Were
District Attorney David Roger
and Judge Jackie Glass bribed?
"Defendant Has Stayed
Out of Trouble"
"Early Termination From
Probation"
"HONORABLE DISCHARGE"
"Credit For Time Served"
"Gross Misdemeanor"
"CASE CLOSED"
INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
July 5, 2010
LAS VEGAS - The Merriam-Webster Online
Dictionary describes "Recidivism" as "A tendency to relapse into a previous
condition or mode of behavior; especially:
relapse into criminal behavior."
The setting free of Dominic Rizzolo four
years before the end of his sentence may someday exemplify the meaning
of the word "recidivism."
When the delinquent son of a rich criminal
is coddled by a district attorney and a judge, the probability of him committing
another heinous crime increases exponentially. Such coddling also raises
deserved suspicion about the current state of our local criminal justice
system.
Dominic, the 26 year old son of
convicted
racketeer Rick Rizzolo, pleaded guilty in a January 2009 plea bargain
to Felony Battery With Use Of A Deadly Weapon for stabbing William Moyer
in the upper abdomen during a botched extortion attempt that occurred one
year earlier.
There was no trial.
According to the victim, at approximately
10 PM, January 21, 2008, Dominic Rizzolo drove to William Moyer's home
in a dark colored SUV with the license plate covered by a T-shirt.
Moyer, 26, had received a phone call
on the night of the stabbing asking if he was staying home that evening?
Fifteen minutes later, Rizzolo knocked at his door. (The phone call and
covering of the license plate show premeditation).
Moyer's mother answered the door and summoned
her son. The two men conversed on the front lawn for several minutes until
Rizzolo asked Moyer, "Do you know who my family is?" then demanded $20,000.
Moyer said he refused the demand and ordered
Rizzolo off the property. Rizzolo struck Moyer in the face with his fist.
A fight ensued in which Rizzolo pulled a six inch switchblade knife and
stabbed Moyer.
Dominic fled the scene and was
arrested six weeks later while staying at the home of Rick
Belcastro, an associate of Rick Rizzolo. Dominic was booked and
immediately released on his own recognizance. His attorney
posted $13,000 bail after the district attorney lodged no objection to
Rizzolo's release.
One year after the stabbing, Rizzolo
family attorney Tony Sgro arranged Dominic's plea bargain with District
Attorney David Roger. During that year, Dominic did not spend one day in
jail even though his victim suffered substantial bodily harm that incapacitated
him for several weeks.
This was a premeditated crime involving
use of a concealed weapon, substantial bodily harm, and an assailant
who fled the scene. It would have been an easy case for any district attorney
to prosecute.
In 2007, Tony Sgro donated a re-election
headquarters to Roger who was running for his second term, and Tony was
one of his most effective fund raisers.
During Roger's first campaign in 2002,
Rick Rizzolo held two fund raisers in which he generated over $45,000 in
donations mostly from adult business owners. Keep in mind that owners of
adult businesses usually prefer to deal in cash.
I wrote a May 8, 2002 editorial entitled
"The company
he keeps" exposing Rizzolo's participation in Roger's first campaign
for DA.
The revelation of the Rizzolo/Roger connection
started a firestorm.
After his political opponent distributed
the editorial, Roger told reporters that he returned the money.
The February
21, 2003 Las Vegas Review-Journal reported: "District Attorney
David Roger accepted money from Rizzolo but returned it during last year's
campaign."
The May
30, 2003 Las Vegas SUN reported: "When District Attorney David
Roger ran for office last year, Rizzolo and other adult club operators
stood in line to throw money at his campaign. Roger collected $45,000 from
the clubs until his opponent made an issue out of the contributions, and
Roger realized it wouldn't look good being close to businesses his office
helps regulate. So he gave the money back."
Rizzolo had a good reason for supporting
certain district attorney candidates. The DA has sole discretion
over what cases will be prosecuted that are presented to his office by
the police.
On Sept. 6, 2006 Las
Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic, informed the LV City Council: "35
to 40 beatings had occurred at Crazy Horse Too in three years."
Many of the victims filed complaints with
the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. When the police determined
Probable Cause existed, they filed Request for Prosecution documents with
the district attorney.
On October 3, 2001, I broke the story of
the beating of Kansas tourist Kirk Henry. Several days after "Another
beating reported at local topless bar" was published, Lt. John Alamshaw.
twenty-three-year LVMPD veteran in charge of robbery, told me that five
LVMPD Requests for Prosecution of Crazy Horse Too employees were sitting
on the desk of then-District Attorney Stewart Bell. One of the requests
involved the crippling
of Kirk Henry.
I conducted a television interview of Stewart
Bell in December 2002 following his election as a Clark County District
Court Judge. When asked about the five Crazy Horse Too cases, Bell stated
that he believed there was probable cause to prosecute all five cases,
but would leave that decision up to incoming DA David Roger.
In January 2003, Roger denied all five
LVMPD Requests for Prosecution involving the Crazy Horse Too including
the Henry case.
Based on his method of doing business,
Rick Rizzolo needed all the help he could get to stay open, and a friendly
DA can find a miriad of quasi-legal reasons to deny a case for prosecution.
It was confirmed by the United
States Department of Justice that throughout the years the Crazy Horse
Too operated, employees "through threats of violence and through the
actual use of force" extorted money from club patrons. Dozens of complaints
were filed, but none were prosecuted by the three DA's who have served
since the club opened in 1978.
Even after the robberies and beatings started
making
front
page news, and a story appeared on Dateline
NBC, David Roger refused to prosecute anyone associated with the
club -- a possible quid pro quo for Rizzolo and Sgro's campaign fund
raising efforts -- or worse.
The FBI finally took action in lieu of
Roger's refusal to prosecute. In 2005, Rick Rizzolo plea bargained
with federal prosecutors and received a one year prison sentence for tax
evasion. His corporation pled guilty to racketeering, but the topless club
remained in business with Dominic Rizzolo and his uncle Ralph secretly
in charge.
On June 1, 2007, in order to permanently
end the violence, the Crazy Horse Too was shut
down by the City of Las Vegas, and the property seized by the United
States Department of Justice. It
has remained dark ever since.
Knowing the Rizzolos were no strangers
to violence, Clark County District Court Judge Jackie Glass sentenced Dominic
Rizzolo to five years in the Nevada State Prison, but suspended his sentence
after DA Roger refused to treat the crime seriously.
Roger did not subpoena the victim William
Moyer to testify in court, and according to Moyer, the DA never bothered
to interview him during the twelve months it took to bring this
case to sentencing.
There's also a question about a never-filed
concealed weapons charge? Dominic was carrying the switchblade knife in
his back pocket on the night of January 21, 2008. Nowhere in his court
records is this mentioned.
(Go to: http://courtgate.coca.co.clark.nv.us:8490/DistrictCourt/asp/SearchPartyOptions.asp.
Type in Rizzolo, Dominic)
NRS
202.350 - Crimes against public health and safety - carrying concealed
weapon without permit: "It is unlawful for a person within this
state to: carry concealed upon his person ...any instrument or weapon
of the kind commonly known as (a) switchblade knife."
On January 13, 2009, at Dominic's sentencing
(12 months after the stabbing), Judge Glass stated that she "has concerns
about the negotiations (with Roger), but will follow them pursuant to the
agreement of counsel."
Judge Glass then went against Nevada Revised
Statutes Section 200.481 - Crimes and Punishments, and sentenced Dominic
to five years probation and community service to be carried out in Orlando,
Florida where he was offered a job at a time
shrare company owned by Marco
Manzi, an associate of Rick Rizzolo.
NRS
200.481 succinctly states: "(2) Substantial bodily harm to
the victim results, for a category B felony by imprisonment in the state
prison for a minimum term of not less than 2 years and a maximum term
of not more than 15 years, and may be further punished by a fine of not
more than $10,000."
This law was completely ignored
by Judge Glass who had the discretion to follow NRS no matter what the
DA recommended. She didn't even impose the $10,000 fine!
Nine months into his Florida "sentence,"
Judge Glass, in an empty court room, again agreed with DA Roger's recommendation,
and waived
Dominic's community service requirement more than four years before
it was due to expire. Then she abruptly closed the case!
This is the same judge and DA who in 2008
threw the book at O.J.
Simpson sentencing him to nine years in prison even though no one was
injured in the armed robbery and kidnapping at the Palace Station.
.
.
Rick Rizzolo
Dominic Rizzolo
David Roger
According to the Jan.
14, 2009, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police
asked Roger to prosecute Dominic for attempted murder and conspiracy.
But the DA ignored the police request,
just like the Judge ignored the NRS.
As reported in the May
21, 2006, Las Vegas SUN: "In a deposition that Rizzolo gave
in the (Kirk) Henry case in July 2005, he said the club (Crazy Horse Too)
grossed $800,000 to $1 million a month, which translates to annual gross
sales of $9.6 million to $12 million."
The IRS says Rick Rizzolo still owes over
$6 million in unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties. Based on his plea
to tax evasion, it's clear that most of Rick's millions were skimmed from
the club's gross sales, and it's not far fetched to assume that some of
that cash might have made its way into the hands of certain district
attorneys and judges over the years as evidenced by the Rizzolo's uncanny
ability to avoid meaningful legal penalties.
As an example, between 1985 and 2008, at
least four serious acts of violence involving the Rizzolo family or their
business have been met with refusal to prosecute by three local DA's.
The Dec.
15, 2005 Orange County Register reported: "Rizzolo
pleaded guilty to attacking a man with a baseball bat in 1985."
In 1989, then-DA Rex Bell refused to prosecute
Rick Rizzolo for beating Rick Sandlin with a baseball bat. Three years
after the attack, Sandlin died of his injuries, but Rizzolo walked away
with only a gross misdemeanor. His attorney was former mob lawyer Oscar
Goodman who later became the Mayor of Las Vegas. At the time, Goodman
was known for requiring a $500,000 retainer in order to take a criminal
defense case.
On Aug. 4, 1995, long haul truck driver
Scott
Fau was beaten to death by Crazy Horse Too bouncers. Then-DA Stewart
Bell (no relation to Rex Bell) refused to prosecute, and the assailants
went free.
On Sept. 20, 2001, Kansas tourist Kirk
Henry had his neck broken by a Crazy Horse Too manager after disputing
a padded bar tab. Las Vegas police requested that the case be prosecuted
as an attempted murder. In January 2003, the case was given to newly elected
DA David Roger who immediately dropped all charges. The FBI disagreed with
Roger and took the case which later convicted Bobby D'Apice in U.S. Federal
Court of two counts of battery with substantial bodily harm.
Then on January 21, 2008, Dominic Rizzolo
tried to kill William Moyer who was unarmed. Rizzolo's switchblade knife
came within one half inch of Moyer's aorta. Moyer almost died from his
injuries. (Click HERE
to read Moyer's six page hospital record). Following Dominic's delayed
arrest that occurred six weeks after the stabbing, DA David Roger
refused to vigorously prosecute the case, opening the door for Judge Glass
to aloofly minimize the penalties.
I grew up in Las Vegas. Over the past fifty
years, I've served in elected and appointed positions in the City of Las
Vegas and Clark County governments. For my service, I received the coveted
"Most Effective Public Official"
award. As a reporter and commentator for over three decades, I've covered
local political and crime news for Las Vegas and national media outlets.
So I believe I understand the inner workings of this town.
I believe there's ample information in
the above described cases to show that several district attorneys and at
least one local judge shirked their responsibility to enforce the law in
cases involving the Rizzolos. Please take a few minutes to read the material
I have linked to in this column. The evidence is overwhelming! The coddling
of Dominic Rizzolo by DA Roger and Judge Glass speaks louder than words.
I do not claim to personally be able to
prove certain public officials were bribed (cash is too hard to trace),
and whatever inspired these elected officials to obviously violate their
oaths of office may never be known. However, questions deserve to be raised
because the appearance of their impropriety is self evident, and the results
of their actions remain to be seen.
With so little of a lesson learned, I predict
we've not heard the last of crimes committed by Dominic Rizzolo. And if
he again tries to take someone's life, the victim's blood will be on the
hands of Judge Jackie Glass and District Attorney David Roger.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Steve Miller has
written several AmericanMafia.com columns that mentioned Dominic Rizzolo.
The following messages were sent to Steve immediately following each column
in which Dominic Rizzolo was mentioned. Steve filed reports regarding the
messages with the Organized Crime Bureau of the Las Vegas Metropolitan
Police Department, and the FBI. He did not file reports with the office
of the Clark County District Attorney.
From: Melissa Hicks <melissaannehicks@hotmail.com>
To: Stevemiller4lv@aol.com
Subject: Dominic Rizzolo
This is Dominic Rizzolo. You have some nerve calling anyone a coward
especially my best friend Benny Benhen (sp) [1].
It was you (steve miller) who gave up his own daughter for cocaine that
was found in your possession in a car you were driving [2].
If that isnt (sp) the definition of a cunt and a coward then i dont (sp)
know what is. Why dont (sp) you make a copy of this email and put it on
your website so that people can see just what kind of person your (sp)
are. If you were to see any of us around you would scurry like a frightened
rabbit.
Love,
Dominic Rizzolo |
Please click HERE
for information on the death of James Barrier
Copyright © Steve Miller
In
1998, Steve was inducted into the Nevada Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
The
selection criteria is a minimum of 20 years broadcasting experience.
