Rizzolos
insist that Kirk Henry must sue
the brother of a Federal
Court Judge
Defendants argue that a
lawyer is solely responsible
for hiding their fortune
in off shore accounts out of
reach of an unpaid beating
victim and the IRS
If court agrees, case may
stall indefinitely
INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
November 1, 2010
.
.
Mobster
Rick Rizzolo
Mob lawyer John Dawson U.S. Judge Kent Dawson
LAS VEGAS - In what could be an eleventh
hour move to try to keep from having to pay tens of millions of dollars
in court ordered obligations, a lengthy document was filed last Thursday
in which attorneys for Lisa Rizzolo, the ex-wife of convicted
Vegas racketeer Rick Rizzolo, insists that unpaid
beating victim Kirk Henry expend countless dollars in legal fees to
sue the mob lawyer who set up the Rizzolo's off shore accounts and trusts.
Pleading that she and her ex had nothing
to do with stashing their assets in off shore accounts, Lisa Rizzolo asks
the court to force the inclusion of one of their mobbed up lawyers as a
new defendant in Kirk Henry's lawsuit because the lawyer charged over $80,000
to hide the Rizzolo's ill-gotten fortune off shore and out of reach of
creditors -- something the Rizzolos now claim they did not knowingly orchestrate.
This lawyer, John Dawson, works for the
most politically connected law firm in Nevada; Lionel
Sawyer & Collins (LS&C), that also employs two sons of Harry
Reid, the U.S. Senator who appointed John Dawson's brother Kent to the
Federal Court bench for life.
Kent Dawson coincidentally presided over
the trials of 16 Crazy Horse Too defendants once employed by his brother's
clients the Rizzolos. Judge Dawson presided without clearly disclosing
his and his brother's conflict of interest to the public.
To name him now may open a political can
of worms that would probably involve Senator Reid, and that may be exactly
what the Rizzolos want -- thinking Reid is going to remain in power and
possibly be able to influence their case so as to not be embarrassed by
his appointee's (Judge Dawson's) lack of disclosure.
John Dawson is the Trustee or "Protector"
of the Rizzolo's (hidden) off shore fortune.
Harry
Reid's business partner is local attorney Jay Brown who previously
represented Rick Rizzolo and his now-defunct Crazy Horse Too strip club.
To engage John Dawson and his law firm now could expose Brown to scrutiny,
so it appears obvious to me that Reid (if re-elected) would cooperate in
killing this case to protect his friends, but of course I could be wrong.
However, I see no other reasons for the
Rizzolo's action other than to further stall this case until after Mr.
Henry passes away from the injuries he received in 2001 at the hands of
an employee of the Rizzolos; cost Henry additional legal fees; and to engage
the politically connected LS&C lawyers into this legal fiasco -- attorneys
with friends on the Federal Court bench.
Below is an excerpt from last week's Federal
Court filing that tries to pass the buck to John Dawson.
FULL
TEXT
Las Vegas attorneys who have been closely
following this case tell INSIDE VEGAS that it's a real long shot that any
Federal Judge would go along with the Rizzolo's request and force a plaintiff
to sue the defendant's lawyer, or dismiss the entire case for not doing
so.
It will soon be up to U.S. Judge Philip
Pro whether to force Kirk Henry to abide by the Rizzolo's demands and name
John Dawson and his law firm as additional parties in this protracted lawsuit,
or send Rick Rizzolo back to prison for evading millions of dollars in
court ordered legal obligations to Kirk Henry, the IRS, City of Las Vegas,
and others.
But there were other developments happening
last week that were much more foreboding for the Rizzolos, especially for
Rick while he's on parole. On Wednesday, October 27, the United States
of America filed a Motion for Examination of Judgment Debtor. It will force
Rick Rizzolo into court to answer long standing questions about his finances
including questions about his well known gambling habits and lavish lifestyle.
FULL
TEXT
This is in addition to an Order issued
by the court on Friday, October 29, granting Kirk Henry's attorney's Motion
to extend the time for discovery long enough to depose Rick Rizzolo's business
partner Vince
Piazza, the dad of Major League slugger Mike Piazza. The deposition
which is a public record may prove very embarrassing to Piazza who is the
well respected owner of eleven
Pennsylvania new car dealerships.
And regarding the Rizzolo's off shore accounts,
there is recent federal case law in Minnesota that indirectly applies to
the Rizzolos.
The Honorable Michael J. Davis. Chief U.S.
District Judge, District of Minnesota ordered litigants in his court to
“repatriate” their ill-gotten funds stashed in off shore banks.
| Case 0:09-cv-03333-MJD-JJK
Document 52 Filed 12/08/09
IT IS HEREBY FURTHER
ORDERED that Defendant shall, no later than December 3, 2009, repatriate
to the territory of the United States any and all funds and assets that
are held by Defendant or are under his direct or indirect control, jointly
or singly, or in which Defendant has or had any beneficial interest, or
over which he maintained or maintains and/or exercised or exercises control,
including but not limited to any and all assets and funds:
1. Held in foreign
bank, brokerage or other financial accounts; or
2. Transferred out
of the United States from any account within the territory of the United
States at any point from January 1, 2006 through the present; and Defendant
shall, no later than December 3, 2009, deposit such repatriated funds into
the Registry of this Court. |
In the above case, the defendant foolishly
refused to abide by the judge's order. According to a United States Securities
and Exchange Commission press
release; "Chief Judge Davis ordered Cook (the defendant) incarcerated
until he, among other things, surrenders $27 million located in offshore
accounts." Now, it's up to U.S. Judge Philip Pro to do the
same in the Rizzolo case.
