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Knappster: Can Lance Malone be convicted?

By George Knapp

If you've been wondering why accused bagman Lance Malone didn't cut a deal with the feds, as others in the G-Sting probe have done, here's one answer: Malone thinks there is a reasonable chance he can beat the rap. His lawyers think so too.

Of all the characters caught up in this political corruption scandal, it might seem the evidence against Malone is most damning. Malone was the guy who admittedly transferred piles of cash from his boss, strip club owner Mike Galardi, to Malone's former County Commission colleagues and assorted political pals. He's been followed, photographed and wiretapped, and Galardi reportedly spilled his guts to the FBI about every move Malone made in this slimy drama. Malone may even have ratted himself out by spilling his guts to the G-men on the very day the Galardi clubs were raided. But is this enough to convict him? Maybe not.

Lawyers for Malone are still sifting through mountains of evidence

collected during the long investigation, but they've already found a few tantalizing nuggets that would seem to suggest Malone was kept out of the loop by the other major players. At least four instances have been uncovered in which Galardi or other alleged conspirators remarked to each other that they should "not tell Lance" about what was going down. A crafty defense lawyer could use this information to show that Malone wasn't part of an overall conspiracy, that other targets kept him in the dark about certain details.

Consider a potentially explosive example. Galardi has already told the government about a fateful meeting with a certain elected official, an official who has not been named publicly in the G-Sting probe. The meeting took place at Jaguars and, according to Galardi, the official brazenly demanded $100,000 in payoff money. Malone and another peripheral figure were intentionally excluded from this little meeting. They were told to wait outside while the bribe request was made. (Informed sources tell Knappster that the $100,000 was never delivered, which is why this particular official wasn't named in the first round of indicments. However, those same sources say Galardi did hand over $10,000 in cash to the spouse of the official in question.)

Theoretically, Malone could argue in court that he was nothing more than a low-level gopher, delivering lucre whenever his boss ordered him to do so. Large sums of cash are certainly not uncommon in the topless biz. Successful club owners are known to pay for all sorts of things with wads of fresh bills. Was it Malone's place to ask Galardi if the topless mogul was correctly recording all of these cash transactions? Can you imagine Malone questioning his boss about the propriety of surreptitious "campaign contributions"? Or, more likely, did he merely keep his mouth shut and do as he was told?

We know from court documents released by the feds that Malone didn't always keep his mouth shut, of course. What we don't know is how much evidence the government has to show that Malone knowingly participated in the outright corruption of public officials. Malone has hired a razor-sharp defense attorney in Dominic Gentile, and while Gentile declined to discuss his trial strategy with this writer, he did suggest that the public should not "count him out." In other words, if he can portray Malone as a witless dupe--not a stretch, by any means--then it's possible, just possible, that the alleged bagman could walk.

Regents rumba

That stench emanating from the direction of the Board of Regents is certain to grow even more odoriferous in the weeks ahead. As noted in this space last week, those closed-door meetings the regents held to discuss "personnel matters" have the makings of a full-blown scandal. By the time this paper hits the streets, chances are good that the regents will be under attack on several fronts.

First, the meetings almost certainly violated Nevada's Open Meeting Law. Simply put, the regents aren't allowed to vote on anything in a closed-door session. This board did vote. It voted to oust the highly regarded president of the community college. It voted to transfer CCSN lobbyist John Cummings, and to investigate whether Cummings should be stripped of his tenure. It voted to preserve the bogus, made-up job given to less-than-model employee Briget Jones by her patron, Assemblyman Wendell Williams. And it voted to allow Chancellor Jane Nichols to sit in on its hush-hush shindig even though Nichols, by all rights, should have been a target of the regents' own investigation.

Without question, the attorney general will be asked to determine whether the board violated the Open Meeting Law, a law the regents have historically ignored. It's hoped the AG will also find out whether several regents reached a secret, pre-arranged agreement on how this mess would go down, an accord that some suspect was achieved in whispered side meetings.

The other issue that might invite outside scrutiny is the pathetic settlement the university system reached with the wife of Assemblyman Williams. Ignoring the advice of its own legal counsel, it okayed the payment of nearly 50 grand to Zelda Williams because she overheard a racial remark. The fact that this payment was made on the eve of a legislative session strikes some as more than coincidental. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that information about this incident has already been forwarded to the FBI.

Names and faces

The high-powered, well-heeled crowd partying down last week at a Nevada Cancer Institute benefit at the Mirage may not have noticed this little item. Renowned guitarist and oddball Joe Walsh was wearing a Metro P.D. badge during a performance by famed rock band the Eagles. The badge in question belongs to Sheriff Bill Young, who may be the most diehard Eagles fan in the entire state. The sheriff and his wife were bowled over when they were invited backstage to meet the band before the show. They snapped photos, told jokes and swapped stories about the many other Eagles concerts the Youngs have attended over the years. Walsh volunteered to wear the sheriff's badge while on stage. We can only hope he remembered to give it back. ... Knappster got a chance to peek inside the incredible suites in Mandalay Bay's new tower, scheduled to open in mid-December. The bar is about to be raised on the Strip, I'd say. Both rooms of the suites come with large, flat-screen TVs, and there's a smaller flat screen in each bathroom, for those who want to watch the tube while, uh, showering. Mandalay execs are pondering ways to roll out their new creation. ... Heard a shocking radio promo the other day, in which a local newscaster informs listeners about this "new trend" among TV news operations, a trend in which TV newsrooms, for some reason, all "want to be first with a story." What? When did this happen? And what can we expect next? A trend toward video footage? ... Radio personality Beth Lano hasn't seen the tapes yet, but she's apparently big stuff in Britain this fall. BBC 3 is airing a six-part series titled "Casino," and Lano has on ongoing, off-camera role. As in real life, her role is that of an announcer for Star 102.7 who chats about gambling, mobsters, criminals and characters.