Steve Miller is a former Las Vegas City Councilman. In 1991, the readers
of the Las Vegas Review Journal voted him the "Most Effective Public
Official" in Southern Nevada. Visit his
website at: http://www.SteveMiller4LasVegas.com
Faraci Secretly
Applies
for a County Liquor License
"Faraci had a
high powered attorney who wanted it on
the consent agenda." -
Spokeswoman, County Business License Dept.
"Most
of the Commissioners didn't realize what they voted for.
Someone
tried to pull a fast one!" - Commissioner, County Liquor Licensing
Board
INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
April 30, 2007
LAS VEGAS - Sometimes living in Vegas is like living in the
Twilight
Zone! First the City Council goes against the advice of the
Special Investigations Unit of Metro Police and the City
Attorney to grant a mob straw
man a permanent liquor license at the blood
soaked Crazy Horse Too. Then last Tuesday, the equally brave Clark
County Liquor and Gaming Licensing Board were asked to secretly grant
preliminary approval of a key employee liquor license for a twice
convicted
felon about to go prison.
In a story considered a non
event by
the callous local media, Vinny
Faraci, Federal Inmate
Number 18408-053, was quietly given the County's blessing to
operate a Vegas topless bar after he gets out of prison..
Faraci and his high powered attorney walked away from the meeting with
hope his friends
at Metro P.D. will recommend he get the coveted license before he
starts his five month sentence on July 1st.
 The son of reputed
Bonanno crime family captain "Johnny Green" Faraci of New York, the
younger Faraci worked with friend Rick Rizzolo, Federal Inmate
Number 41390-048, at the
Crazy
Horse Too as a shift manager during the years patrons were beaten
or killed for not signing inflated credit card tabs. He has a felony
mail fraud conviction on his record; and was recently convicted of his
second felony - tax evasion. Faraci was also part of the Crazy Horse
Too management team that last summer pleaded guilty to
racketeering.
But that didn't faze the County
Liquor
and
Gaming Licensing Board. Faraci was represented by Mayor
Oscar Goodman's law partner David
Chesnoff who didn't even have to speak at the 30 sec. long hearing.
(Goodman's other law partner Jay Brown represents the Crazy Horse.)
After his release from Taft
Federal
Prison Camp in December, Faraci wants to become the general manager
of a
topless bar named "EDEN" located on Valley View Blvd. If he's granted
the license, he will be the first club executive to ever go to work
wearing a prisoner's ankle bracelet!
.
 And if Faraci is actually granted a
license as most around here expect to happen, that proves the
inmates are running the asylum! But that's not all. The club Eden may
be just the tip of the organized crime iceberg.
One of my most
trusted sources just called to say "gaming regulation in Nevada is
done." He said Faraci is really just gearing up to get a key employee
license at Pure in Caesars Palace , and he's getting help from the City
Council,
County Commission,
and local courts because he and Rizzolo provide girls for private
parties with casino executives, drugs, and "security" for the
exclusive clubs frequented by TV and movie stars. In return, the
politicians tap the casinos for campaign contributions.
My source said he
also predicts that the
VIP
gambling salons in some hotels will someday be run by colorful felons like Faraci
and Rizzolo (himself a Whale), and gaming regulators will either turn
their backs or
actually grant them licenses because they draw other "Whales."
But that's a few years off. First the O.C. types must get their initial
privileged licenses in non-gaming venues like Eden, an off-Strip
topless bar, then later sneak through licenses to work at or own the
Strip hotel dance clubs. Once that happens and with political opponents
paid off, gaming licenses can soon follow. Sound impossible? This is
the new Las Vegas!
But it can't easily happen with the public knowing the plan, at least I
hope that's the case. Last Tuesday it was supposed to slip under the
radar, however, Review-Journal
columnist John L. Smith and I were tipped off and now you're reading
the story on AmericanMafia.com that's hand delivered to every
politician and federal law enforcement official in the city, county,
and state.
Remember, it was only last year that four of our esteemed Clark County
Commissioners were convicted
of taking bribes and two more are currently under investigation; the
kind of stuff that's supposed to bring out the best in those still
serving in public office like the current members of the Clark
County Liquor and Gaming Licensing Board.
My source said
that at no time in Faraci or Rizzolo's trials were the words "organized
crime" mentioned, and that was by design after someone allegedly
tampered with
the cases at the Dept. of Justice in D.C. My source said the
D.O.J. went easy, then fired Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden to
squelch future
prosecutions so people like Faraci
and Rizzolo can become key license holders and owners in clubs like
Pure.
Rizzolo has been banned from the adult entertainment business for
the rest of his life, but is not banned from running dance clubs in
Strip hotels.
On April 18, the LV City
Council acted like Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod, and disregarded the
findings of Metro Police and their own City Attorney who pleaded to
deny Mike
Signorelli a permanent liquor license to run Rizzolo's Crazy Horse.
Signorelli got his license anyway.
Las Vegas CityLife's Andrew Kiraly cleverly described it: "But for
all the council cared for good sense, it might as well have followed
the vote with a vicious round of your-mama jokes directed at City
Attorney Brad Jerbic and Metro police, who had warned city officials
that new Crazy Horse Too manager Mike Signorelli is a mere puppet for
owner and felon Rick Rizzolo.'"
So what's to make us think the County Liquor Board will do otherwise
after the cops complete their useless background investigation of
Faraci?
We already know the results. Clark County Ordinance
§8.20.010 clearly states: "It is found and declared that the public
health, safety, morals and welfare... require the regulation and control of all
persons engaged in, associated with, or in control of, the business of
liquor sales. (a) In conformity with the policy of this
chapter, the following persons are declared not to be qualified to hold
a license under the provisions of this chapter: (1) A person who does
not possess, or who does not have a reputation for possessing a good
moral character; 4) A person who the licensing board determines is not
a suitable person to receive or hold a license, after due consideration
for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, good order and
general welfare...."
Why waste the
taxpayer's money on such a frivolous investigation? The police have
better things to do. Anyway, after the City Council just set the gold
standard by ignoring Metro's findings on Signorelli, so why should
the County Commissioners listen to the police report
on Faraci?
"Faraci
had a high powered attorney who wanted it on the consent agenda" was the amazing answer given INSIDE
VEGAS
when we asked a spokeswoman from County Business License why Item 411
was placed on the Consent Agenda where it would not be up for public
comment or discussion by the Board.
"Most
of the Commissioners didn't realize what they voted for. Someone
tried to pull a fast one," complained one member of the Clark County
Liquor Licensing Board after he blessed Faraci. However, he said this
after John L. Smith gave
the Board an ample heads up in last Tuesday's Review-Journal, so I doubt he
was being sincere.
Smith tried to blow the
whistle to warn the Commissioners before the hearing by writing; "Now,
Faraci is applying for
key employee status at Eden, a topless club at 3750 S. Valley View
Blvd. He's scheduled to appear with attorney David Chesnoff this
morning in the Clark County Commission chambers... 'There's never
been an allegation he was ever present when any act of violence
occurred at the Crazy Horse over a 20-year career,' Chesnoff said.
'He's well-respected in that industry by club owners and dancers alike.
That's what he does...' Not to be a stickler, here, counselor, but
there was that one time in the mid-1980s when Faraci's name surfaced on
a police report concerning the baseball bat beating of a patron outside
the Crazy Horse Too. It's also true the pummeling went nowhere in the
courts," wrote Smith.
Mayor Oscar Goodman with
protégés Gardy
Jolly and David Chesnoff
In the
case of baseball bat beating victim Rick Sandlin referred to in Smith's
column, then-criminal defense attorney Oscar Goodman defended
Rizzolo; the judge gave Rizzolo a slap on the wrist;
and Sandlin died of his injuries three
years after the beating.
In the taped interview of Dan
Kennedy, an eye witness to another Crazy Horse Too beating that
resulted in the 1995 death of Scott David
Fau -- Kennedy made reference to Vinny Faraci who was managing the
Crazy
Horse at the time:
"Yeah,
they're
the one that beat up this Hawaiian guy out there that was just - - the
poor guy wasn't even moving, and they were kicking him, and, um, at
that point that's all. They were just kicking him around, jumping on
him, stomping on his arm. They stomped his leg. Kicked him in the
stomach. They kept - Moe was kicking him in the head, and you just
watched his head wiggle around." Kennedy also stated on the tape: "The
manager guy would poke his head out the door, but he wouldn't walk out.
He'd just - he'd open the door and look out and then step back in. I
never seen - he didn't come out." Kennedy
identified the manager of the Crazy Horse as "Vinny or Vince."
When the Fau wrongful death
case
finally went to trial in 2003, then-District Court Judge Nancy
M. Saitta (now a Nevada Supreme Court Justice) advised the jury to
not consider blunt force trauma
as the cause of Fau's death because he died three hours after the
beating. Following her orders to the letter, the jury ruled in favor of
the Crazy Horse.
<> In
his April 24, RJ column, Smith talks
about U.S. Federal Court Judge Kent Dawson: "Although the New York
Crime Commission confirmed Faraci's mob status, U.S. District Judge
Kent Dawson said the defendant's underworld fraternal order had no
bearing on his decision to sentence Faraci to just 10 months in jail
with five of that to be served in a halfway house. He received a wrist
slap and no mob jacket. If, as Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson
contended at his January sentencing, Faraci condoned the occasional
vicious beating at the club, the judge apparently wasn't much
impressed."
Then there was this:
My name is Eddie
, and I am from San Diego. I was visiting Vegas because
I turned 21 on the 15th of July 2004. On 7-17 my girlfriend and I
went to the Crazy Horse to have a little fun and it turned into a
nightmare. After my girlfriend paid for a lap dance for me, she
decided to sit at the bar until it was over. While sitting there
she was physically removed from her seat and told that she wasn't
working tonight. When she explained that she didn't work there, a man
that called himself "Vinney" (sp) told her not to "fucking talk
back" and physically forced her out of the club. When my dance
ended I went looking for her and one bouncer said she was
outside. I found her out there crying with bruises on her arms
from this Vinney guy. I had left my cell phone in the club by
accident and told her I was going to go pick it up and make a complaint
to the manager. When I tried to complain I was told to "go fuck"
myself and that my girlfriend was a prostitute, so I loudly demanded
that I needed to speak to Vinney right this second. The
next thing I know I was attacked by at least four bouncers. One stuck
his finger into my eye socket and ask me how it felt while the others
punched me in the back and sides of my head, I was knocked
unconscious and came to with a bouncer on top of me telling me to stop
resisting. I, as calmly as I possibly could, with tears in my eyes,
tried to explain that I was not resisting and didn't want any trouble,
all I wanted was to complain to Vinney. When
the police arrived a few minutes later, they put me in handcuffs.
My girlfriend who had seen the last part of the beating, couldn't hold
back anymore and tried to run to me because my face was bloody and my
eyes swollen. An officer stepped in front of her and she brushed
by him trying to get around him. She was then arrested for
assaulting an officer. So with both of us handcuffed and my face
pretty messed up, we were offered by the Sergeant that we would be let
go, but if we decided to press charges on the club, my girlfriend would
be charged with assaulting an officer. So we took the
offer and got in a cab and went to Sunrise emergency where they gave me
a catscan and treated me for multiple small cuts and a sprained
knee. I have a concussion and have a little blurry vision along
with a knee injury that is going to prevent me from working for at
least a few days. I also had $300 dollars
taken from my pocket while I was being subdued by the bouncers.
I filled out a (police)
report after I was released from the
hospital at 10 am on saturday the 17th. I have pictures of my cut
and swollen eyes and an abrasion on my back and knee. Thank you
for your time. -- Statement of Eddie Soula similar to his testimony
before the Federal
Grand Jury
|
 Former US Attorney
for
Nevada Daniel
Bogden was hot on the trail of organized crime figures in
Las Vegas that could have exposed their sycophants in D.C. He oversaw
Operations "G Sting" and "Crazy Horse," and I'm informed was ready to
bring down several Las Vegas pols including Oscar Goodman and Mike
McDonald along with their bag man.
Had Bogden been
allowed
to
continue, his efforts may have included Goodman's law partner and Crazy
Horse attorney Jay Brown, and Brown's pal Senator
Harry Reid. So Bogden was fired.
It's obvious President Bush
was
not interested in protecting Reid, it's just that Bogden was about to
interfere with the "Whale" business on the Strip that attracts many
O.C. types and others from unfriendly Middle Eastern and Asian nations who frequent the
latest
Strip night clubs including "Pure" at Caesars Palace, "Studio
54" at the MGM, and "Tao" at the
Venetian -- non-gaming venues owned by independent
contractors who relieve the casino licensees of responsibility for what
goes on in the clubs, but attract high rollers into the adjacent
casinos before and after their club "experience."
The Strip is a huge
campaign
contributor during presidential elections, so when casino
barons have a problem, Capitol Hill is all ears. Bogden was
going after people like future casino nightclub hosts
Faraci and Rizzolo; the guys who supply the girls,
drugs, and bouncers that fuel this new Strip
phenomena, so Bogden had to go.
The first step in the scheme is to
get a crime family capo a liquor license -- anywhere -- then let him
graduate to a Strip hotel like Caesars. After that, anything goes!
Can you see the
pattern?
Will the police find Faraci unfit to
hold a privileged liquor license? And if so, will the County
Liquor Licensing Board care when it's suspected the casinos want the
cast of "Goodfellas" running their private dance clubs because mob guys
attract high rollers?
Will
Harry Reid be
the first disgraced Democrat of the new cycle?
It seems Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid cannot do
anything other then peddle power and cash in on questionable deals.
Let's start with the land deal that netted Reid a mere
$700,000. Steve Miller has tied Harry Reid to Jay Brown - a close
friend of Reid's for more then 35 years. Brown, in turn, has close ties
to the Bononno Organized Crime Family and of a Bononno Family Capo,
Vinny Faraci, who received the minimum possible sentence from US
Federal Judge Kent Dawson. Judge Dawson continues the Reid connection
since Reid recommended him to the bench back in 1999. [American
Mafia]
http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/business_politics/2007/01/
|
This brings us to last
Tuesday's meeting of the Clark County Liquor and Gaming Licensing Board.
TRANSCRIPT
CHAIRMAN RORY REID (Yes, Senator Harry Reid's
son):
|
Without
discussion from the Board, public comment, or input from the
District
Attorney or Metro Special Investigations, Consent Items 3
- 430
were approved in one vote including the elusive Item 411.
 Liquor Board Chairman Rory
Reid stated before the vote that the items were "procedural and
administrative in nature and require no approval or notation," so his
Board paid little attention to the items they were about to approve --
or maybe they knew exactly what
they were about to approve! We'll know by their actions when Item 411
comes back with Metro PD's recommendation.
Based
on the City Council's actions two
weeks ago regarding Signorelli's application for a permanent liquor
license at the Crazy Horse Too, it may again not matter what the police
have to say -- this time about Faraci.
So
far the
City Council, County Liquor Licensing Board, City Attorney, and Metro PD have been
treated like chopped liver when it comes to Goodman Law Firm clients,
and each has accepted their unique
new status without protest while the media finds more important things
to report, and the citizens bask in our Sin City image.
The
City Council had a five day
opportunity to bring the Crazy Horse permanent liquor license approval
back for reconsideration. Not one member had the guts to go against
Goodman, Reid, Chesnoff or Brown, so the deadline elapsed last
Wednesday.
Now, any of
the County Liquor Board members have until 5 PM this Wednesday May 2,
to bring Item 411 back for reconsideration, but I won't hold my breath. If they cower as did their wimpy
colleagues on the City Council, their
negligence will send a clear message to criminals
throughout the world that Vegas is a wide open town.
And they say the
Mob
no longer runs
Las Vegas!
Copyright © Steve
Miller
* If you would like to receive Steve's frequent E-Briefs about Las Vegas'
scandals, click here: Steve Miller's Las Vegas E-Briefs
Copyright © Steve Miller
email Steve Miller at: Stevemiller4lv@aol.com
|
