The Bing is almost back -- or is it?

A marquee sign outside Satin Dolls, the Lodi strip club that served as the inspiration and shooting location for Bada Bing on the famous mob drama "The Sopranos," proclaims the bar is about to greet customers once again.

The club on Route 17 was forced to shut its doors in December 2017 when the state attorney general ordered it to sell or transfer its liquor license due to criminal allegations against its owner, Anthony Cardinalle.

But although a "grand reopening" sign recently cropped up outside the bar, the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control said Satin Dolls can't re-start business just yet. The ABC is still reviewing prospective buyers for the club's liquor license, said Lisa Coryell, a spokeswoman for the agency.

"The club will not reopen until the license has been transferred to (a) bona fide third party," she said in an email.

The inside of Satin Dolls is being renovated after the strip club, the shooting location for Bada Bing in "The Sopranos," was forced to shut its doors. (Photo courtesy of Jake Santulli)

Highway Entertainment LLC, which holds the liquor license for Satin Dolls, was sold in December to Spotswood-based Satin Entertainment LLC, according to a public notice posted in The Record.

Joseph Pallonetti, of Parkland, Florida, is the sole member of Satin Entertainment, the Dec. 28 notice says.

Pallonetti could not be reached for comment.

"Traditionally, when liquor licenses are sold, ownership is transferred from one corporate entity to another," Coryell said in a statement. "The process was handled differently in this case in that the applicant purchased shares of the existing corporate entity that owns the Satin Dolls liquor license."

The license can't operate until Satin Dolls' new owner has been approved by the ABC, Coryell said.

Reached at her Saddle River home, Cardinalle's wife said her family was in the process of transferring the business's liquor license and the "grand reopening" sign was not theirs. The Cardinalles still own the building that houses Satin Dolls, Luceen Cardinalle said.

Jake Santulli, who stopped by the club last week while traveling from California, said the go-go bar appeared close to reopening. It still closely resembled the fictional Bada Bing from "The Sopranos," a nude bar that was the scene of many of the HBO show's most memorable moments.

"It literally looked like they could have shot an episode last week," Santulli said.

Satin Dolls and its owners had been under state investigation for six years when then-Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino in December ordered it to close, he said then.

The ABC has alleged that although Anthony Cardinalle was criminally disqualified from continuing to run the club, he continued to do so behind the scenes. The owners also have not accounted for large amounts of money flowing in and out of the bar, Porrino said.

Cardinalle pleaded guilty in 2013 to racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit extortion by participating in an illegal plan by the Genovese crime family related to the waste-disposal industry in New Jersey and New York. Cardinalle was ordered to spend 30 days in jail and pay a fine and restitution.

The ABC has said Cardinalle kept running Satin Dolls and A.J.'s Gentleman's Club in Secaucus. He told Lodi police he was the owner of Satin Dolls after a 2015 robbery there, the ABC said.

Cardinalle also pleaded guilty in 1995 to federal tax evasion after he failed to report cash payments from strip clubs where he held undisclosed interests, Porrino said.

A 2011 consent order mandated that Luceen Cardinalle, who was listed as the only shareholder of both clubs, transfer the liquor license to her daughter, Loren Cardinalle, according to Porrino. The daughter then had to transfer the liquor license to a third party and has been granted many extensions to do so, Porrino said.

Satin Dolls' owners were charged in May of 2017 with criminal solicitation for prostitution and lewd activity on the premises. The charges remain pending.

Research editor Vinessa Erminio contributed to this report.

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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