Tuesday, January 14, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT: Jury rules for club

Widow alleged fatal beating

Defendants Michael Muscato, left, and Darrin Brey, center, stand next to Crazy Horse Too Vice President Albert Rapuano during closing arguments Monday in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the club. Photo by John Gurzinski. Camille Fau listens to closing arguments Monday in a wrongful death lawsuit she filed against topless club Crazy Horse Too. Photo by John Gurzinski. Plaintiff's attorney Randall Pike makes his closing argument Monday. The chart shows club patron Scott Fau. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Jurors delivered a unanimous verdict Monday for the Crazy Horse Too in a wrongful death lawsuit that alleged the strip club's bouncers beat a man to death more than seven years ago.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours in a case that took four days to present before District Judge Nancy Saitta.

Club representatives called the quick verdict a vindication.

"We felt all along that the truth would come out," said Albert Rapuano, the club's vice president. "I guess if there's justice, it rests on this jury's verdict."

In August 1995, Scott Fau, an interstate trucker, got into a fight inside the club with employees Joe Blasko, Darrin Brey, Paul Luca and Michael Muscato. The fight continued into the parking lot. Police and paramedics responded and broke up the melee.

Fau's widow, Camille, alleged her husband was beaten again after authorities left the scene. Fau was found near death about three hours later near a set of railroad tracks behind the club, which is on Industrial Road just north of the Sahara Avenue overpass.

Fau had a broken nose, leg and foot, and a severe head wound. He died soon after he was found.

According to testimony, a little more than 30 minutes passed between the time police left and the time club employees went to the hospital to seek treatment for their broken hands.

Jurors said that 30 minutes was the key to the case.

"There wasn't enough time for a second beating," said Dawn Randall, the jury forewoman.

"That's what it came down to," juror Samantha Slate said. "The scenario they gave us, we just didn't find it likely."

Camille Fau, an elementary school teacher from Los Angeles, said she and her two daughters, ages 8 and 12, were devastated by the verdict.

"I really am horrified that these people let them get away with this. I am livid," she said. "What their verdict told me was that my husband's life meant nothing."

Her attorney, Randall Pike, said he was disappointed, but he hopes a grand jury investigation into the club and its activities would yield different results.

"We had witnesses that were intimidated. We had witnesses who didn't show up," said Pike, who was seeking unspecified damages in the millions of dollars. "It just shows that the ongoing criminal activity of employees of the Crazy Horse Too is a lot more far-reaching than they would like people to believe."

The allegations in Fau's lawsuit were similar to those in a lawsuit filed last year against the club and its owner, Rick Rizzolo.

In that lawsuit, Kansas tourist Kirk Henry alleged a club employee broke his neck after a dispute over a bar tab. Henry is paralyzed from the chest down.

Club attorneys have said Henry's neck was broken when he fell after spending hours drinking in the club. They have said a club employee summoned paramedics after finding Henry lying in the parking lot.

Court documents filed with the Henry case revealed Las Vegas police and the FBI have been conducting a criminal investigation of the club for at least 14 months. A federal grand jury has been convened to hear evidence produced by the inquiry.

In Rizzolo's deposition for the Henry case, Henry's attorneys asked Rizzolo several questions about his relationships with reputed mobsters Joey Cusumano, Fred Pascente and Chris Petti, all members of Nevada's Black Book.

Rapuano, the club vice president, said Monday's verdict should show that much of the hue and cry surrounding the Crazy Horse Too is not based on fact.

"They tried and failed to tie all these cases together and to portray a culture of violence going on at the Crazy Horse Too," he said. "So we're hopeful that the truth will come out in the Henry case, too. We're confident we will prevail."

Blasko and Luca died before the case went to trial.