Saturday, February 22, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Club owner calls raid unwarranted

Crazy Horse Too's Rizzolo says authorities targeting him because of past associations

A stripper who uses the stage name of Gisele spins on a pole Friday afternoon at the Crazy Horse Too Gentlemen's Club. The business was closed much of Thursday while law enforcement officers searched for evidence linking it to organized crime. Photo by Amy Beth Bennett.

Rick Rizzolo spoke out Friday about the raid of his topless club, speculating that law enforcement officials are targeting him because of his longtime friendship with mob associate Joey Cusumano.

Rizzolo, 44, said he has known Cusumano for nearly three decades, but the two have no business relationship.

"We can't even associate anymore because of my privileged license, but he's still my best friend," Rizzolo said during an interview at his business, the Crazy Horse Too Gentlemen's Club.

Sexually oriented businesses in Clark County need a privileged license to operate. Owners must undergo an investigation to determine their suitability to hold such a license.

Cusumano was a close associate of slain Las Vegas mobster Anthony Spilotro and has a felony conviction for his role in a conspiracy to skim $315,000 from a Culinary union life insurance policy.

As a member of Nevada's Black Book, Cusumano has been banned by gaming regulators from state casinos because of his unsavory reputation.

"We can't even talk to each other anymore," Rizzolo said.

Authorities served a federal search warrant Thursday at the Crazy Horse, 2476 Industrial Road, as part of an ongoing investigation into links between the club and organized crime.

"They've been looking at me for 20 years," Rizzolo said.

He denied having any involvement in criminal activity and said his club makes more than $10 million a year.

"It makes so much money, I wouldn't do something stupid to jeopardize it," he said.

The search warrant specifically authorized officers to seize "documents and records which would demonstrate the existence of tribute payments" made to La Cosa Nostra crime families for allowing the business to operate in Las Vegas.

Rizzolo wondered aloud why, if he were being forced to make such payments, FBI agents are not providing him with protection instead of trying to lock him up. FBI officials have declined to comment on the investigation.

According to the search warrant, officers also were looking for evidence of drug trafficking, as well as records that "would establish the identity of those persons who may have a hidden ownership in the club."

"I guess whoever my partners are must be pretty mad I get all the money," Rizzolo joked.

Rizzolo has operated the club since his father, Bart, opened it more than 20 years ago. Bart Rizzolo said he now has a 10 percent interest in the business.

Agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Internal Revenue Service, as well as Las Vegas police, closed the Crazy Horse for 11 hours Thursday while they conducted the search.

Rizzolo said he plans to sue the federal government to recoup money he lost during those hours. He estimated that the closure cost him between $40,000 and $60,000.

The owner noted that Las Vegas police conducted a previous search of his club in late 2001 without closing the business.

Rizzolo expressed confidence that both searches would fail to yield any criminal charges.

"Every dollar I make is accounted for, and I pay taxes on it," he insisted.

This week's search warrant authorized officers to seize a variety of records dating to 1995. It also authorized officers to seize controlled substances, including methamphetamine and cocaine, and "paraphernalia used in distributing controlled substances."

Rizzolo said they found only a small amount of marijuana in a dancer's locker. He voiced a suspicion that investigators have an informant who is "telling them a bunch of baloney."

"I don't think they just made it up out of the blue," Rizzolo said of the warrant's contents.

Attorney Tony Sgro, who represents the Crazy Horse, said authorities supplied Rizzolo with a list of 170 items seized during the search.

Sgro filed a motion Friday in U.S. District Court seeking the return of some of the seized property and requested that the document receive "emergency attention."

"The club is making a request for the return of only a tiny fraction of the truckloads of equipment, furniture and records taken from the club," Sgro wrote.

"These items are basic to the running of the business and are required immediately."

Among the items Sgro wants returned are nine cash registers, valued at more than $10,000 apiece; computers; current financial records needed for preparing 2002 tax returns; and cash.

Bart Rizzolo said officers seized all of the club's cash after arriving at 5 a.m. Thursday, when the business was packed with customers. He said the club would have had at least $250,000 on the premises at the time.

Sgro said officers refused to allow a Crazy Horse representative to observe the search, in violation of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

"It cannot be determined, with any accuracy, what was actually taken by officers or what might have been left behind," the attorney wrote in his motion.

"The officers taped over surveillance cameras in the club prior to removing large sums of cash from the cash registers and from the safe."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson, the prosecutor assigned to the case, said he glanced at the motion Friday but had not reviewed Sgro's legal arguments thoroughly.

"I have no comment in terms of the procedure we used, other than it was appropriate and proper," the prosecutor said.

Officers concluded their search about 4 p.m. Thursday, and the club reopened about four hours later with new cash registers. Rizzolo said the business was filled with customers by about 11:30 p.m.

Bob MacNaughton, a 47-year-old tourist from Kansas, arrived at the Crazy Horse in a limousine Friday afternoon with four male friends who did not wish to be identified.

MacNaughton, who had visited the club on a previous trip to Las Vegas, said he and his friends learned about the search on television Thursday night but were not deterred.

"We figured these places get raided all the time," he said.