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 11-1-10
Inside Vegas - Steve Miller

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


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.



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