power and success."

Secrets of The Chippendales Murders premieres Monday, March 14, 2022, at 10.00 pm ET on A&E.