Vince Piazza reveals Lisa Rizzolo's possible
complicity to hide the proceeds from the
sale of the Philly Crazy Horse Too

Attorney Don Campbell:
"How did your relationship develop with him?"

Vince Piazza:
"It never developed!  I never had a long
standing relationship with him."

INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
December 5, 2011

LAS VEGAS - He probably wishes he'd never heard the name Rick Rizzolo!

Vince Piazza (left) is a respected businessman in Pennsylvania, and the proud father of baseball legend Mike Piazza.

According to his September 28, 2011 deposition in the Kirk Henry beating case, Mr. Piazza was first introduced to Vegas racketeer Rick Rizzolo in 1996 at a baseball game in Los Angeles. The introduction was made by then-LA Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda who was a friend of Rizzolo.

At that time in history, Rizzolo was clean, and Piazza had no reason to believe that one day in his future, an association with Rizzolo would threaten to besmirch the Piazza family's good name.

Several months after their initial meeting, Vince Piazza visited the Las Vegas Crazy Horse Too then owned by Rizzolo. After a cursory inspection of the highly profitable enterprise, Vince was favorably impressed especially when his son Mike told him Rizzolo was a personal friend. After the visit, Vince dined with Rick and his then-wife Lisa at Piero's.

However, Vince evidently did not see the big picture. At the time of his visit to the Crazy Horse Too, the club was becoming infamous for beatings and robberies of patrons who haplessly found themselves there during off peak hours. For their efforts in extorting money from customers, Rick Rizzolo and 15 of his goons were later convicted of felonies. It was also suspected that Rizzolo was paying off a city councilman, several rogue cops, and the former mayor to turn their backs on the extortion and related violence.

In 2001, Kansas tourist Kirk Henry's neck was broken by a Crazy Horse Too manager when Henry refused to pay a padded bar tab. Henry hired attorneys Don Campbell and Stan Hunterton to sue Rizzolo and his club. Campbell and Hunterton are both former federal prosecutors with connections at the U.S. Department of Justice. Soon after Campbell and Hunterton were hired by Henry, the FBI began an investigation of Rizzolo and the Crazy Horse Too. The rest is history.

Ten years after their dinner date, Piazza in 2006 became interested in investing in the construction of a gentleman's club in Philadelphia, but had no experience in that type of business. He contacted Rick and asked him if he would like to invest in the project? Rizzolo agreed and invested $2 million dollars.

Piazza soon learned that Rizzolo was having problems with the U.S. Department of Justice pertaining to his racketeering activities and income tax evasion. Undaunted, Piazza pressed forward with his Philly project knowing Rizzolo could not be named on the license. Instead, Piazza accepted Rizzolo as a "consultant," and the project moved forward. However, Rick Rizzolo's presence within the project drew the ire of Philadelphia's press and political leaders.

While this was going on, and with Piazza becoming dubious of his choice of partners, Kirk Henry's attempted murder case was progressing through the Federal Court system. However, Piazza claimed he didn't know of the Henry case until after the Philly club was open for business and he read about Henry's beating on AmericanMafia.com.

Becoming aware of the full extent of his business partner's troubles, Piazza decided he no longer wanted to be in the strip club business with Rizzolo, and found a buyer. His first order of business was to strike a deal with Rizzolo to buy out his interest for $3 million which resulted in a $1 million dollar profit for Rick -- money Rizzolo wanted to conceal from Henry, the court, his parole officer, and the IRS.

By then Rizzolo was serving his first stint in prison, so he enlisted the help of his late father Bart to collect and conceal the proceeds from the Philly sale. Bart died in 2010 after receiving over $1 million in payments -- money that was court ordered to go to Kirk Henry to help satisfy a judgment of $10 million agreed to by Rick Rizzolo in exchange for a shortened prison sentence. After serving less than a year in prison, Rizzolo reneged on his side of the deal.  With the exception of $1 million paid to Henry from Rizzolo's Farmer's Insurance policy, the court ordered him to personally pay Henry the balance of $9 million plus interest, but Rizzolo had no intention of complying with the court's order.

Rick and Lisa stashed their assets off shore to avoid paying Rick's judgments.

Because he had yet to receive a dime from the Rizzolo's personal fortune, Henry filed a Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act (UFTA) lawsuit against the couple that's ongoing to the present day.

Even though he was in prison, Rick conjured up several schemes to keep the money out of Henry's hands. According to Rick's plan, the money would be secretly paid to his father Bart. Unfortunately, Bart Rizzolo died before all the funds could be transferred. Enter Rick's ex-wife Lisa and stepmother Kimtran Rizzolo who are intent on keeping the money in the family.

Following Bart's death, Lisa was the one who contacted Piazza and informed him to send all future payments to Kimtran. Piazza complied. However Rick Rizzolo did not inform his parole officer, the U.S. Federal Court, or Kirk Henry which later resulted in him being found guilty of violating the conditions of his parole causing his return to prison.

And following their questionable 2005 divorce, Lisa was not expected to be involved in her ex-husband's business dealings, but her surprising call to Piazza may someday be construed by a jury as the action of an "insider," something that's typical in a UFTA case.

While this was going on, Henry's attorneys caught wind of a possible scam, and filed the following Motion to Extend Discovery in order to find out who changed the beneficiary to receive Piazza's payments? The answers to Henry's questions came during Piazza's deposition. According to his testimony, the person acting on Rick Rizzolo's behalf was his ex-wife Lisa, and the new beneficiary was Kimtran.

During Piazza's deposition taken in Philadelphia on September 28, 2011, over the strenuous objections of Lisa Rizzolo's attorney Mark Bailus, Kirk Henry's attorney Donald Campbell remained steadfast and was successful in obtaining the information about Lisa and Kimtran. He also discovered that Piazza was a reader of my INSIDE VEGAS columns.

Kimtran Rizzolo in her October 12, 2011 deposition brazenly denied knowing anything about the payments she was receiving, or Vince Piazza.

Kimtran's sketchy deposition performance may be used to bolster Henry's UFTA lawsuit, and resulted in the following Motion to Compel and Request for Sanctions:
 

Full docket text for document 556: MINUTE ORDER IN CHAMBERS of the Honorable Magistrate Judge George Foley, Jr, on 11/22/2011. By Judicial Assistant: Julia Wright. RE: [555] Plaintiff's MOTION to Compel Discovery as to Defendant Kimtran Rizzolo and Request for Sanctions : Motion Hearing set for Tuesday, December 20, 2011, at 10:30 AM in LV Courtroom 3A before Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - JBW)

And adding further credence to Henry's UFTA case, Rick Rizzolo lied on the record during his deposition saying he was to receive a total of only $1 million from Piazza.

Rizzolo's perjury helped put him back in prison for an additional nine months and extend his parole two years. Now it will up to the United States Government to decide what to do with Lisa and Kimtran in order to expedite the long overdue payment of moneys owed to Kirk Henry and the IRS. Obstruction of Justice charges are a real possibility.

And through all this, respected businessman Vince Piazza has hopefully learned a valuable lesson. With friends like the Rizzolos, he needs no enemies.

MORE INFORMATION:

Lisa Rizzolo's May 12, 2009 DEPOSITION:
Pg. 29-169,  Pg. 170-261 (some pages omitted by mutual consent of parties)

Rick Rizzolo's August 17 & 18, 2010 DEPOSITION:
Pg. 1-48,  Pg. 49-100,  Pg. 103-170,  Pg. 173-256,  Pg. 257-311

Kimtran Rizzolo's August 12, 2011 DEPOSITION:
PART ONE,  PART TWO

Vince Piazza's September 28, 2011 DEPOSITION