“He pushed me out of a car.”

A former exotic dancer exclusively tells 13Investigates how she finally got out.

We first told you the woman described her eleven months of employment working at Shenanigans Gentlemen’s Club in Colonie as disgusting and deplorable.

Now, you’ll hear why she said she was pushed out of a car and what she did right after that.

“It was over a dispute with feature engagements he had for me that night and my attitude about them,” she said. “At this point in March [2024], my body was so physically depreciated, and I didn’t even look like a person. I couldn’t understand how these two people were even advertising me. I kept bringing up, ‘You’re going to have to let me eat.’”

13Investigates is not reporting the former dancer’s name. For the on-camera interview, her face was not shown, and her voice was disguised.

The woman said her negative attitude towards engaging with clients she claims she was assigned got her pushed out of a moving car on I-87 near the Wolf Road exit.

The dancer said she was covered in bruises and severe pain.

“The physical pain didn’t matter anymore because the physical pain was over with. I never went back after that day. I never was found.”

However, before that point in March, the dancer said the club’s general manager, Luiggi Canessa was not just making her have sex with customers in the Capital Region.

She claims in a lawsuit she was taken down to New York City on several occasions for jobs Canessa assigned her.

“I had a piece of paper he provided me—a list. In a systematic form with names and addresses and that was it,” she said.

The dancer claims she had to come back with no less than $10,000 daily“I was dropped down there like I was nothing because I was nothing.”

Canessa was arrested and charged back in April for a separate case. He’s accused of selling meth to an undercover officer. He’s also being investigated by the FBI for sex trafficking and other crimes that are believed to have occurred at shenanigans.

It’s all documented in a criminal complaint. Canessa admitted to selling meth, cocaine, marijuana, and other drugs from his home.

“The federal government typically doesn’t just pick a person’s name out of a hat and charge individuals with criminal offenses,” Daniel Smalls said.

Smalls is the attorney for the dancer. He said he’s spoken to others with stories similar to his client’s.

“When you have an individual, or individuals, in this particular case that have come to you and they don’t know each other, but yet their stories are extremely consistent it gives you belief that you’re definitely on the right path and there’s merit to it,” Smalls said.

While Smalls continues to pursue this case with the dancer, Shenanigans is still open and welcoming customers.

“It does not make me feel safe. I think it’s deplorable,” the former dancer said.

13investigates made several attempts to get a comment from the attorney for the defendant. Our team has not received a response.

In a statement from FBI Albany, it states, Luiggi Canessa was arrested in April and remains in custody. As a matter of longstanding DOJ policy, the FBI does not provide updates on specific investigations. As in any given investigation, anyone with information is encouraged to contact our office.