BANDUCCI is BACK

POST FALLS — For a lounge that isn't even open yet, there's an awful lot of talk and laughter going around.

Training sessions that involve mixed drinks tend to do that.

“This is a lot of fun,” says Paul Banducci as he took a sip of a whiskey sour. “I can see the appeal to these.”

As Banducci chats, dogs Porter and Stout doze on the floor of the 800-square-foot space. There are a few boxes here and there. A laptop is on the table. An empty display case is against the back wall. A copper ceiling hovers above it all.

It might be lacking personality and charm now, but soon …

In a few weeks, the weekend of Aug. 6 and 7, things will be different.

That’s when Paul Banducci and crew will officially be back with The Raccketeer. The premium tobacco, liquor and beer lounge is scheduled to open at 605 E. Eighth Ave. Suite B.

Wait. The Racketeer?

Banducci smiles.

“It’s a nice way of reminding ourselves and everyone else, ‘Hey, we’re still here, we’re still fighting.’ They couldn’t beat us,” he says.

“Some might call it a checkered past; we prefer to call it a rich history,” he continued as he sat in a chair. “We’re choosing to embrace our rich history, laugh at ourselves a little bit and laugh at the system.”

There is more commotion over at the training session, which involves Banducci’s wife, Mary, who's making a gin fizz.

Banducci looks over and laughs.

“Sorry. I’m easily distracted by a cute lady making a drink,” he says.

But for certain, he's focused on the business at hand, which is making The Raccketeer the place that will be a Post Falls attraction.

The business will have tobacco products, pipes and cigars. It will be a pipe- and cigar-friendly lounge with a full bar of liquor, wine and local craft beers.

Board games, darts and tournaments are part of the plans, as is outdoor seating.

“I like what I do,” he says.

While his former lounge, The Bulldog at Silver Lake Mall was by membership, the Raccketeer is not. It will be open to the public.

Banducci operated Bulldog Pipe & Cigar Co. for seven years, adding on the lounge about four years ago.

He ran into legal trouble and it's the source of the "rich history" Banducci referenced earlier in the conversation.

In March 2017, state officers raided the Bulldog Lounge following an 11-month undercover investigation into allegations of illegal gambling and alcohol sales.

Charges were filed in January 2020 against Banducci, who had no previous criminal record.

He was initially charged with two counts of racketeering and one count of money laundering but accepted a plea agreement.

Banducci disputes that he was selling liquor or running a gambling operation.

Three and a half years after the raid, he pleaded guilty to several misdemeanors, two counts of gambling, as well as compounding a misdemeanor, public nuisance and disturbing the peace.

It’s been eight months since Banducci’s Bulldog Lounge closed at the mall. It has not been a peaceful eight months. He called it an emotional roller coaster of ups and downs and living off savings.

Banducci had to find a new home for his business, meet government codes and regulations to make the space fit for a lounge, and won a fight to keep his liquor and wine license.

“It’s been a long search with a lot of luck and a lot of praying,” he said. "My wife had faith in me and we had faith in the big man upstairs."

He estimates he’s already invested about $75,000 in the project.

“It takes a lot of money and it takes a lot of time,” he said. “It will be well worth it when we get this up and running.”

Ironically, the site he rented — he signed the lease April 9 — was once owned by his family. He took care of the grounds as a kid, watering, sweeping and mowing.

Grand plans are set for the weekend of Aug. 6 and 7. He can hardly wait.

“Grateful,” he says. "I’m very grateful to get to do it again. I love what I do. To get a chance to come back at it, with even more tools in our tool belt, more experience, local customer base that’s stuck around for us, now armed with liquor license — it’s very exciting."