"Show
Me The Money!"
Rizzolo hires expensive
new
criminal defense
attorney
.
.
Racketeer Rick Rizzolo
U.S. Federal Judge Phillip M. Pro
Attorney Dominic Gentile
INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
July 19, 2010
LAS VEGAS - CNBC's Suze
Orman says, "Show Me The Money!" during the "Can I Afford
It?" segment of her TV show.
Sometime in the near future, United States
Federal Judge Phillip M. Pro may ask the same questions when convicted
racketeer Rick Rizzolo appears in court next to Dominic
Gentile, one of Las Vegas' highest priced criminal defense attorneys.
For the past several years, Rizzolo has claimed to be broke.
Remember, this is the same Rick Rizzolo
who in February 2010, told the court he may have to sell his personal possessions
to a pawn shop to pay for his living expenses, then began representing
himself pro se.
So where is Rizzolo going to get the money
to pay an esteemed legal scholar like Gentile? Possibly from his ex-wife
Lisa's fortune hidden
in the Cook Islands. Or maybe from cash stashed in several casino
cage safe deposit boxes. Remember, he did plead guilty to income tax
evasion from his former cash cow business the Crazy Horse Too topless bar.
Rick and Lisa's main and only defense as
to why they are not obligated to pay any of their court ordered debts is
that their "sham"
2005 divorce was effectuated pursuant to a valid court order by a court
of competent jurisdiction which equitably divided their community property.
Keep
in mind that the "competent" judge who signed their divorce papers allowing
Lisa to immediately send the couple's cash off shore was the Honorable
Steven Jones (mug shot on left).
So as not to bore you with the details
of the very questionable divorce, here's a LINK
to an INSIDE VEGAS column on the subject.
If this is the best the Rizzolos can come
up with to try and prove their fortune was not purposefully stashed overseas
to avoid paying their court ordered debts, Mr. Gentile will have his work
cut out for him!
And what about the cash from Rizzolo's
multi-million dollar per year skim (he plead guilty to income tax evasion
which is also known as skimming)? Where is it now? Many believe stashed
in several Strip hotel casino cage lock boxes. He does owe the IRS over
$6 million in back taxes, interest, and penalties. The government doesn't
saddle someone with such a burden unless they suspect a lot more cash went
unreported, and Strip
hotels keep information about who has casino safety deposit boxes their
best kept secret.
"Dominic Gentile never takes a case unless
a client gives him six figures up front."
These are the words of another veteran
Las Vegas criminal defense attorney who asked not to be named.
"With Rick's history (of pretending
to stiff lawyers), I don't think Dominic has him on an extended payment
plan," stated the attorney.
But charging high fees does not guarantee
that Mr. Gentile can get Rizzolo off from paying his court ordered debts.
Former Clark County Commissioner Lance
Malone, even with Gentile's best efforts, was sentenced to six years in
federal prison for taking bribes from a competitor of Rizzolo. However,
Malone's co-conspirators on the County Commission received sentences of
only 30 and 50 months respectively after they turned government witnesses.
But based on Gentile's advice, Malone refused to cooperate with the feds
and received a much longer sentence than his peers, something I'm certain
Malone now regrets.
According to the Las
Vegas Review-Journal; "...when asked to sum up the judge's ruling in
a single word, Malone's lawyer, Dominic Gentile, first muttered, 'Shit.'
He then said: 'Ouch.' "
Rizzolo may have much of the same to look
forward to when his case finally goes to trial. And the words "Shit,"
and "Ouch" may not adequately express Rick and Lisa Rizzolo's true feelings
if the court goes after their hidden fortune.
Veteran crime reporter Jeff German in his
July 12, Las Vegas
Legal News column wrote; "Gentile’s legal talents don’t come
cheap."
"Gentile’s association with Rizzolo
comes as U.S. District Judge Philip Pro is considering whether to hit Rizzolo
with heavy sanctions for being slow to turn over financial documents in
the court case."
"Kirk Henry, from the Kansas City area,
is suing Rizzolo for fraud in federal court stemming from a fight at the
Crazy Horse Too in 2001 that left him paralyzed. A club employee allegedly
broke Henry’s neck after the man argued his bar tab had been padded,"
wrote German.
"Rizzolo agreed to pay Henry $10 million
as a result of a plea agreement in 2006 to end a long-time federal racketeering
investigation at the Crazy Horse Too. But four years later, Rizzolo has
only given him $1 million, which was paid by his insurance company."
German ends by writing; "Gentile might
be valuable to Rizzolo if Pro lets the hammer fall in court."
(Early articles about Rizzolo written by
Jeff German in 1996 and 1997:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1996/mar/25/german-cusumanos-casino-role-bared/
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1997/dec/23/columnist-jeff-german-doumani-brothers-will-be-bac/)
Rizzolo has long been trying to convince
the court he's broke, and that the only way he can pay his debts is from
the proceeds from the sale of his defunct topless bar. The place has been
on the market with no
legitimate
takers since Rizzolo went to prison in 2006, and it doesn't look like
it will ever sell for enough to cover even a fraction of the Rizzolo's
court ordered obligations.
But what may really get Judge Pro's attention
is that Gentile is at complete odds with Rizzolo's prior attorney Tony
Sgro who on September 2, 2006, told the Las Vegas City Council: "...the
Henrys are to be paid whether or not the sale of the club yields sufficient
funds."
In other words, Rick and Lisa Rizzolo are
personally responsible to pay over $26 million dollars in court ordered
debts according to Rick's former attorney! And Lisa has stashed at least
that much in a Cook Islands bank out of reach of the the United States
Federal Court, the IRS, and Kirk
Henry.
So, unless Dominic Gentile can convince
him that his client is broke, and was involved in a legitimate divorce,
it will soon be up to Judge Pro to force the Rizzolo's to either repatriate
their ill-gotten stash, or pay criminal penalties for refusing to do so.
I've been told the IRS is getting impatient,
and needless to say, Kirk Henry has waited far to long!
Several years after Sgro made his highly
revealing statement about the Henrys being paid whether or not the Crazy
Horse Too yields sufficient funds, Rizzolo began his poverty routine
and supposedly stiffed Sgro on his legal fees. Sgro filed this Petition
possibly to help Rizzolo make his point:
After the above document was filed, Rizzolo
supposedly began representing himself saying he couldn't afford an attorney,
but it was soon discovered that this was also a ruse.
Rizzolo had hired
a biker friend to author hundreds of bogus
court filings to which Rizzolo signed his name. This was suspected
to be a stalling technique to keep Kirk Henry from getting paid before
he dies from his injuries.
The author was actually a man named James
Kimsey, alias
Spud.
According to Las
Vegas Review-Journal court reporter Carrie Geer Thevenot; "...the
Henrys' lawyers said they had racked up $260,000 in fees while responding
to frivolous motions from Rizzolo and Kimsey. They also suggested that
the relationship between the two felons violates the conditions of Rizzolo's
release from prison."
The federal court did not punish Rizzolo
even though he signed his name to dozens of ghost written bogus documents
and violated his parole conditions by associating with another felon, but
the court did throw the book at Kimsey for practicing law without a license.
Judge Pro may find this all very interesting
in light of the fact that Rizzolo purportedly still owes his former
attorney $80,400.00; the IRS over $6 million, and Kirk Henry $9 million
that Rizzolo promised to pay in exchange for a feather light prison sentence.
With such a history of tricks being played
on the court, it's no wonder Judge Pro is probably getting anxious to put
an end to this drawn out case especially since it's going on ten years
since Kirk Henry's neck was broken.
In the meantime, Dominic Gentile should
make sure he gets paid cash in advance. And Judge Pro, the IRS, and Kirk
Henry should make every effort to find out where Gentile's legal fees are
coming from. "Show Me The Money!"
Copyright © Steve Miller
MORE INFORMATION:
"Rich Man, Poor Man"
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/2-8-10_Inside_Vegas.html
"Rick Rizzolo Pleads Poverty"
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/2-23-09_Inside_Vegas.html
