Knappster: Las Vegas, San Diego feds at odds over Galardi's worth

By George Knapp

That deafening silence you hear is the sound of justice in action. Anyone remember Operation G-Sting, the shocking political corruption probe that exploded onto the local scene last year? The story has all but dropped off the local radar screen in recent months. So what's happening?

An interesting legal ballet is being performed behind the scenes. At the center of the drama is former strip club owner Mike Galardi, regarded as the single most important witness in upcoming prosecutions in Las Vegas and San Diego. Galardi is the guy who says he handed out wads of cash to eager politicians in both cities. (He also claims to have dispensed other favors at his clubs to horny officials, but we will save those stories for the next "sweeps" period.)

The way we hear it, Galardi is regarded as an A-1 witness by prosecutors in San Diego. The feds think he's very credible and very cooperative, and they can't wait to get him on the witness stand to help them go after allegedly corrupt city councilmen there. They are so enamored of Galardi and his level of cooperation that there is some talk they might offer him minimal prison time or even probation in exchange for his help.

Oh, but this is a tale of two cities. Federal prosecutors in Las Vegas are not big fans of Galardi. They think he is credible about some matters, but not so credible on others. And they reportedly are in no mood to be lenient with their witness, no matter how much he cooperates in the prosecutions here. (Galardi will be a key witness in trials of County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and former Commissioners Lance Malone and Dario Herrera.)

So, how can this be? How can the guy be considered reliable and credible in one city, but unreliable and incredible in another? Aren't the feds all on the same page when it comes to putting away the bad guys? Knappster has been told that these questions are now being asked by Justice Department honchos in Washington. They are trying to figure out how a rift developed between the Las Vegas and San Diego offices. If federal prosecutors in Nevada have their doubts about Galardi's credibility, might those doubts be exploited by clever defense attorneys in both cities?

You can bet that Justice Department overseers don't want to jeopardize these high-profile cases because of different perceptions in different cities. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that someone from Washington is looking into the matter to figure out where the problem lies and how it can be resolved before these trials get under way.

Hard Rock shuffle

So, those billboard ads from the Hard Rock are just too darned racy for our little hick town. The billboards seem to imply that there's drinkin' and druggin' and fornicatin' going on here, and this might imply that people can come to Las Vegas to get down and get funky, sometimes with multiple partners and while wearing chicken suits or rubber underwear. Good God, we certainly don't want such scurrilous behavior to besmirch the pristine reputation of our gambling mecca.

I don't know what's going on here, but it sure seems like someone has a personal beef with the Hard Rock. I mean, come on. Every resort in this town has used sex, or the suggestion of sex, to market itself, dating back to the very beginning of modern Las Vegas. Are you telling me the Hard Rock ads are racier than, say, the Riviera's marketing of the Crazy Girls? You know the photo--the one with seven or eight naked female asses, shot from behind as the girls' posteriors are arched up into, shall we say, entry-level positions?

I don't think the Gaming Control Board has any business telling the Riviera to tone down its ads, any more than it should be hammering away at the Hard Rock about matters of personal taste. I'd like to know that Gaming Control agents are going after slot cheating rings, or mobsters in the counting room, or shyster time-share operations inside licensed joints. If the board has limited resources, shouldn't it focus on stuff that is actually important?

Here's an example. The previous regime at Binion's Horseshoe would seem to have been worthy of an inquiry. Horseshoe employees all presumed that Nick Behnen was in charge of the casino. It wasn't exactly a secret. But Mr. Behnen wasn't licensed to run the place, and it is unlikely he could ever have passed a licensing investigation. His wife, Becky, had the license, but--rightly or wrongly--most Horseshoe staffers were under the assumption that Nick called the shots.

For example, Behnen's former chief of security, Nick Lucas, regularly traveled to the Behnen home to get his marching orders. The accountant who handled the books for the Horseshoe, Mark Rich, did likewise, according to well-placed sources. Why did they need to go to the house to get their instructions? You might think Gaming Control would find the time to ask about this arrangement, since everyone else in town seemed to know about it. At a minimum, the board could have cleared up the misperceptions about Mr. Behnen's role at the Horseshoe.

At the risk of sounding like the R-J, the issue of advertising by individual properties might be better regulated by the marketplace. If customers are offended or otherwise turned off by allegedly offensive ads, the problem will take care of itself, without state regulators putting themselves into the position of being censors or morality police. Nevadans should know, better than anyone, that morality is in the eye of the beholder. There has to be something more important for gaming officials to do than tell the rest of us what we can say, write or think.

Law and order

Sheriff Bill Young fired the opening salvo this week in his bid to get more police officers on the street. Young makes a rock-solid argument, backed up by independent studies, that our community needs hundreds of new officers just to keep up with growth. And the proposed sales tax increase that would pay for more cops--a mere $12.50 per local per year--seems damned cheap. In the course of the upcoming discussion about our police needs, someone might also consider the needs of the district attorney's office. If we have more cops making more arrests, we're going to need more prosecutors too. DA David Roger says the average deputy DA here handles 650 cases per year. In California, the average workload is a mere 200 cases per deputy. In the local juvenile division, the average deputy is assigned a whopping 1,300 cases a year. The DA has had no new positions authorized for the past three years. Something's gotta give.

Local character Jackie Levy called to vigorously deny any connection to the Israeli mob that's reportedly re-entered Las Vegas of late. Levy has been around town for many years, is known as a world-class baccarat player and has had a few scrapes with the law over the years. He admits he has met some of the key players identified by federal agents in my TV reports as being linked to Israeli organized crime groups, but Levy says he only knows them from meetings in local casinos and denies being involved in any drug smuggling or other skullduggery. ... Say, now that former DUI prosecutor Gary Booker has gone into private practice and since he now says the system needs to look at the individual offenders with compassion, maybe he should hang out his shingle at the office of John Watkins, the lawyer for Jessica Williams, who was sent to prison by Booker for a ridiculous 48 years. ... State investigators have just finished a year-long look at the death of colorful Nevada lobbyist David Solomon, better known as Ambassador Merlin. Merlin claimed to be an extraterrestrial during his years in Carson City. He was an advocate for creation of the E.T. Highway near Area 51. His death in 2001 was first ruled to be of natural causes, but thanks to some prodding from state Sen. Dennis Nolan, NDI agents took a fresh look at the case and now strongly suspect that Merlin was murdered.

Names and faces

Former UNLV president Bob Maxson took his share of lumps during his years in Las Vegas, mostly because of his battles with basketball god Jerry Tarkanian and the Tark faithful. The Tark-o-philes made things so unpleasant that Maxson finally left town to take a job as president of Long Beach State. So how's he doing? Last week, Maxson was selected as the College President of the Year in California. It is the fourth time he has won the award since taking over Long Beach in 1994, making him perhaps the most honored college prez in the country and easily the most popular among his students and faculty. It's an amazing accomplishment and makes us wonder if UNLV let a good one slip away. ... State Sen. Dina Titus wants to send a message that she isn't backing down to any pending anointment of her potential rivals for governor. Titus will hold her own gubernatorial fundraiser event June 23 at MGM's Mansion. ... The co-owner of the Mount Charleston Lodge is recuperating after serious medical problems. Barbara Orcutt had a tough go of it recently but vows to be back in the saddle soon enough. And knowing Barbara, we don't doubt it. ... So it turns out my accountant is one of the top poker players in the world. James Hoeppner has been doing my taxes for 10 years, but I had no idea until this week that he is a world-ranked poker player. Hoeppner was ranked 16th after the first day of action at Binion's. After the second round, he was in the middle of the pack but with 80 grand in chips. It will be interesting to see how he deals with the IRS if he ends up winning the whole shebang.