Sunday, August 07, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JOHN L. SMITH: Lawyer for Crazy Horse Too owner blows his top over facts and law

Tony Sgro is outraged, incensed and nearly apoplectic.

You might say he's table-pounding mad.

The lead attorney for embattled topless bar mogul Rick Rizzolo is beside himself with anger at a recent column calling for the closure of his client's Crazy Horse Too cabaret due to its many mob issues and an ongoing federal criminal investigation.

At least, that's what Sgro's official stationery says. It turns out Rizzolo thinks I've been mean to him for a long time.

"Notwithstanding the inaccurate content and, at times, a venomous and vindictive tenor to these articles, we have chosen to ignore this so-called reporting, particularly considering the source," Sgro writes. "Your distorted and biased reporting, however, can no longer continue to be countenanced. Most specifically, your most recent article, entitled, `Reports of Rizzolo Dining with Mob's Clown Should Close Club's Doors' is not only libelous but is an unacceptable example of irresponsible and reprehensible journalism."

Lately Sgro has taken his case to friends in the media, and that's a truly enlightened move because Rizzolo needs all the publicists he can get.

But hold on, counselor.

You say I have libeled a topless bar owner?

Aw shucks, Tony.

Keep this up, and you're going to make me blush.

Maligning a booby baron of Rizzolo's repute is no easy task. And just imagine the ramifications.

Next thing I know someone will sue me for emotional distress because I made a pimp cry. Where will it all end?

Sgro's chief issue this time focuses on recent media reports linking Rizzolo to a supper with reputed Chicago mob boss "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, other organized crime associates, and Rosemont, Ill., Mayor Donald Stephens. The stories were based on information from a government informant, and Stephens has vehemently denied dining in such notorious company on the date in question.

Rizzolo has been even more adamant. He presents evidence that proves he wasn't in Chicago with Lombardo -- at least, not on the May 29, 1999, date in question.

But Sgro's problem is not whether the government informant is accurate. Snitches are sometimes wildly speculative, a fact I mentioned in my terribly mean July 22 column.

The attorney's dilemma is that Rizzolo's close friend Albert Rapuano already has confirmed under oath that he partook of a dinner in Chicago that included Lombardo and Rizzolo. Lombardo's brother, Rocco Lombardo, is a former Crazy Horse Too employee.

The Rizzolo-Lombardo association isn't in question, and I suspect Sgro knew that.

But just to make sure, I called Sgro's office to refresh his memory of the information contained in the Rapuano deposition. He was unavailable.

It's probably for the best, considering the hole he's helped dig for his troubled client.

By failing to settle a civil lawsuit filed by attorneys for Kansas tourist Kirk Henry, who suffered a broken neck after a night at the Crazy Horse Too, he left his client and some truly colorful associates open to deposition probing that certainly, if unofficially, aided the criminal investigation that threatens to put Rizzolo out of business.

All I've done is point that out.

But don't thank me, Mr. Sgro. In fact, don't pay any attention to me. No one in politics does, so why should you?

Truth is, I have nothing against Rizzolo. In fact, I'll state for the record that nothing for which he's being investigated surprises or disappoints me in the least. Inquiries into customer beatings, credit card fraud, tax evasion and organized crime influence certainly don't make me think less of him as a person.

Frankly, I don't care if Rizzolo's club remains in business or opens a taco stand in Winnemucca, but I think its continued operation makes the City Council look particularly weak. For some reason, the council has traditionally taken great umbrage with some topless clubs while allowing others to skate.

Every lawyer knows the adage about facts and the law. When the facts are in your favor, pound on the facts. When the law is on your side, pound on the law.

When both are against you, pound on the table.

All this lawyerly outrage gives a whole new meaning to the term "table dance."

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