FBI: Strip club owner plotted to kill Texas mayor

By Scott Gordon, NBCDFW.com

An?owner of an Arlington, Texas,?strip club was charged Tuesday with trying to hire hit men to kill Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck and a city attorney involved in an ongoing?legal fight with the?bar.

Ryan Walker Grant, co-owner of Flashdancer, offered to pay $10,000 for each murder, an FBI agent wrote in a criminal complaint.

Flashdancer recently agreed to close for one year to settle a nuisance lawsuit filed by the city of Arlington and the Texas attorney general.

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"They just jacked me for a year of business, and they're trying to jack me indefinitely," Grant was quoted as telling the supposed hit man, who was secretly cooperating with federal agents.

The FBI also said Grant requested that people from Mexico come to North Texas and commit the murders so they could quickly leave the country. He said he would use his child as an alibi, the complaint said.

The names of the city officials allegedly targeted were not?mentioned in the court documents, but a city news release Tuesday night confirmed they were?Mayor Cluck and contract city attorney Tom Brandt.

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Both expressed appreciation for the FBI?investigation.

"I?feel confident this case will be thoroughly investigated," Cluck said in the statement. "We as a city council must always act in the best interests of the city of Arlington. I believe we've done that and will continue to do so."

Grant was arrested Monday by FBI agents after he met with the supposed hit man at Grant's Kennedale home, according to the criminal complaint.

Grant appeared before a federal judge Tuesday afternoon and was ordered held without bond until a detention hearing on Friday.

The Drug Enforcement Administration was also involved in the investigation.

Steven Swander, a Fort Worth attorney who represented Grant in the city lawsuit, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Grant's father Ron said his son was upset about losing business but would never have tried to hurt anyone.

"Oh good Lord no, because as far as -- he was looking forward to re-opening," Ron Grant said. "He certainly didn't have any, you know, animosity -- well, he wasn't happy about it. But he didn't voice any desires to harm anyone about it, that's for sure."

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