6 August 3-9, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | FROM TANNING BOOTH TO VOTING BOOTH Boca Tanning Club founder adds color to 2024 presidential race. BY ALEX DELUCA A nother orange-hued man from Queens appears to be running for president of the United States. This time, he’s a guitar-slapping, self- styled “pioneer of the 24-hour fitness indus- try” who believes a group of Luciferians is plotting to destroy humanity. If casual Alex Jones viewers were to select their “Most Interesting Man in the World,” Daniel Boronico might be the guy. A tough-talking and driven businessman, Boronico occasionally launches into a dialogue about depopulation in nearly the same breath as chatting about the limo business he claims to have acquired from Billy Joel in the 1980s (more on that later). Among his exploits, Boronico founded the Boca Tanning Club, which eventually became a franchise and partnered with Mike the “Situation” Sorrentino of Jersey Shore fame. With no political experience on his ré- sumé, but a dream to liberate Americans from corruption, Boronico has decided to throw his hat in the ring as an independent candi- date for the 2024 presidency. “I have been called upon from deep within my soul to use my God-given talents as an en- trepreneur, a diplomat, a visionary,” the 63-year-old says in his campaign video, wear- ing a suit with a red tie while seated on a couch. “As president and commander and chief of our military, I will be willing to sacri- fice my life on every level for the freedom, safety, and well-being of our children.” What led this self-described “guitar mae- stro” and serial entrepreneur to set his sights on the White House? Falling down an inter- net rabbit hole, he says. “That’s what got me started on this politi- cal journey,” Boronico tells New Times in a thick New York accent. “I says, I’ve got to run for president. I can’t sit back and watch this happen, watch innocent people die.” Boronico was inspired to launch his candi- dacy sometime during the COVID-19 pan- demic after reading on the webbernets that global elites surreptitiously planned the out- break. He tells New Times his concerns about the vaccine (which he has called the “death vax”) stemmed partly from his teenage daughter’s allergies and his fear that she would have adverse side effects. Some of Boronico’s platform points in- clude creating a separate “transgender divi- sion” for sports, protecting the Second Amendment, and waging a new war on drugs that will send “two-bit street dealers” to the “merciless chambers of death,” according to his website. Although some of the theories on his site appear to align with elements of the QAnon movement, he insists that he does not sup- port the overarching conspiracy. Between screeds about how billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates is plotting to ex- terminate millions of people in a 2025 planned pandemic, Boronico sounds like a compassionate fellow: He wants to expand no-kill shelters for pets, stop trophy hunting of wild animals, and give seniors at least $5,000 a month in social security. He de- scribes himself as “a guardian angel ready to serve anyone who needs my help.” “I really don’t like the direction the country is going in, and I believe I can turn it around. That’s what I’ve been doing my whole life: turning things around,” Boronico says. Jack of All Trades Boronico’s story started in New York City, where he was raised in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens and attended Bry- ant High School. “Of Spartan descent and the nephew of a profes- sional boxer, Daniel...devel- oped a passion for boxing, a discipline that he credits for surviving the austere streets of New York City,” his cam- paign profile says. Boronico says he spent the early 1980s as a bouncer and studied health education at Queens College. The years that followed saw Boronico jumping from one industry to another as he strove to make his nut by snapping up business opportunities whenever possible. “I choose entrepreneurship to provide for my family, a trait inherited from my father. For the most part, I have earned my own pay- checks since my early twenties through com- panies I either founded or acquired when they were at a low point,” Boronico says. After a stint in the real estate industry — reselling properties he bought at foreclosure auctions — he claims he “acquired Encore Limousine Company from entertainer Billy Joel.” The limo company’s clients ranged from the Gap (clothing company), Continen- tal Airlines, and the David Letterman Show, according to Boronico. When reached by New Times and asked about Boronico and the limo company, Billy Joel’s agent Claire Mercuri said, “We do not know anything about this.” The tale of Boronico in the Big Apple con- tinued when he set out to pioneer the 24- hour fitness industry by acquiring Bell Plaza Health Club in Bayside, New York, he says. He then set his sights on taking the world of artificial tanning by storm. By the early 2000s, he had founded Boca Tanning Club, which furled into a franchise and partnered with Jersey Shore’s Mike the “Situation” Sorrentino. (Remember “Gym, Tan, Laundry”?) The decor of one salon fea- tured on Boca Tanning Club’s website is decked out in a jungle theme, with dense foli- age and a big, brightly colored tiger printed on | METRO | Dan Boronico is joining a field of presidential candidates already crowded with Florida men. Daniel Boronico photo
