"We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore!"

Rick Rizzolo's lawyers file new
Opposition to EVERYTHING!

Oh We’re Not Gonna Take It
No, We Ain’t Gonna Take It
Oh We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore
No Way! - Twisted Sister

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        Rick Rizzolo                Paola M. Armeni                      Dominic P. Gentile

INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
November 15, 2010

LAS VEGAS - They're as mad as hell, and they're not gonna to take it anymore!  Convicted racketeer Rick Rizzolo's newest legal team consisting of Paola Armeni and Dominic Gentile on November 10, filed a brilliantly written ten page Opposition to just about everything the government and beating victim Kirk Henry have been suing the former Crazy Horse Too strip club owner over since this case was transferred to United States Federal Court in 2006.

In their OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR SUPPLEMENTAL PROCEEDINGS AND REQUEST TO VACATE HEARING ON SUPPLEMENTAL PROCEEDINGS (emphasis added); COUNTERMOTION TO REQUIRE THE GOVERNMENT TO SPECIFICALLY PERFORM THE TERMS OF THE PLEA AGREEMENT; and REQUEST TO STRIKE THE ILLEGAL MODIFICATION OF SENTENCE, Armeni and Gentile claim:

"Fredrick Rizzolo entered into a plea agreement with the United States of America on June 1, 2006. As a part of the Plea Agreement, Mr. Rizzolo agreed to pay Kirk Henry ten million dollars in restitution 'upon the sale of the Crazy Horse Too.' "

"Specifically, the court sentenced Mr. Rizzolo to '12 months and one day...followed by a three-year term of Supervised Release under the standard terms and conditions of supervision and the following special conditions: that restitution to Kirk Henry of $10 million dollars be paid from the proceeds of the sale of the Crazy Horse Too.' "

"After Mr. Rizzolo was sentenced, the court forfeited the Crazy Horse Too to the Government. As the new owner (emphasis added) of the Crazy Horse Too, the Government was responsible for selling the property. To date, the Government has failed to sell the Crazy Horse Too. During the time the Government has owned the Crazy Horse Too, its value has gone from approximately thirty three million dollars to merely a fraction of that amount. This diminution in valued (sp) is primarily due to the Government's failure to maintain necessary licenses and zoning permits."

"On April 26th 2010, the court heard argument regarding the request to 'modify conditions or terms of supervised release.' At the hearing, the court determined that Mr. Rizzolo's payment of restitution was no longer based 'upon the sale of the Crazy Horse Too.' The court said '...assuming the Crazy Horse Too asset is never sold for value or never sold for sufficient value to satisfy the restitution obligations of Mr. Rizzolo, does not relieve Mr. Rizzolo of the restitution obligations imposed by the Court in the judgment.' The court went on to order that 'Mr. Rizzolo commence -- independent of the sale of the Crazy Horse Too -- commence paying restitution obligations at a rate to be approved by the Court once the financial information is gathered by the Department of Probation.' After the court determined that restitution was no longer contingent upon the sale of the Crazy Horse Too, the Government brought a motion for supplemental proceedings. The hearing on the motion is currently set for December 17, 2010."

Armeni and Gentile continue: "The Government is not entitled to any more than that for which it bargained. Here, the Government bargained for an asset worth thirty three million dollars. The Government received the asset. Now, due to the Government's negligence in maintaining the value of the asset, it wants more. However, as Mr. Rizzolo has fulfilled his end of the bargain, the Government is not entitled to any more."

Ms. Armeni and Mr. Gentile's first complaint is with the federal court's demand that Rizzolo appear on December 17 for a Judgment Debtor Exam ("Hearing on supplemental proceedings"). They say they want the court to "vacate (the) hearing" that will include the following Declaration from the U.S. Attorney's Financial Litigation Unit stating Rizzolo owes over $11,973,440 to the government (not including what he owes Kirk Henry):

And then there's this:
 

Case 2:08-cv-00635-PMP-GWF Document 480 Filed 10/06/10 Page 1 of 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEVADA KIRK AND AMY HENRY,  Plaintiffs,  Case No. 2:08-cv-00635-PMP-GWF vs.  FREDRICK RIZZOLO, aka RICK RIZZOLO, et al., Defendants.  ORDER BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION 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

At the December 17 hearing, Rizzolo is expected to be forced to reveal the amount and location of assets he hid in off shore banks with the help of the brother of a federal court judge. He is also expected to be asked the whereabouts of two million dollars he was scheduled to receive from Vince Piazza for the sale of the Philadelphia Crazy Horse Too.

Armeni and Gentile's second complaint is that the government botched the sale of the Vegas Crazy Horse Too and devalued it's worth from "approximately thirty three million dollars to merely a fraction of that amount." They then had the audacity to write that the government had the obligation to run the skin joint in order to maintain its business license and adult use zoning!

Needless to say, the United States of America had no obligation or interest in running a topless bar, especially one that according to the U.S. Department of Justice made its money by the participation: "... in acts of extortion and threats, access device fraud, wire fraud, and mail fraud. If patrons refused to pay a dancer or disputed charges, the shift manager or other male employees sought to extort payment from them through threats of violence and through the actual use of force. Dancers also sought to defraud customers by overcharging customers. Incidents involving overcharges to customers frequently involved the use of credit cards or other access devices. Conspirators also sought to have The Crazy Horse Too defraud the State of Nevada of unemployment taxes and workers compensation insurance companies of premium payments by the under-reporting of employees’ income."

And about that supposed worth of "Thirty three million dollars," during the year and a day Rizzolo spent in federal prison, his cell mate told INSIDE VEGAS that Rizzolo was granted cell phone privileges so he could participate in the purported "sale" of the Crazy Horse Too; a converted 1960's era warehouse located in a seedy neighborhood next to the tracks.

In a highly suspicious action, an assistant U.S. Attorney failed to get the court to keep secret all the purported "numerous offers" of tens of millions of dollars Rizzolo was reportedly receiving:

INSIDE VEGAS received copies of all purported offers and investigated each one finding that all had connections to Rizzolo or his associates in Newport Beach, California, or were financially unable to perform without hidden investors.
 

The United States Department of Justice, District of Nevada  Tuesday, January 23, 2007 PRESS RELEASE Additionally, defendants’ plea agreements require The Power Company, Inc. to sell The Crazy Horse Too by June 1, 2007. The Government has the right to disapprove the sale if the buyer is a close relative or ongoing business partner of Rizzolo’s (emphasis added), is a felon, or has business dealings with organized crime members or groups.

To confirm that the "numerous offers" had no merit, the following October 4, 2007 confidential letter from one of Rizzolo's attorneys was faxed to a representative of Steve Wynn. It ominously admits that "...no buyer has performed its contract," "...its contract had rescinded," or "...has failed to perform."

 

So much for the Government being responsible for not selling the property!  Without continuing Rizzolo's methods of operation, it was un-saleable!

How about the Government having to accept an "interim operator" to maintain the bar's business license and zoning?

That question was answered on April 18, 2007 when the following statements were made on the record to the LV City Council in regard to Rizzolo's chosen "interim operator," Mike Signorelli:

"A reasonable person could draw the conclusion that Signorelli is simply running the business for Rizzolo, who is forbidden to do so." - Sgt. Ray Alexander, L.V.M.P.D.

"Mr. Signorelli may be doing his best effort to keep Rizzolo out, but it's happening anyway." "He can't run this business without being influenced by Rizzolo's people." - City Attorney Brad Jerbic

Even though the City Council granted Signorelli a license, the license was permanently revoked two and a half months later when it was confirmed that Rizzolo's family members were still in control of the business.

And for "the Government's failure to maintain necessary licenses and zoning permits," this is what Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic had to say just before the bar's business license was revoked:

"On June 1, 2006, The Power Company, Inc. pled guilty in federal court to one count of Conspiracy to Participate in an Enterprise Engaged in Racketeering Activity between January 1, 2000, and 2005.  Frederick Rizzolo and 16 of his employees also entered guilty pleas to federal felonies.  The charging documents pled to, as well as the plea memoranda in support of the guilty pleas, describe the actual business activity of Crazy  Horse Too as constituting a public or private nuisance (emphasis added) in that the business of Crazy Horse Too was conducted in an unlawful, illegal or impermissible manner.  On August 1, 2006, The Power Company, Inc. answered the disciplinary complaint and admitted that the government would have sought to prove at trial 35 to 40 beatings had occurred at Crazy Horse Too in three years."

No wonder the bar's business license was revoked! The city had no other choice.  It's complete nonsense for Armeni and Gentile to try to blame "the Government" for the devaluation of the Crazy Horse Too. It was a toilet -- an environment of crime and violence, and now stands derelict as a symbol of the proper action of Government, not of its failure!

The third complaint Armeni and Gentile make in their Opposition is that the Government has no right to modify Rizzolo's conditions of parole.

The lawyers object mainly to the words of the U.S. Attorney who on October 1, informed the court: "In the instant case, the Government has no opposition to the Court initiating supervised release revocation proceedings based on information and materials contained in the Henrys' filing."

Rizzolo's parole is scheduled to end in April, 2011. However, he has not lived up to two or more of his conditions of release including to pay restitution to Kirk Henry, and to pay the IRS, hence the U.S. Attorney's lack of opposition to Rizzolo's parole being either extended or revoked.

Four questions remain unanswered.

(1) Was the forfeiture to the Government following Rizzolo's failure to sell the property considered a "sale?"

(2) Will the federal court seize Rick and Lisa Rizzolo's passports?

(3) Does the federal court's Order of Oct. 6, 2010 that "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" make the "sale" requirement a moot issue, especially now that Rizzolo acknowledges that there is a "new owner?"

(4) Will the federal court require Rick and Lisa Rizzolo to "repatriate" their off shore stash so the IRS and Henry can finally be paid and preclude Henry from having to go to trial with his costly Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act case? And if the Rizzolos refuse (according to Rizzolo's plea agreement, he cannot declare bankruptcy), will the court have the gumption to jail one or both for contempt until they cooperate?

After five years of litigation in federal court, and almost ten years since Kirk Henry's neck was broken over a disputed $88 bar tab, will Rick Rizzolo, Lisa Rizzolo, Paola Armeni, and Dominic Gentile get the last word?

Or will Federal Judges Philip Pro, George Foley, and Peggy Leen, along with U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden, the IRS, Kirk Henry, and the American public have the last word and be the ones who finally proclaim, "WE'RE -- Not Gonna Take It Anymore!"