Rizzolo case
minutia
INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
November 22, 2010
LAS VEGAS - As the United States government's
case against racketeer Rick
Rizzolo drags on and on and on, several questions arise.
Who is the man who claims to be paying
Rizzolo's hefty legal bills? And what was Rizzolo's former topless bar,
the Crazy Horse Too, really worth at the time of his questionable
divorce, and the transfer of his other assets to off shore banks with
the help of the
brother of a federal court judge?
The
man who says he's paying Rick Rizzolo's legal bills
His
name is Fred Doumani. In 2004 at the peak of the real estate boom, his
family sold their 5.4 acre motel on the Las Vegas Strip to Hilton Hotels
for an undisclosed sum.
In 1994, Doumani joined Rick Rizzolo and
Black Book member Joey
Cusamano in a failed
$39 million dollar bid to buy the troubled Bicycle Club casino in Southern
California. At the time, Doumani was being investigated by the criminal
division of the Justice Department in a case that involved organized crime
interests. He was later indicted, denied wrongdoing, and was acquitted.
In 1998, Doumani sued CBS for slander,
and won.
During a "Sixty Minutes" segment,
correspondent Ed Bradley described Doumani as having "ties to many mob
figures." However, Doumani's lawsuit contended he "is not, and has never
been, associated with organized crime and has not engaged in criminal and
illegal acts." In 1999, CBS settled out of court by issuing a retraction
to Bradley's accusation. Anchor Leslie Stahl stated that Fred and his brother
Ed Doumani had been cleared in a federal fraud case that alleged they diverted
$34 million in a judgment from a lawsuit over the 1979 sale of the Tropicana
Hotel.
Fred Doumani acted as his own lawyer. He's
a very smart man!
Doumani was a regular fixture at the Crazy
Horse Too during the years prior to its closure. He also rented a warehouse
on the property. He bragged that Rick Rizzolo was his best friend.
But more interesting was Doumani's regular presence behind the counter
at the Crazy Horse Too's neighboring business Allstate Auto Repair owned
by Rizzolo's bitter enemy, former pro wrestler Buffalo Jim Barrier -- a
man who hated bullies.
Doumani
and Barrier (AmericanMafia.com photo by Mike Christ)
shared a love for vintage cars.
Barrier also loved to photograph Crazy
Horse Too beating victims, and send his photos to the FBI. For many
years when Barrier was too busy to man his front counter, it was not unusual
to see Fred Doumani with grease on his hands standing in for Barrier, taking
repair orders or giving mechanical advice to customers.
Barrier is credited for bringing down Rizzolo,
and the closure of his night club. But even after the Crazy Horse went
dark in July 2007, Doumani remained close to Barrier.
Buffalo
Jim Barrier died under very mysterious circumstances in April 2008,
the day after Fred Doumani's best friend was released from federal prison.
The big man who was known for carrying a roll of $100 bills was found with
a
single dollar bill in his wallet.
Doumani did not attend Barrier's
funeral.
Below are excerpts from Fred Doumani's
deposition wherein he tells about paying Rizzolo's legal bills.
FRED
DOUMANI'S FULL DEPOSITION
INFORMATION
ABOUT FRED DOUMANI
The
man who offered "$45 MILLION" for the Crazy Horse Too
"The City of Las Vegas subsequently revoked
the liquor and/or business license of the Crazy Horse Too. At
the time of the revocation, an escrow had been opened for the sale of the
Crazy Horse Too in the amount of $45 million (emphasis
added). The planned sale of the Crazy Horse Too reportedly failed because
of the revocation of its liquor license which diminished
its value. The proceeds from a forfeiture sale of the Crazy
Horse Too would have been sufficient to pay the Henry's settlement, but
for the Government's failure to preserve its liquor and/or business license."
"For the foregoing reasons, Ms. Rizzolo would request this Honorable Court
to grant her motion for summary judgment." Excerpt from Lisa
Rizzolo's Motion for Summary Judgment, November 15, 2010
However, the place was nothing but a "public
nuisance!"
$45 million might have been its mob value
if the strip club were allowed to continue robbing
and extorting its patrons as happened to Kirk Henry who was almost
beaten to death in 2001 after he refused to pay a padded bar tab. But following
Rizzolo and his fifteen goon's 2006 convictions, their method of operation
ceased, and the profit making ability of the club and its salability fell
to zero.
Enter Mike Signorelli - the "$45 Million
Dollar (straw)
Man."
Signorelli
claimed that he didn't know Rick Rizzolo prior to being introduced by a
man named Fred Doumani, Jr. (AmericanMafia.com photo by Mike
Christ).
On April 18, 2007, Signorelli reluctantly
appeared before the Las Vegas City Council (Mayor
Oscar Goodman was forced to abstain). Fred Doumani, Jr. sat in the
audience.
During the hearing when Rizzolo's attorney
Jay Brown (a
former law partner of Mayor Oscar Goodman) tried to convince the city
to allow the club to stay open in order to preserve its "$45 million dollar"
value, Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese dropped the hatchet on Signorelli's purported
bid to buy the dilapidated converted warehouse next to the tracks. Signorelli
didn't have the money! And Rizzolo was still running the club via cell
phone from the Federal Penitentiary!
"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
Mike
Signorelli listens to City Attorney Brad Jerbic
(AmericanMafia.com photo by Mike Christ)
According
to Jerbic, "There is a desperate willingness to keep the old regime."
As Signorelli looked on in horror, Jerbic
continued: "Persons associated with Rick Rizzolo are trying to infiltrate
the club."
"The former owner is bound and determined
to keep people close to him employed," stated Jerbic.
Sgt. Ray Alexander of Metro Special Investigations
put the last nail in the Crazy Horse coffin when he told the council that
his investigation could not verify that Signorelli had secured the $45
million he said he had to purchase the club.
In the interest of public safety, the council
(with the absence of Goodman) had no other choice but to shut the business
down.
Here's a link
to Signorelli's confidential "$45 MILLION DOLLAR" purchase agreement prepared
by none other than Mayor
Oscar Goodman's law partner David Chesnoff.
And here's some more background on the
man who Lisa Rizzolo said had "$45 MILLION" to purchase the jinxed topless
bar:
http://www.americanmafia.com/inside_vegas/11-6-06_Inside_Vegas.html
http://americanmafia.com/inside_vegas/1-22-07_Inside_Vegas.html
http://americanmafia.com/inside_vegas/4-23-07_Inside_Vegas.html
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/6-4-07_Inside_Vegas.html
But the following memo I recently received
from a retired Clark County District Court Judge best puts all of the above
in the proper perspective:
| Steve:
Great job on keeping
up with the tragic soap opera of the Rizzolos in Federal Court. I suspect
the response from the government and from the Henrys is that the judgment
and other obligations are stand alone, independent obligations that are
owed regardless of the sale. The sale of the Crazy Horse Too was
seemingly the most direct route to that objective. The other argument
I would anticipate is that the Rizzolos are the causes of the failure of
the club to sell. That is, their own history of misconduct, license violations,
and criminal misconduct are the root causes of the shutdown of the club.
It is a self-fulfilling prophecy and it should not now be permitted to
be used as a shield to protect them from the obligations to pay what is
justly owed to others.
Name withheld
by request |
VIDEO:
IN MEMORY OF BUFFALO JIM BARRIER
SONG:
THE GHOST OF BUFFALO JIM
HAPPY
THANKSGIVING!
