Infamous
Vegas Topless Bar To Be Auctioned
Per a 2006 Plea Agreement,
Rick and Lisa Rizzolo's
off shore hidden fortune
may be at risk
Photo taken on Sept. 20, 2001 by the late Buffalo Jim Barrier
IT
IS FURTHER ORDERED that the United States shall sell the
Crazy
Horse Too on or before May 3, 2011, by any lawful
means
including public auction, and in a manner which
is
consistent with the Plea Agreement in this case.
DATED:
December 22, 2010
______________________________________
PHILIP
M. PRO
United
States District Judge
INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
January 3, 2011
LAS VEGAS - On July 30, 2007, the
Las Vegas City Council revoked the liquor license of the Crazy Horse Too
strip club.
With no legitimate
buyer in sight and zoning laws that prohibit sexually oriented businesses
from being located within 1500 feet of each other (there is another one
nearby), six months passed and the adult use zoning permanently expired
reverting the use back to warehouse only, thereby ending a protracted,
sordid story of violence,
death,
and mayhem,
and reducing what was claimed to be a $12
million dollar per year (criminal) enterprise into a derelict warehouse
on 2.65 acres next to the tracks that's expected to sell for no more than
one or two million dollars at auction.
According to City of Las Vegas Ordinance
19.16.030 (3:) Discontinuation of Use: "If a non conforming use of a conforming
building is discontinued for a period of one hundred eighty days.... the
future use of such building shall be only in conformance with the provisions
of this Title."
The Crazy Horse Too's final
night of operation was June 30, 2007. A new liquor license was not
issued by the end of the 180 day deadline of January 1, 2008, so the adult
use zoning that was grandfathered for Rick
Rizzolo automatically reverted to warehouse zoning that prohibits further
adult use at that location.
However,
Rizzolo's former criminal dense attorney and corporate agent LV Mayor Oscar
Goodman (glaring at AmericanMafia.com photographer Mike Christ) still has
five months left in office until the end of his three term limit. If by
some chance the United States manages to accelerate the sale of the Crazy
Horse Too before Goodman leaves office in June, there are those who think
the Mayor might try to introduce an ordinance repealing 19.16.030 (3) in
time to re-zone the property to adult use as a favor to Rizzolo or one
of his associates with ties to Goodman's
law firm. If so, Goodman would have nothing to lose since he's retiring
from politics.
In 2006, after writing about Goodman using
his office to do Rizzolo favors such as sponsoring an ordinance to let
the Crazy Horse expand, and another allowing it to employ teenage
strippers, I personally filed an ethics
complaint that temporarily stopped
Goodman in his tracks.
In response to the complaint, Goodman defiantly
told the Las
Vegas Review-Journal; "Tell Steve Miller he can suck my big toe,"
but he also was forced to abstain on all matters involving Rizzolo for
almost two years.
After Goodman threatened a lawsuit, the
state ethics board cleared
him in 2007. This allowed him to resume doing favors for his former
clients, but it was too late to help Rizzolo because he was already in
prison, and his club was out of business thanks to a fearless City Attorney
and the non conflicted members of the City Council.
In 2011, with a public auction looming,
Rizzolo's plea bargained obligation to pay the difference between his $28
million court ordered debt and what can be recouped from the sale of the
Crazy Horse Too property, comes into play.
| Case
2:08-cv-00635-PMP-GWF Document 480 Filed 10/06/10
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
It is undisputed that the underlying
settlement agreement between the Plaintiffs and Mr. Rizzolo and his company
contemplated that the $9 million balance of the settlement would be paid
from the proceeds of the sale of the Crazy Horse Too business. Defendant
Rick Rizzolo has also acknowledged that he is legally obligated to pay
the $9 million from his other assets if it cannot be recouped from the
sale of the business.
DATED this 6th day of October, 2010.
______________________________________
GEORGE FOLEY, JR.
U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE |
Here's a list of court ordered debts the
auction of the Crazy Horse Too is expected not to cover:
1. All of the United States Marshals
Service's costs, expenses, and private counsel's attorney fees for the
real property transaction related to the care and the sale of the Property
and the Trademark and Trade name Crazy Horse Too, including but not limited
to the maintenance, the protection, the repair, the service of process,
the publication, the utilities, the insurance, the CB Richard Ellis real
estate commission, the escrow, the closing costs, the real estate transfer
tax, private counsel's attorney fees for the real property transaction,
etc.;
2. The Clark County Taxes owed
on the Property with penalties and interest
3. The City of Las Vegas sewer
lien
4. The Security Pacific Bank ($5
million dollar) loan with attorneys' fees, penalties, and interest
5. The restitution of US $9,000,000.00
plus interest to Kirk and Amy Henry
6. The restitution of US $1,734,000.00
plus accruals to the IRS
7. The assessment of US $500.00
plus interest
8. The fines of US $750,000.00
plus interest
9. The forfeiture of US $4,250,000.00
plus interest
10. The City of Las Vegas judgment
lien of US $2,192,000.00 plus interest
11. The IRS tax lien against Rizzolo
for the 2006 individual income taxes of US $1,032,535.26 plus accruals |
On August 8, 2007, FBI Special Agent Anthony
Mace filed a Declaration
with Judge Pro stating:
"Upon due diligence, I have tried to locate all property of RIZZOLO. I
have not been able to find any other personal or real property of significant
value to satisfy debts owed to the United States and victim."
The reason Special Agent Mace could not
find personal or real property of significant value is because in 2005
-- during the middle of the well publicized Federal racketeering investigation
-- Mr. and Mrs. Rizzolo divorced,
then hired John
E. Dawson to protect their assets. John Dawson is an asset protection
specialist with Lionel
Sawyer and Collins, a political power house in Nevada. He is coincidentally
the brother of Federal Judge Kent Dawson who dealt
questionably
light sentences to 16 Crazy Horse Too employees involved with Rizzolo
in robbing and extorting bar patrons.
John Dawson cleverly
hid the Rizzolo's assets in a Cook Islands bank out of the reach of
beating
victim Kirk Henry, the IRS, City of Las Vegas, and others, while his
brother the Federal Judge failed to disclose this information during the
16 Crazy Horse Too trials.
Because of the possible embarrassment of
a fellow Federal Judge, and his brother's association with a politically
powerful law firm, I believe this case has made a snail's pace through
the Nevada justice system.
Sometime after May 3, it will be the duty
of Judge Kent Dawson's colleague Judge Philip Pro to locate and repatriate
the millions of dollars the Rizzolo's have stashed off shore, then order
payments be made to the IRS, Henry, and others.
If all goes smoothly, Judge Dawson's conflict
of interest may go unnoticed (other than on these pages).
There is recent case law to support the
Federal Court's ability to force the re-deposting of off shore held assets
back into United States banks in order to pay court ordered debts, or put
a defendant in jail until he or she complies.
In a Minnesota
Federal Court case, on January 25, 2010, Chief Judge Michael J. Davis
ordered defendant Trevor G. Cook; "...incarcerated
until he, among other things, surrenders $27 million located in offshore
accounts, a BMW and two Lexus automobiles, a submarine, a houseboat, a
collection of expensive watches, a collection of Faberge eggs, Bon Jovi
concert tickets, and $670,000 in cash."
In the Rizzolo's case, Judge Pro will be
left with few options in the event the debtors also refuse to pay deficiencies
not covered by the sale of the Crazy Horse Too. If this occurs, Rick Rizzolo,
and possibly his ex-wife who is accused of colluding
to hide his fortune, may find themselves in Federal Prison along with Trevor
Cook.
In all likelihood, we will know the answer
to this dilemma sometime in the summer of 2011.
