LAS VEGAS - On November 26, a RESTRAINING ORDER was issued prohibiting former topless bar owner Bart Rizzolo from stalking or harassing garage owner Buffalo Jim Barrier.

 

The ORDER prohibits the 77 year old father of incarcerated racketeer Rick Rizzolo from coming within 100 ft. of Barrier for at least 30 days. 

 

According to the ORDER issued by Judge Deborah J. Lippis, "sufficient representations have been made that you, the Adverse Party, have committed and/or are committing and/or remain a threat to commit the offense(s) of stalking, aggravated stalking, or harassment..." against Barrier.

 

On Friday, November 16, Barrier and one of his customers along with eye witnesses filed a police report stating Bart Rizzolo intentionally tried to run Barrier and the unnamed customer over in the parking lot of his garage located next to the Crazy Horse Too.

 

It was not known why Rizzolo was on the property after the Crazy Horse bar and real estate was seized from his family on August 30, 2007. Its suspected that the elder Rizzolo is closely affiliated with a yet unnamed entity that the government has approved to purchase the property and reopen the troubled topless bar. 

 

Rizzolo through his corporation The Power Company, Inc. in 2006 pleaded guilty to Racketeering for the beatings of bar patrons who refused to pay bogus credit card bills.

 

 

Why Bart Rizzolo is regularly seen on the Crazy Horse property remains a mystery. Now based on the RESTRAINING ORDER, the elder Rizzolo will not be allowed to meet with the "new owners" on the physical property for at least the next 30 days while Barrier is nearby in his garage.

 

The ORDER stipulates that Bart must remain at least 100 feet away from Barrier. The two entrances to the Crazy Horse are 50 and 55 feet from Barrier's front and rear doors, and Barrier is in his office at the garage at least 12 hours per day Monday through Saturday, and has a sophisticated TV surveillance system monitoring the inside and outside of his business in case someone associated with the former owners of the property try to extract revenge.

 

Prior to the Restraining Order, Bart Rizzolo was regularly seen entering the shuttered bar even after its August 30 seizure by the U.S. Government.

 
Though marshals prominently posted "No Trespassing" signs, the signs didn't appear to apply to Rizzolo and his son Ralph because they were not arrested after Barrier called the Marshal's Office on several occasions to report them trespassing. The marshals showed up each time hours after the Rizzolos left. The locks were finally changed four weeks after the property was seized, but the inside of the building was probably thoroughly looted by family members during those four weeks according to witnesses.

 

INSIDE VEGAS: Why did you request a restraining order against Bart Rizzolo?

BARRIER: Because he tried to run me and my customer over with his Range Rover. My first thought was to get us out the way to avoid danger, but in the back of my mind I would've loved to have body slammed his Ranger Rover with him in it. (STATS: Barrier - 305 lbs, Range Rover - 6,800 lbs.)

What was Bart doing on the property after it was seized by the United State of America?

I think he has a pipe dream that he and his family are going to regain control of the criminal enterprise that made him and his family a fortune.

Since Councilwoman Tarkanian arranged for the Crazy Horse to be able to re-open for an additional six months, what do you think will come next?

I think after Rick Rizzolo gets out of prison in April, he will weasel his way back into hidden ownership of the club. He's an expert on that kind stuff. He's a career criminal and has been in a criminal element all his life.

How is he going to become a hidden owner without Judge Pro finding out?

Anyone who would bid $31 million for a shuttered topless bar, that tells me that Rizzolo is trying to cover all his debts with the help of the U.S. Attorney's office. If he covers his debts, he's back as a secret owner after the Feds lose interest in the case a couple years from now.

Do you know what the Crazy Horse is worth?

The Crazy Horse with a liquor license is worth approximately $15 million. The buyer would need a big stash of money to get it running again. The foundation is sinking into the ground. It has a bad reputation. There's rats running around inside the building. And they would need to buy me out so they could wrap around the building to put in a side entrance facing the underpass after the road takes away their front entrance in 2009.

The place is still haunted by the beating death of Scott Fau, Rick Sandlin and others along with the attempted murder of Kirk Henry. It's jinxed and can never be the same. That essentially kills its value.

Its best use is as a warehouse. But as a topless bar, the government shouldn't allow that to happen just to bail Rizzolo out of his debt. The only one who could pay enough to bail Rizzolo out is another criminal who will go back to prostitution and drug sales to cover expenses, and skim the rest like Rizzolo did.

I spent over a quarter century of my life dealing with this monkey business, and the government should never allow the criminal activity to resume. This is the United States of America!  Las Vegas has enough problems without having another tourist trap or clip joint run by criminals to rip off and hurt tourists and give our city a black eye.

Believe me, it was no fun watching this happen for the past 25 years. Just shut the place down and put in legitimate businesses.

But if it is sold as a topless bar, what's the least its worth?

It's been shut down for a long time. It would take $50 per head bribes for the cab drivers to bring people back. The top notch girls are afraid to work there because it's been shut down twice in one year. The place is a real toilet, and only the bottom of the barrel type dancers would work there now. Even if the place was sold for $6 million, and it did $6 million a year business, the interest on the $6 million would be $2 million per year, your liquor bill on $6 million in bar sales would be $900,000 per year, utilities at $10,000 month is $120,000 per year, the 17% tax on $6 million per year is $900,000, your licensing fees are $25,000 per year, and your payroll minus perks is $1.8 million per year. This leaves you about $250, 000 per year for advertising, profit, and bribing cabbies to the tune of $10,000 a day in cash like Rizzolo used to do when he was at the top of his game. It's a real loser unless it goes back to beating money out of people, selling drugs, and offering sex for sale. Only a criminal would pay over $18 million.

Is there anything else you want to say?

I won't accept seeing it come back as a criminal enterprise after spending 25 years of life trying to stop the violence. The place should be torn down. That's it.

****

Note to Kirk Henry:   In order to prevent what happened to you ever happening to anyone else, please encourage your attorneys to go after Rick and Lisa Rizzolo's personal assets instead of advocating the reopening of their business.

Note to Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Hollingsworth:  You are about to sell the Crazy Horse back into Mob hands. No legitimate business person would pay what you are asking, and I can't help but believe you're fully aware of what you're doing. Otherwise you'd demand complete transparency.

Copyright © Steve Miller