SPRINGFIELD — For the first time, federal agents and state police conducted very public raids on the Mardi Gras strip club Wednesday morning, despite the bar and its owner being the subject of intense law enforcement scrutiny for more than two decades.

The lead agency was the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, indicating the alleged basis for the search warrant, granted by a federal magistrate judge, is financial wrongdoing.

While Mardi Gras owner James Santaniello has not been prosecuted for organized crime offenses for decades, he has been mob-adjacent for equally as long.

As he amassed an impressive portfolio of Greater Springfield strip joints, restaurants, poker machine outfits and real estate holdings, Santaniello, of Longmeadow, could scarcely get out from under organized crime figures who nipped at his heels for kickbacks, or “profit-sharing” partnerships. That’s according to court records reviewed by The Republican over years of research.

The IRS, FBI and the Massachusetts State Police Organized Crime Unit descended on the strip club on Taylor Street as well as Victor Bruno’s Adolfo’s Ristorante on Worthington Street. Agents and troopers also hit Santaniello’s and Bruno’s homes in Longmeadow and Connecticut, respectively.

An official with the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, Kristina O’Connell, declined to talk about the underlying details of the investigation.

Both the Mardi Gras and Adolfo’s have been up for sale.

Multiple sources familiar with the investigations say the common thread between the two raids is purported Russian cash buyers to whom the owners disclosed they had a second set of books. The buyers were undercover IRS agents, sources told The Republican. The investigations are separate, however.

Outside his restaurant on Wednesday morning, Bruno said he would consider shutting Adolfo’s down for good, but said agents were welcome to whatever records they sought.

“They can take anything they want. I have nothing to hide,” he said, adding that federal agents banged on his door early Wednesday morning.

He also was served with federal grand jury subpoenas. The focus is on the various businesses he maintains on Worthington Street — Adolfo’s, Venture Properties, Art-e’-Pizza (which he recently sold) — and his personal finances.

Daniel D. Kelly, an attorney for Santaniello, declined to talk about the alleged link between the two raids.

“I don’t know that today is the day is to get into specifics,” Kelly said. “The Mardi Gras has been through multiple audits, multiple times, through multiple agencies … so here we go again.”

Attorney Thomas Rooke said Bruno denies keeping a second set of books.

“If they have video or audio of Victor Bruno talking about a second set of books, they should produce it,” Rooke said of investigators.

Bruno is the son of slain mob boss Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, gunned down in a Springfield parking lot in 2003. The late Bruno was once a business partner of Santaniello — who has been both a willing and unwilling business partner with gangsters over the years.

Santaniello, according to his own accounts to federal agents obtained by The Republican, has been a benefactor to a long list of mobsters. They included the late Scibelli bosses; his own uncle Mario Fiore; Adolfo Bruno; the late Anthony Delevo; and more recently Anthony Arillotta, who, with Freddy and Ty Geas, usurped Bruno’s power before turning government witness. All lined their pockets with Santaniello’s money, according to court records.

Most of the details offered by Santaniello to federal agents were gleaned from court records associated with the Bruno murder case. Bruno was once a drag on Santaniello’s finances, according to court records.

“Bruno tells (Santaniello) that that he will keep everyone away from him. Just pay Bruno,” FBI notes read. “And they really wanted $2,000 or $2,500 a week, so they were doing Jimmy a ‘favor.’ Jimmy paid them,” read an FBI agent’s notes, which the newspaper obtained.

In the late 1980s, Santaniello pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges after being identified by state police as a controller, along with Rex Cunningham Jr., of an illegal gaming ring. Cunningham ultimately served 17 years in prison. Santaniello served none.

Santaniello was a victim and a potential witness for the government in two prosecutions in New York City linked to Bruno’s murder and other mob schemes. He never took the witness stand.

While it might seem curious that a government witness has turned target, one former federal prosecutor said it’s not uncommon.

“They’re a criminal on one day; they’re an informant on day two and on day three they’ve relapsed into criminal behavior. ... It’s not unheard of,” said attorney John Pucci, a former federal prosecutor and now a private attorney.

Pucci emphasized that he was speaking generally and not characterizing Santaniello as an informant.