Sunday, February 23, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

COLUMN: John L. Smith

Rizzolo's associations with reputed mobsters catching up with him

Are you going to let me go to work?" the dancer asks an FBI agent Thursday morning outside the Crazy Horse Too topless cabaret. "What happened in there, a quadruple homicide?"

Nothing so dramatic, she's told, but she'll have to wait a few hours before the club reopens. Before dawn Thursday morning, the Crazy Horse was pounced on by a small army of FBI, DEA and IRS agents along with Metro Intelligence detectives and two SWAT teams.

Authorities served a search warrant seeking evidence linking the club to everything from hidden mob ownership and violence upon patrons to prostitution and credit card fraud. There were so many agents crowding the place I'm surprised no one called the fire marshal.

But the dancer is oblivious to all that.

"I work for Vinny and Bobby," she volunteers cheerfully, presumably meaning club employees Vinny Faraci and Bobby D'Apice. "Guess I'll come back later."

Probably a good idea.

The moment illustrates the potential problem facing Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo, whose success in the topless racket has been matched only by his generosity in political campaigns in recent years.

Faraci is a reputed mob associate whose father, "Johnny Green" Faraci, was a Bonanno crime family capo. D'Apice is a key suspect in the Sept. 20, 2001, assault outside the topless club of Kansas City tourist Kirk Henry, who suffered a broken neck over an $80 bar tab dispute. Both men appear to be part of the criminal probe.

The dancer wasn't ratting anyone out. A variety of informed sources believes Faraci runs his own string of dancers in the club. For the record, neither Faraci nor D'Apice are simple hired help.

Officially, the dancer works for Rizzolo, who by now realizes that the weight of the federal government is crashing down on his lucrative and shadowed business. Rizzolo has made a fortune from the topless operation carved out of an Industrial Road strip mall.

Although the FBI search warrant affidavit remains sealed, by outward appearances the Crazy Horse Too case resembles the 1999 Gold Club scandal in Atlanta. In the Gold Club case, owner of record Steve Kaplan catered to sports celebrities and made a fortune off customers with credit cards before being linked to the Gambino crime family and fraud. He took a tumble and lost his empire.

That case included allegations of overbilling and intimidation of credit card customers. Similar activity has been suspected at the Crazy Horse.

Rizzolo is tough to figure. He seems so savvy in some ways and so simple in others. His political and social contacts are impressive, but it's the quality of his co-workers and longtime associates authorities have gone buggy over.

Rizzolo rarely has been shy about keeping company with men law enforcement consider mob associates. From Joey Cusumano and Fred Pascente to Faraci and the late Joe Blasko, he hasn't missed many of the usual suspects.

But Rizzolo also mixes with and contributes to the campaigns of everyone from the governor to the mayor and almost every judge and justice of the peace in between. He's easily one of the biggest individual contributors in the state and gives more than some casino companies.

City Councilman Michael McDonald is Rizzolo's best friend in local politics. A former cop, McDonald isn't shy about expressing his affection for the topless bar mogul. And he says he dropped off Rizzolo at the club Tuesday night after a political fund-raiser for a local judicial candidate.

"What they (investigators) describe is not what I know," McDonald says. "I've known him since I was about 18 or 19. I know him as a friend. I don't work for him."

McDonald adds that Rizzolo never has given him a nickel in campaign contributions. Why? Back when then-Metro officer McDonald decided to run for City Council, Rizzolo suggested the fallout from such donations would be used by political opponents against him.

"He told me if I took money from him and the topless industry it would become an issue," McDonald recalls.

Rizzolo was right. Sooner or later, a man is known by the company he keeps.

It's advice the troubled king of the Crazy Horse Too would have been wise to take himself.

John L. Smith's column appears Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.