Knappster: Ten-year-old Crazy Horse case will drag on for years

By George Knapp

The recent arrest of topless joint manager Bobby D'Apice has some folks salivating about quick and terrible retribution for the Crazy Horse Too, its owner and its employees. The prevailing wisdom seems to be that the well-publicized bust of D'Apice is a harbinger of more arrests to come, and that it may be only a matter of weeks before the feds go after larger fish, at long last.

Sorry to spoil the celebration, but it isn't going to happen, at least not fast enough to please the Crazy Horse critics.

Lawyers for Crazy Horse owner Rick Rizzolo have been told to expect some kind of definitive word about a pending indictment fairly soon, probably around the end of March. Federal prosecutors have given assurances that they will have a sit-down with Rizzolo's attorneys a full 30 days before any indictment is handed down, presumably to give Rizzolo time to ponder a possible deal. As of this week, the clock is not yet ticking.

But even when an indictment is handed down--and it seems pretty much inevitable--it is highly unlikely that the case will get to trial for a long, long time. Nothing about this matter moves quickly, and I mean nothing.

For instance, this February will mark the two-year anniversary of the sensational FBI/Metro raid on the Crazy Horse. Law enforcement sources indicated back then that the raid resulted in the discovery of all kinds of damning evidence against the club. And yet, two years later, there is still no indictment of the principal target.

Consider an even larger picture: Records show that the first FBI request for electronic surveillance of Rizzolo was made back in 1996, which means the actual investigation had to start even earlier. Ten years of wiretaps, bugs, hidden cameras, undercover operatives and confidential informants, and yet there has been no indictment. It really makes you wonder what the heck is going on. Rizzolo, of course, believes he is the target of some sort of vendetta. That's an easy charge to make, but a tough one to prove.

You've got to figure that many, if not most, of the FBI agents who started the investigation a decade ago have moved on to other things, and yet the probe continues. A vendetta? Hard to believe. In my mind, FBI agents are still the good guys. They wouldn't spend this much time and effort on something if they didn't think there was good reason for pursuing it. But is it possible that the feds have put so much into this thing that there is no way they are going to give up on it, regardless of their findings? You tell me.

The arrest of D'Apice also means that local media outlets got to trot out their now-familiar laundry list of alleged atrocities committed at the Crazy Horse. Tourist Kirk Henry's case is the best known. Henry says he was beaten up and paralyzed because he wouldn't pay a measly bar tab. It happened back in 2001. Metro investigated but did not file any charges. Henry filed a civil suit, and now his allegations have been raised in the criminal complaint against D'Apice. Why does it take four years for a criminal complaint to arise, and why is it federal? What happened to Mr. Henry is terrible, and I do not presume to know who is responsible, but why does it take so long to figure it out?

The same questions apply to another incident mentioned in connection with the criminal investigation. A trucker named Scott Fau was found dead near the club. He'd been in a fight with Horse employees. Metro investigated, but didn't file criminal charges. This incident occurred way back in 1995, but now is being raised again, even though a civil jury threw the case out in 2003. What gives?

Even if the feds end up indicting Rizzolo this spring, there will be no trial this year. There will be no trial next year. It's going to take two years or more for the defense to merely transcribe the hundreds of thousands of intercepted conversations that have been recorded over the past 10 years. It will cost Rizzolo millions of dollars in lawyer fees just to find out what is on the tapes, and only then will a long and costly trial proceed. Those who expect quick justice will just have to be patient.

Names, faces, places

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