Rizzolo's legal troubles to resume
after his release from prison.
Possible threats continue
"Surely
there's not more trouble afoot for some associates of the
old Crazy Horse Too crew. I mean, say
it ain't so. Even after
its closure, the club's ghosts are
keeping the cops busy."
- John L. Smith, Las Vegas Review-Journal,
02/08/08
INSIDE VEGAS by Steve Miller
AmericanMafia.com
February 11, 2008
LAS VEGAS - In June 2006, a prominent Reno businessman took a shot at a
District
Court Judge. Thankfully he missed. Then last week a maniac stormed
into a Missouri city council meeting and killed five people.
These unrelated incidents
caused our state's public boards and commissions along with our local
court system to go on high alert to make sure it doesn't happen again.
For the past several months the 77 year old patriarch of a local mob
family has been the subject of a RESTRAINING
ORDER issued by a Clark County Justice of the Peace. On November 26, Judge Deborah Lippus
issued a 30 day T.R.O. prohibiting former topless bar owner Bart
Rizzolo from stalking or harassing garage owner Buffalo Jim
Barrier. When Rizzolo's criminal defense attorney Dominic Gentile
failed to file a protest, the judge twice extended the T.R.O. The ORDER
is based on Rizzolo's November 16, 2007 unsuccessful attempt to run
over Barrier and an auto shop customer in front of Barrier's business.
It's easy to understand why Bart Rizzolo is upset.
Bart's 51 year old son Rick
Rizzolo was the proprietor of a racketeering enterprise that sent
him to prison for a year and a day. On January 23, 2007, Rick was
sentenced and his family lost their livelihood at the Crazy Horse Too
strip club in Las Vegas. Rizzolo
had a previous criminal
record for brutal violence. In 1985 he pleaded guilty to battering
a Crazy Horse client with a baseball bat. The man suffered brain damage
and died several years later. From then on, the Rizzolos and their
business became infamous for acts of violence.
“With today’s sentencings, the
Court wrote the final chapter of defendant Rizzolo’s long control over
what many believed was an impenetrable criminal enterprise involved in
violence, fear and fraud," said U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden in a
January 23, 2007 press
release.
Rick Rizzolo is scheduled to be released
on April 4, but in the meantime his father has been attempting
to help the Feds sell their former topless bar to someone willing to
overpay enough to prevent the Federal Court from going after his son's cleverly
hidden personal assets.
But Barrier's RESTRAINING ORDER has effectively kept Bart off the
property where Barrier's garage is also located during hours Barrier is
present in his office. Therefore Bart was prevented from giving
in-person tours when in the past he would tell prospective buyers that
his family derived up to
$54 million per year from the business. However, those he gave tours to
reported that he failed to describe how his family had to extort
and beat bar patrons in order to make such profits.
So far, no legitimate buyers have surfaced, and the adult use zoning on
the property will permanently expire
within 4 1/2 months giving a buyer scant time to apply for a license
and go through a comprehensive police and FBI investigation.
According to a recent unsigned letter to Barrier, Bart Rizzolo is
reportedly not pleased with Barrier or the judge who granted him the
T.R.O.
And Bart's hurt feelings may just be the beginning. After Rick Rizzolo
is released from prison, if he's spotted on the
property he'll be in direct violation of the conditions of his
supervised release. Therefore he's also prohibited from assisting in
the sale of the
property.
Without their help, it's likely the property will be sold at a low ball
figure, and may not be able to cover Rick Rizzolo's court ordered
financial obligations. If so, then the court will have no other choice
than to go after his hidden personal assets.
To make sure Rick and Bart
stay off the property, Barrier has installed cameras on his building
and says he's personally standing by to take photographs of Rick if he
violates his parole by being involved with the sale of a strip club he
no longer owns.
According to the U.S.
Attorney: "As part of
Rizzolo’s conditions of supervised release and pursuant to his plea
agreement, Rizzolo is not permitted to own or operate or have any involvement with any strip
clubs or similar businesses involved in pornography or erotic
entertainment or media in the United States and its territories for the rest of his life."
Barrier correctly interprets this to mean Rick Rizzolo, after he gets
out of
prison, cannot be a party in any way to the sale of his former topless
bar, and Barrier says
that if Rizzolo comes on the property, he stands ready to share
photographs he will take with national news outlets that are closely
monitoring this
story. Barrier's photographs were used by NBC News during their coverage
of the Kirk Henry beating, and national news outlets are still
following developments in this case.
But to add salt to the Rizzolo's wounds, Clark County District Court
Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez on August 21, 2007, threw out Rick Rizzolo's
defamation of character lawsuit against Barrier, then sustained
Barrier's years old multi-million dollar harassment
lawsuit against Rizzolo -- another slap in the face to a man who
once bragged he owns the local judicial system.
| District Case Inquiry - Case Summary |
|
| Case |
00-A-424456-C |
|
Status |
CLOSED |
| Plaintiff |
Rizzolo, Fredrick |
Attorney |
Patti, Dean R. |
| Defendant |
Barrier, Buffalo Jim |
Attorney |
Flangas, Gus W. |
| Judge |
Gonzalez, Elizabeth |
Dept. |
11 |
|
| Filed Date |
09/19/2000 |
|
Closed Date |
08/21/2007 |
|
| Last Hear |
08/21/2007 |
|
For |
MINUTE ORDER RE: RE: CASE DISMISSED
|
COMPLAINT: SLANDER, LIBEL, DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER
|
| District Case Inquiry - Case Summary |
|
| Case |
02-A-452269-C |
|
Status |
ACTIVE |
| Plaintiff |
Barrier, Buffalo Jim |
Attorney |
Flangas, Gus W. |
| Defendant |
Rizzolo, Fredrick |
Attorney |
Patti, Dean R. |
| Judge |
Gonzalez, Elizabeth |
Dept. |
11 |
|
| Last Hear |
10/04/2007 |
|
For |
DEFT'S MTN FOR LEAVE TO
TAKE DEPOSITION/34 |
| Next Hear |
04/10/2008 at 09:00 AM |
For |
STATUS CHECK: STAY &
TRIAL SETTING |
COMPLAINT: HARASSMENT |
Ironically, Rizzolo in 2000 accused Barrier of impugning his character
when Barrier
told a reporter that his neighbor was engaged in racketeering activity.
Even after being convicted of racketeering, Rizzolo's attorneys Dean
Patti and Tony Sgro persisted with their expensive lawsuit against
Barrier
insisting their client had a reputation worth protecting. But Patti and
Sgro are not the only folks in the local legal community that feel that
way about members of the Rizzolo clan.
In 2001, then-District Court Judge, now Nevada Supreme Court Justice
Nancy M. Saitta described
Rick Rizzolo as "having a good name in the community." The year before,
then-LV councilman Michael McDonald labeled Rizzolo a "pillar
of the community."
Six years later, Mayor Oscar Goodman defended
Rizzolo and referred to him as good friend. "I like Rick Rizzolo." "He goes to Piero's
every Thanksgiving and feeds hundreds of needy people. And he treats
them with dignity," stated
Goodman.
Many
Nevada dignitaries are fond of Rick Rizzolo, and some go out of
their way to say he's been falsely maligned. But the adoration doesn't
end with Rick. On January 4, 2008,
attorney Dominic Gentile authored a letter
to Jim Barrier threatening a lawsuit if he continues to damage Bart
Rizzolo's "reputation."
Barrier responded by filing an extension to his RESTRAINING ORDER.
The more I tell these stories, the more I'm asked if I'm making it up?
And you should hear the flack I take from LV movers and shakers!
"Friends of Crazy Horse Too
owner Rick Rizzolo have risen to his defense following my recent column
calling for the closure of his cabaret due to an ongoing criminal
investigation and publicized links to organized crime. While they seem
shy about using their names, they've reserved special criticism for
Rizzolo's most relentless critic, Steve Miller, the former Las Vegas
city councilman-turned-Internet crusader. Miller has a conflict of
interest, they argue." - John L. Smith, LV Review-Journal, July 27, 2005
Only in Las Vegas could
people like the Rizzolos earn a place in the local Social
Register, or hire expensive lawyers to try to silence people in
order to preserve their "reputations" in the community. What community
do they mean? No wonder this is called "Sin City!"
Normally reporters and law
enforcement types ignore anonymous letters. However during the past
year and a half, three such letters have been mailed to Jim Barrier's
place
of business that purportedly are authored by "ANNONOMUS (sp) METRO
OFFICER."
Though any real police officer should be able to correctly spell the
word "anonymous," the bulk of information contained in the first two
letters was later confirmed to be accurate. The third letter was
received last week and caused law enforcement to take special notice
based on recent attacks on public officials, and the
letter's naming of a local judge.
Here is the letter taken from a Police
Report filed on February
9, 2008. I whited out certain sensitive data to protect the innocent,
however
the bulk of the information is being taken seriously. The man referred
to as Cliff Diamond is rumored to own the house in which Rizzolo will
reside after leaving prison, and his mother Renee Diamond is a former
Nevada Assembly woman who may find her son's association with an
ex-con distasteful according to the writer.
...
|
Another reason for Bart's anger is that
multiple Plaintiffs in the Crazy Horse case are beginning to talk about
enjoining
Rick's ex-wife Lisa Rizzolo as a Defendant in their lawsuits because
she received and illegally hid the couple's marital assets.
The Rizzolos found a brilliant
way to hide their personal wealth and inspire the court to substitute
the Crazy Horse building and property as a means of generating the $28
million they need to clear the couple's court ordered debts. They hired
the brother of a Federal Court Judge to provide them
"asset protection," and evidently steer all other federal Judges away
from going after the assets he so cleverly hid.
The lawyer with the firm Lionel
Sawyer and Collins illegally transferred the Rizzolo's assets into
shell trusts and LLC's. After that, no federal official or judge felt
comfortable going after the Rizzolo's personal property in fear of
offending the judge whose brother arranged the asset transfer -- the
same judge who also neglected to disclose that his brother was
Rizzolo's lawyer during the trials
of Rizzolo's co-conspirators that he presided over.
So instead of
immediately seizing the Rizzolo's personal assets worth much more than
the $28 million they owe, U.S. Federal Judge Philip Pro allowed
the couple to use a substitute asset; the shuttered Crazy Horse
building and real estate, then make beating victim Kirk Henry wait and
wait and wait for the money to pay his medical bills -- money he's yet
to receive.
It's time for Judge Pro
to look beyond the embarrassing effect his decision may have on his
colleague Judge Kent Dawson who's brother hid the Rizzolo's assets, and
pierce the phony trusts and corporate veils to pay the IRS, Kirk Henry, and others that the Rizzolo's personally owe for their years of criminal activity.
Since the
place went dark on July 1, a
California bank is threatening foreclosure, and new competition has opened nearby to attract the bar's
former clientele. This along
with the deteriorating condition and value of the property may finally
be enough to convince the Plaintiffs to go after Lisa Rizzolo for their
money.
Our heart goes out to the family of Kirk Henry, but it's important
their attorneys realize the Crazy Horse land and building are not worth
the $28 million Rizzolo owes, or even the $9 million due their client.
The place is worth only its appraised value -- $5.4 million -- and no
more.
So it's now incumbent on attorneys representing Plaintiffs to
immediately enjoin Lisa Rizzolo individually and try to recover the
personal assets she and her husband so cleverly hid with
the help of the brother of a Federal Court Judge.
Lisa was married to Rick at the time of Mr. Henry's injuries, and
during the time when other crimes occurred. Therefore she is equally
responsible for paying for the damages and debts incurred during their
marriage.
To make the Plaintiff's attorneys job a little easier, here is a
chronological listing of steps the Rizzolos have taken to hide their
Nevada assets since the FBI began its investigation in 2002. The
following does not include the transfer of the Rizzolo's homes in
Newport Beach, California, and Chicago, Ill., nor does it list their
ownership of the Philadelphia Crazy Horse Too land and building.
And here is a link to a document filed by FBI Special Agent Anthony J.
Mace outlining his unsuccessful efforts to locate the Rizzolo's hidden
assets: http://www.stevemiller4lasvegas.com/DeclarationOfAnthonyJMace.html
If this is not enough evidence for Judge Pro to go after illegally
transferred assets, then the United States Federal Court, the
Department of Justice, and the FBI should fold up their tents, and go
home.
 |
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Requestor: LIONEL SAWYER ET AL
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15:45:42 Pgs: 3
ReRecorded: N Remarks:
Requestor: VERDUGO TRUSTEE SERVICE CORPORATION
1st Party: VERDUGO TRUSTEE SERVICE CORPORATION
2nd Party: RIZZOLO, FREDERICK J
RIZZOLO, LISA M
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16:20:00 Pgs: 1
ReRecorded: N Remarks:
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © Steve
Miller
