When Capital Video seeks employees–say, a Technical Support Specialist–here is how it presents itself on Monster (January 2007):
See also:
Lesser Newman: Capital Video Has Seen the Light and Will Make its Springfield Viewing Booths Safe
Internet Comments about Capital Video outlet in Troy, NY
8/4/06: They have had troubles keeping clerks, there always advertising for help. If you go when the young chick is on with the stud in her lip she doesnt give a shit of who’s in what booth or how many just drop money and be cool…
Internet Comments about Capital Video outlet in North Kingstown, RI
3/22/07: Stopped by NK..of course Bandana Johnny was there, truly with a stink on…its disgusting. I wonder if its a heath issue with him being there. Would Amazing be liable? Afterall, they do let him loiter all day knowing his dirtiness…
4/3/07: This place is disgusting. Today there were several gross and dirty people cruising the bookstore. There were all in their 70’s and smelled like they haven’t showered in weeks. I had to leave it was so bad. In addition, they rattle the doors and open them several times even after being told that “I am all set”…
Internet Comments about Capital Video outlet in Dallas, TX (a Capital Video outlet)
8/1/06: No paper towels, trashcans, etc. Really gone down hill…
9/22/06: Cruised there yesterday; place was nasty and dirty…
11/18/06: Went here last night and left. Every room I went into was so filthy and smelly I couldn’t even get turned on. Pretty gross…
12/9/06: …it does smell, I think they use dirty mop water or something. I have walked in and the front of the store smelled like vomit!…
1/6/07: Hi Guys. I went here on Thursday and I have to be honest, the place smelled like a sewer. They really should do a better job of cleaning the place, or at least change the mop water more than once-a-week.
Internet Comments about Capital Video outlet in Providence, RI (a Capital Video outlet)
7/6/06: This used to be a pretty nice place. I was there today [briefly] and the booth area downstairs smelled like a port-a-jon…
NoPornNorthampton Reaches Out to Springfield Neighborhood with Advice on Adult Enterprises
Springfield police dispatch reports from December 1998 through April 2007 paint a picture of burglaries, panic alarms, ambulance calls and altercations in and around the Amazing.net store at Apremont Triangle. The address of the store, which is also known as Video Expo, is 486 Bridge Street. Here are excerpts from the reports:
…Mr. Guarino is a rich man. He lives in a luxurious home on Narragansett Bay, drives a Mercedes, and–federal prosecutors in the Las Vegas case say–has numerous foreign bank accounts…
Later in the day, his wife stops by the corporate offices with their 18-month-old daughter. The little girl wiggles free of her mother and wanders into the wood-paneled board room where her father is.
Would Mr. Guarino ever let his daughter watch his films? Absolutely not, he says. And does he watch them himself?
“Never,” he says. “It’s like selling doughnuts. After a week or two you aren’t going to want to eat any more doughnuts. It’s just a business. I like to watch the numbers.”
Boston Globe Profiled Kenneth Francis Guarino in 1983
Guarino, who entered the business as a teenager, had risen to become one of the nation’s top pornography dealers in less than 10 years. His companies were grossing an estimated $3 million a year, and every month Guarino was depositing an average of $175,000 into their bank accounts…
A few things have changed for Guarino since the mid-1970s… One of his closest associates was killed under mysterious circumstances when he fell out of a moving car…
…Guarino has been tried and convicted on federal charges for interstate distribution of obscene materials (he has appealed), and he has been indicted for income-tax evasion, as well as distribution of pornographic material involving children…
Guarino has never spent any time in prison [that changed in 1997], and his pornography empire continues to grow…
In addition to inspecting Guarino’s seized records, the FBI interviewed an accountant who had worked on Guarino’s financial books from sometime in 1973 to February 1978. According to a confidential report on that interview, the former accountant, William J. Martin 3d, told the FBI that “Guarino was skimming over a half-million dollars a year” from his corporations and bookstores.
At the time that the former accountant made the charge, he was under indictment in Connecticut for embezzling more than $146,000 in four separate checks from his full-time employer, General Dynamics, in early 1978. Martin, according to the confidential report, later told the FBI that he had embezzled the money on orders from Guarino because Guarino needed money “for anticipated legal fees.” However, Martin said he would not testify against Guarino in the case because he feared for his safety…
Met-Cap Management, LLC has an exciting job opportunity available immediately. If you have the desire and skills to help us grow, along with a strong team and service orientation, then Met-Cap Management, LLC may be the place for you! We are currently seeking a Technical Support Specialist to be an integral part of our IT team.The reality is somewhat less exciting. Here is an account of conditions at Capital Video’s Cranston, RI headquarters, as posted to industry gossip site Luke Is Back (explicit site) on 2/24/05. Met-Cap Management and Metro, along with Capital Video, are three of the affiliated companies through which porn kingpin Kenneth Guarino does business.
Metro…fired veteran artist Noel Campos last year. Just why is still the question; was it that Noel dared to use his earned “Paid Time Off” and raised Kenny’s ire at not working 40 hours every week? Jiffy Lube rick told Noel “Metro is cutting back,” but Metro promptly increased it’s production schedule over 100%, with Alan being the only artist left at metro. For all his hard work in the art dept., Alan was promised a raise by Kenny last summer…
Well, that raise Kenny PROMISED was never lived up to by Kenny, …Les [Rich, general counsel], or anyone else who signs checks at Metro…
Metro is a f—ing nightmare to work for; where hard work is rewarded with f— you…
…Alan was micro-managed to the point of being told which way to face and sit according to Kenny’s whim of the day and Kenny’s precious interior decorator – did you know Metro has a fiberglass pirate climbing a rope in the foyer? The Art Dept. servers were crashing, the network was in and out more times than Gauge was a contract star, but the most important thing was a f—ing fiberglass toy pirate!…
Did you know about the quarter million in product former metro salesman Seth had delivered to himself no charge?… All this while Kenny’s last feckless former GM Neil Persky was sniffing mexican warehousemen’s backpacks for onsie-twosies out the back door? How Seth was shacking up with metro contract star Annmarie, oops, former contract star, too much cocaine…
Keith O’Connor got electrocuted grabbing art dept. macs out of a puddle when metro offices flooded in december rains. Early one morning Alan found Keith on the floor literally knocked out of his shoes and mumbling. Keith stumbled to his feet only to throw up, and was dingy all week…
The roof catastrophically leaked into the new bldg. which Kenny & Les Rich signed off on…
If Scott Del Amo’s mainstream clients knew he was porn director Hank Spain they would walk.
What Metro director delivered a title which prominently featured a location shot of a HIGH SCHOOL opening the porn tape?
So you can add the name Kenny Guarino, Bently-driving owner of Metro to that list of deadbeats you have been reporting on. Kenny makes false promises to his employees and then pays off in lies and betrayal.
Metro sales are so bad that Kenny was required to put Metro payroll on his credit card for the first time last week…
See also:
Lesser Newman: Capital Video Has Seen the Light and Will Make its Springfield Viewing Booths Safe
Internet Comments about Capital Video outlet in Troy, NY
8/4/06: They have had troubles keeping clerks, there always advertising for help. If you go when the young chick is on with the stud in her lip she doesnt give a shit of who’s in what booth or how many just drop money and be cool…
Internet Comments about Capital Video outlet in North Kingstown, RI
3/22/07: Stopped by NK..of course Bandana Johnny was there, truly with a stink on…its disgusting. I wonder if its a heath issue with him being there. Would Amazing be liable? Afterall, they do let him loiter all day knowing his dirtiness…
4/3/07: This place is disgusting. Today there were several gross and dirty people cruising the bookstore. There were all in their 70’s and smelled like they haven’t showered in weeks. I had to leave it was so bad. In addition, they rattle the doors and open them several times even after being told that “I am all set”…
Internet Comments about Capital Video outlet in Dallas, TX (a Capital Video outlet)
8/1/06: No paper towels, trashcans, etc. Really gone down hill…
9/22/06: Cruised there yesterday; place was nasty and dirty…
11/18/06: Went here last night and left. Every room I went into was so filthy and smelly I couldn’t even get turned on. Pretty gross…
12/9/06: …it does smell, I think they use dirty mop water or something. I have walked in and the front of the store smelled like vomit!…
1/6/07: Hi Guys. I went here on Thursday and I have to be honest, the place smelled like a sewer. They really should do a better job of cleaning the place, or at least change the mop water more than once-a-week.
Internet Comments about Capital Video outlet in Providence, RI (a Capital Video outlet)
7/6/06: This used to be a pretty nice place. I was there today [briefly] and the booth area downstairs smelled like a port-a-jon…
NoPornNorthampton Reaches Out to Springfield Neighborhood with Advice on Adult Enterprises
Springfield police dispatch reports from December 1998 through April 2007 paint a picture of burglaries, panic alarms, ambulance calls and altercations in and around the Amazing.net store at Apremont Triangle. The address of the store, which is also known as Video Expo, is 486 Bridge Street. Here are excerpts from the reports:
7/1/99 (1:21pm): Across the street from [486 Bridge Street] in the parking lot there is a man laid out…AMR in routeGuarino: No Porn for Daughter
7/29/99 (4:28pm): Hold up alarm
8/2/99 (4:52pm): Panic alarm
8/13/99 (12:49pm): Panic alrm coming from the Video Expo
2/21/00 (4:24pm): …female, tan coat, jeans, wht sneakers is harassing customers at Video Expo–was asked to leave and refused
4/6/00 (6:26pm): Male passed out in bathroom at Video Expo–ambl needs asst
6/14/00 (8:31pm): Panic alarm
7/9/00 (9:04pm): Panick alrm
7/29/00 (3:02pm): Wants dk [drunk] customer removed from the store… Customer is screaming and yelling.
7/31/00 (4:01pm): Customer refuses to leave he is possibly dk
10/17/00 (12:47am): Breaking & entering… Someone on the roof. He jumped, fled onto Winter… Y19 has suspect in custody on Matoon St. 7 for suspect, has injuries. Officers also exposed to hos fluids.
11/1/00 (4:19pm): Panic alarm
11/2/00 (11:33pm): 2 men casing car complainant feels they may steal it
11/13/00 (10:55pm): Larc of videos… Thief caught on video
11/18/00 (2:31am): …man assaulted by woman with knife… Cabby witness stabbing… AMR has the victim, transporting to hospital
12/9/00 (1:17pm): Act panic
2/1/01 (9:10pm): For a male in the store–dk–hit the female
2/19/01 (5:17pm): …larc of some of the receipts by the noe–ex employee
2/25/01 (6:48pm): For the customer they need escorted out…he is disturbing customers and not putting money in the booth
2/28/01 (10:34pm): For a male locked in one of the booths…seems to be dk
4/14/01 (7:22pm): Manager states that one of his customers was just mugged for a video bought
4/29/01 (9:44am): …store was just broken into
5/12/01 (8:54pm): States there is a man inside destroying the place and will not leave. This subj is now wielding a knife. Subj is now in custody.
5/30/01 (6:29am): Alarm…Gen burg
6/9/01 (8:26pm): Hold up alrm at X-PO
9/12/01 (11:51pm): Caller states there is a…male waiting outside the styore for a coustomer to come out… He started to fight with this man inside the store and was asked to leave and is now sitting outside waiting.
12/31/01 (1:19am): Glass break in frnt
2/6/02 (8:14am): Alarm…Commercial burg
3/11/02 (12:40pm): Dk male refusing to leave from the store
7/25/02 (9:10pm): Several hookers hanging out here
8/9/02 (4:32pm): …deranged woman yelling front of store and in shopping area here… Compl says she is prostitute.
8/16/02 (10:03am): Asst the store manager in getting a set of keys to the store back…they were stolen last nite…they have a subj on tape…that subj is a known person
9/15/02 (3:26pm): Take rept from [name] says someone stole $15.00 from him
10/17/02 (11:54pm): Armed robbery… $888… caller states his store was just robbed
10/18/02 (6:16pm): Beligerant dk male here… He left may come back
11/18/02 (7:14pm): Dk subj who was laying on the ground, is now up, and wandering into the street. Caller doesn’t want him to get hit.
12/10/02 (8:41am): Alarm…Gen burg12/16/02 (2:42pm): The guy in the giants coat wouldn’t leave the store. Now hes hussling customers outside.
12/20/02 (1:31pm): Ambl…enroute…dk male felled down hit his head…and is still down…
1/3/03 (4:55pm): Caller repting threatning male is back again
2/18/03 (9:10pm): A [male] with a bright red jacket just stole some videos and left the store
3/16/03 (1:12pm): Subject smoking crack inside white car…
3/17/03 (9:23am): Male in parking lot in white m/v with pants off
4/4/03 (8:21pm): Rude customer yelling and screaming in the store. Refusing to leave.
5/22/03 (3:59pm): Lar ceny of DVDs
5/31/03 (7:06pm): There’s a dk smoking in the booth. The clerk has already thrown him out 3 times.
6/4/03 (1:15am): Alarm…General burg
6/13/03 (9:24pm): States that X employee took the money from the cash register…
6/15/03 (12:28am): …hold up alarm… inplied knife wanted for attempted armed robbery
7/18/03 (12:42am): Alarm…Gen burg
8/10/03 (7:19pm): Compliant states that a man has a large laceration above his eye. AMR would like an assist.
8/25/03 (9:30am): Glas break detector alrm going off
8/27/03 (1:02pm): Male subj just ran East from the store with some DVD’s…
8/27/03 (4:53pm): The mgr calls; a drunk male were not leave the store; he is breaking items
9/9/03 (6:22pm): [Male] shoplifter and now is about ti fight with the clerk he wants to leave
9/30/03 (4:06pm): Person passed out
10/1/03 (6:45pm): Dk male out front asking 4 ambl. Really dk over 70 YOA.
10/5/03 (12:33am): Alarm…Gen burg
10/31/03 (3:14pm): Elderly man is falling down drunk in front of the store
10/31/03 (7:17pm): Wants dk person removed from infront of the store
11/4/03 (8:16pm): Arguing with shoplifter
11/6/03 (8:24am): General alarm
11/15/03 (9:32pm): Clerk states man that shoplifted from store about an hour ago is now back, and the man is inside one of the boothes, watching porno
12/20/03 (1:44pm): Subject is there again causing a dist[urbance]
2/14/04 (12:58am): Alarm…Gen burg
2/17/04 (10:26am): Theft of a radio from the compls m/v
2/23/04 (11:16pm): Manger of store says there is a man outside of his store that may or may not need an ambulance, AMR notified and enroute
2/27/04 (10:37pm): Vic[tim] told manager to call police. Stated he was pistol whipped.
3/1/04 (4:05pm): Dk male wearing blue and yellow jacket. Causing trouble.
3/4/04 (1:09pm): …elderly male wearing tran jacket is there again is dk
3/8/04 (2:42pm): …elderly male refuses to leave the store
3/13/04 (10:22pm): [Male] causing a disturbance and trying to steal items from the store
3/18/04 (10:10pm): …male red bike stole porn from store
4/10/04 (12:45am): Alarm…General burg
4/15/04 (7:48pm): Possible subj who stole items
4/24/04 (12:30pm): Fem clerk has an irate male customer who is refusing to leave. Verbally abusive at this point.
7/2/04 (7:56pm): He is stealing movies… Male had stolen movies earlier and now is back.
7/18/04 (1:08pm): Customer argued with her, and threatened to come back with a gun
8/9/04 (10:41am): A subject with a key broke in and took money from safe… They believe they may know who did this.
8/20/04 (6:38pm): Domestic disturbance… states her boyfriend…is attempting to assault her
9/1/04 (12:44am): Alarm…glass break in the front
9/3/04 (2:21pm): For stolen video subject ran off
10/1/04 (5:44pm): Shag the drunk
10/16/04 (8:06pm): Dk male, drinking inside store and urinating all over the place – has been there for a while and is refusing to laeve
12/10/04 (1:09pm): Caller says he is drunk and keeps coming in and out of the store
12/12/04 (2:58am): Alarm…glass break front
12/16/04 (12:17pm): …male…just stole several DVD’s and videos
12/31/04 (12:08pm): Ambl enroute…dk male collapsed on the ground after being asked to leave by clerk. Is breathing but not very responsive.
1/15/05 (8:52pm): Caller states man in store was told to leave and wont woman caller is alone… Said he would be back caller closes at 12:00 and is afraid.
1/27/05 (9:08pm): Manager and customer fighting…clerk refused to give any other info than this.
6/13/05 (9:39pm): Caller states that a…male went into store and into her purse and took her things out. And he took a DVD and took her things from her purse.
7/20/05 (5:30pm): Customer manager dispute
9/12/05 (5:55pm): Caller states there is a unconcious female in the alley next to the store
10/28/05 (9:36pm): [Male] about 30’s is poss paaing out in one of the video booths… AMR enrt.
12/1/05 (5:17pm): Comp states there is a dk male in the store that
is refusing to leave… Very intoxicted.
12/7/05 (12:53am): Alarm…General burg
1/24/06 (9:58pm): Caller say male outside drunk harrassing cust
3/10/06 (5:02pm): Caller states that there is a male that is causing a dist. Caller states that he is swearing and the male is claiming that he is an undercover cop… The male grabbed him and is knocking over things.
3/12/06 (10:53am): An altercation inside store. For Video Expo. Says he didnt call.
3/25/06 (8:22pm): Caller says…male there causing a dist. Screaming and yelling at the employees… He is now outside the store refusing to leave. He was in the store earlier trying to steal videos.
3/29/06 (9:21pm): He got all loud with the employees. He is waiting outside for the employee to get off work… So he could fight them… Apperently he did not pay for his booth rental.
4/2/06 (8:14pm): Caller states that there is a dk female arguing and sitting in the middle of the rd.
6/2/06 (9:01am): Comm alarm
7/8/06 (1:33pm): Subject stole merchandise and took off
8/13/06 (4:07pm): Caller says there is a vagrent out side hassassing the customers
8/13/06 (5:37pm): Caller states that he needs asst removing a male
8/13/06 (9:13pm): Male…just assaulted comp & is still outside store… Comp states he split her head open… Unk how they are aquainted. Comp states she barely knows him.
10/11/06 (2:12pm): Customer is dk not moving. He is in one of the booths. AMR enroute wants asst… Amazing Video’s has a male in the video booth using inhalants and refuses to leave. AMR is going the male may need medical attention.
10/30/06 (1:49pm): Comp was just assaulted ba a male subj punched in the face
11/10/06 (12:33am): Alarm…Gen burg
11/10/06 (7:00pm): 2 females fighting
12/1/06 (8:24am): Alarm…Gen burg
12/18/06 (6:58pm): Male needs to be removed from the store
1/15/07 (9:23pm): 6 [males] standing outside store. Callere thinks there are going to rob him.
3/26/07 (6:25pm): [Male] refusing to leave. He is dk. Arguing with emeployess.
…Mr. Guarino is a rich man. He lives in a luxurious home on Narragansett Bay, drives a Mercedes, and–federal prosecutors in the Las Vegas case say–has numerous foreign bank accounts…
Later in the day, his wife stops by the corporate offices with their 18-month-old daughter. The little girl wiggles free of her mother and wanders into the wood-paneled board room where her father is.
Would Mr. Guarino ever let his daughter watch his films? Absolutely not, he says. And does he watch them himself?
“Never,” he says. “It’s like selling doughnuts. After a week or two you aren’t going to want to eat any more doughnuts. It’s just a business. I like to watch the numbers.”
Boston Globe Profiled Kenneth Francis Guarino in 1983
Guarino, who entered the business as a teenager, had risen to become one of the nation’s top pornography dealers in less than 10 years. His companies were grossing an estimated $3 million a year, and every month Guarino was depositing an average of $175,000 into their bank accounts…
A few things have changed for Guarino since the mid-1970s… One of his closest associates was killed under mysterious circumstances when he fell out of a moving car…
…Guarino has been tried and convicted on federal charges for interstate distribution of obscene materials (he has appealed), and he has been indicted for income-tax evasion, as well as distribution of pornographic material involving children…
Guarino has never spent any time in prison [that changed in 1997], and his pornography empire continues to grow…
In addition to inspecting Guarino’s seized records, the FBI interviewed an accountant who had worked on Guarino’s financial books from sometime in 1973 to February 1978. According to a confidential report on that interview, the former accountant, William J. Martin 3d, told the FBI that “Guarino was skimming over a half-million dollars a year” from his corporations and bookstores.
At the time that the former accountant made the charge, he was under indictment in Connecticut for embezzling more than $146,000 in four separate checks from his full-time employer, General Dynamics, in early 1978. Martin, according to the confidential report, later told the FBI that he had embezzled the money on orders from Guarino because Guarino needed money “for anticipated legal fees.” However, Martin said he would not testify against Guarino in the case because he feared for his safety…