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Police say they have made progress in their investigation into the death of reputed mob enforcer Herbert Blitzstein, but haven't been able to identify a suspect in the slaying.
Las Vegas police Lt. Wayne Petersen said detectives are arduously investigating the death of the right-hand man of mobster Anthony Spilotro.
"It is just too early to tell right yet," Petersen said. "And, there is still a lot of work to be done, but I do believe we have made some progress. However, we don't have any specific suspects as of yet."
Petersen declined comment on questions about specific evidence in the case, citing an ongoing investigation.
Blitzstein, 63, was found shot execution style in his home on Jan. 7.
Police have not ruled out the possibility that Blitzstein was the victim of an organized crime hit, although it appears he may have interrupted a robbery in his home.
A friend who was expecting Blitzstein early that day for a business meeting became concerned when he didn't show up. The friend went to Blitzstein's home, where he found the body, police said.
Spilotro, who headed Chicago-based mob dealings in Las Vegas in the late 1970s and early '80s, was killed in June 1986. His body was found buried alongside his brother's in an Indiana cornfield.
Before Spilotro's death, he and Blitzstein in 1986 faced racketeering charges together. Those charges were dropped because of a lack of evidence.
Blitzstein was sentenced in 1987 to a five-year prison term for credit card fraud.
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He was released in 1991.
--Glenn Puit
Book closed on drug dog
After looking into it a year ago, the Clark County School District sent the idea of buying a drug-sniffing canine to the doghouse.
The issue arose in February when school board trustees asked the district's police department to conduct a cost study into using dogs to sniff out weapons and drugs in school halls and in campus parking lots.
The study found a dog would cost the district between $10,000 and $15,000, which does not include expenses for a handler, lodging and dog food. The dogs the district might have chosen would have been trained by Metropolitan Police, said Assistant Superintendent Sidney Franklin.
There are services that might provide the dogs for less money, Franklin said, but those services are not permitted by law to use actual drugs to train their canines and are thought to be less effective as police animals.
"This district doesn't have the resources," said Franklin, who oversees the district police. "Obviously it was not a viable idea. Personally, I wouldn't want to get into that business ourselves."
Instead, the district struck a deal with police where the district can request the assistance of one of their drug dogs on an as-needed basis.
Thus far, there haven't been any requests.
--Steve Friess
Wondering how a local story turned out or what happened to someone in the news? Contact City Editor Steve Papinchak at 383-0264 or Steve_Pa- pinchak@lvrj.com and we will try to answer your question in this column.
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