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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


Infamous Vegas Topless Bar To Be Auctioned
Per a 2006 Plea Agreement, Rick and Lisa Rizzolo's
off shore hidden fortune may be at risk


                                               Photo taken on Sept. 20, 2001 by the late Buffalo Jim Barrier

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the United States shall sell the
Crazy Horse Too on or before May 3, 2011, by any lawful
means including public auction, and in a manner which
is consistent with the Plea Agreement in this case.

DATED: December 22, 2010
______________________________________
PHILIP M. PRO
United States District Judge



INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
January 3, 2011

LAS VEGAS -  On July 30, 2007, the Las Vegas City Council revoked the liquor license of the Crazy Horse Too strip club.

With no legitimate buyer in sight and zoning laws that prohibit sexually oriented businesses from being located within 1500 feet of each other (there is another one nearby), six months passed and the adult use zoning permanently expired reverting the use back to warehouse only, thereby ending a protracted, sordid story of violence, death, and mayhem, and reducing what was claimed to be a $12 million dollar per year (criminal) enterprise into a derelict warehouse on 2.65 acres next to the tracks that's expected to sell for no more than one or two million dollars at auction.

According to City of Las Vegas Ordinance 19.16.030 (3:) Discontinuation of Use: "If a non conforming use of a conforming building is discontinued for a period of one hundred eighty days.... the future use of such building shall be only in conformance with the provisions of this Title."

The Crazy Horse Too's final night of operation was June 30, 2007. A new liquor license was not issued by the end of the 180 day deadline of January 1, 2008, so the adult use zoning that was grandfathered for Rick Rizzolo automatically reverted to warehouse zoning that prohibits further adult use at that location.

However, Rizzolo's former criminal dense attorney and corporate agent LV Mayor Oscar Goodman (glaring at AmericanMafia.com photographer Mike Christ) still has five months left in office until the end of his three term limit. If by some chance the United States manages to accelerate the sale of the Crazy Horse Too before Goodman leaves office in June, there are those who think the Mayor might try to introduce an ordinance repealing 19.16.030 (3) in time to re-zone the property to adult use as a favor to Rizzolo or one of his associates with ties to Goodman's law firm. If so, Goodman would have nothing to lose since he's retiring from politics.

In 2006, after writing about Goodman using his office to do Rizzolo favors such as sponsoring an ordinance to let the Crazy Horse expand, and another allowing it to employ teenage strippers, I personally filed an ethics complaint that temporarily stopped Goodman in his tracks.

In response to the complaint, Goodman defiantly told the Las Vegas Review-Journal; "Tell Steve Miller he can suck my big toe," but he also was forced to abstain on all matters involving Rizzolo for almost two years.

After Goodman threatened a lawsuit, the state ethics board cleared him in 2007. This allowed him to resume doing favors for his former clients, but it was too late to help Rizzolo because he was already in prison, and his club was out of business thanks to a fearless City Attorney and the non conflicted members of the City Council.

In 2011, with a public auction looming, Rizzolo's plea bargained obligation to pay the difference between his $28 million court ordered debt and what can be recouped from the sale of the Crazy Horse Too property, comes into play.
 
Case 2:08-cv-00635-PMP-GWF Document 480 Filed 10/06/10

BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION 

It is undisputed that the underlying settlement agreement between the Plaintiffs and Mr. Rizzolo and his company contemplated that the $9 million balance of the settlement would be paid from the proceeds of the sale of the Crazy Horse Too business. Defendant Rick Rizzolo has also acknowledged that he is legally obligated to pay the $9 million from his other assets if it cannot be recouped from the sale of the business.

DATED this 6th day of October, 2010. 
______________________________________ 
GEORGE FOLEY, JR. 
U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Here's a list of court ordered debts the auction of the Crazy Horse Too is expected not to cover:
 
1. All of the United States Marshals Service's costs, expenses, and private counsel's attorney fees for the real property transaction related to the care and the sale of the Property and the Trademark and Trade name Crazy Horse Too, including but not limited to the maintenance, the protection, the repair, the service of process, the publication, the utilities, the insurance, the CB Richard Ellis real estate commission, the escrow, the closing costs, the real estate transfer tax, private counsel's attorney fees for the real property transaction, etc.; 
2. The Clark County Taxes owed on the Property with penalties and interest 
3. The City of Las Vegas sewer lien 
4. The Security Pacific Bank ($5 million dollar) loan with attorneys' fees, penalties, and interest 
5. The restitution of US $9,000,000.00 plus interest to Kirk and Amy Henry 
6. The restitution of US $1,734,000.00 plus accruals to the IRS 
7. The assessment of US $500.00 plus interest 
8. The fines of US $750,000.00 plus interest 
9. The forfeiture of US $4,250,000.00 plus interest 
10. The City of Las Vegas judgment lien of US $2,192,000.00 plus interest 
11. The IRS tax lien against Rizzolo for the 2006 individual income taxes of US $1,032,535.26 plus accruals 

On August 8, 2007, FBI Special Agent Anthony Mace filed a Declaration with Judge Pro stating: "Upon due diligence, I have tried to locate all property of RIZZOLO. I have not been able to find any other personal or real property of significant value to satisfy debts owed to the United States and victim."

The reason Special Agent Mace could not find personal or real property of significant value is because in 2005 -- during the middle of the well publicized Federal racketeering investigation -- Mr. and Mrs. Rizzolo divorced, then hired John E. Dawson to protect their assets. John Dawson is an asset protection specialist with Lionel Sawyer and Collins, a political power house in Nevada. He is coincidentally the brother of Federal Judge Kent Dawson who dealt questionably light sentences to 16 Crazy Horse Too employees involved with Rizzolo in robbing and extorting bar patrons.

John Dawson cleverly hid the Rizzolo's assets in a Cook Islands bank out of the reach of beating victim Kirk Henry, the IRS, City of Las Vegas, and others, while his brother the Federal Judge failed to disclose this information during the 16 Crazy Horse Too trials.

Because of the possible embarrassment of a fellow Federal Judge, and his brother's association with a politically powerful law firm, I believe this case has made a snail's pace through the Nevada justice system.

Sometime after May 3, it will be the duty of Judge Kent Dawson's colleague Judge Philip Pro to locate and repatriate the millions of dollars the Rizzolo's have stashed off shore, then order payments be made to the IRS, Henry, and others.

If all goes smoothly, Judge Dawson's conflict of interest may go unnoticed (other than on these pages).

There is recent case law to support the Federal Court's ability to force the re-deposting of off shore held assets back into United States banks in order to pay court ordered debts, or put a defendant in jail until he or she complies.

In a Minnesota Federal Court case, on January 25, 2010, Chief Judge Michael J. Davis ordered defendant Trevor G. Cook; "...incarcerated until he, among other things, surrenders $27 million located in offshore accounts, a BMW and two Lexus automobiles, a submarine, a houseboat, a collection of expensive watches, a collection of Faberge eggs, Bon Jovi concert tickets, and $670,000 in cash."

In the Rizzolo's case, Judge Pro will be left with few options in the event the debtors also refuse to pay deficiencies not covered by the sale of the Crazy Horse Too. If this occurs, Rick Rizzolo, and possibly his ex-wife who is accused of colluding to hide his fortune, may find themselves in Federal Prison along with Trevor Cook.

In all likelihood, we will know the answer to this dilemma sometime in the summer of 2011.



* 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





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