Part of what makes the Galardi political corruption investigation so juicy and intriguing is the fact that it confirms our worst suspicions.

But that's also the part that makes the legal cleanup process so much more complex than simply taking a broom and sweeping everyone into the nearest penitentiary.

There's a difference between an accusation and a provable fact that can be taken to court. It's no secret defendants facing long prison sentences have been known to admit almost anything in exchange for leniency.

When Cheetahs topless bar owner Michael Galardi found himself in the middle of a political corruption case with ties to Clark County commissioners and beyond, he wisely hooked up with attorney Ira J. Raphaelson. The result was a remarkably swift and favorable agreement for Galardi -- and a lot of trouble and embarrassment for the dozens of people he named to interviewers as persons he was able to corrupt.

Some of those were judges who are allowed to accept campaign contributions. The question is, how well did Galardi know the judges he was willing to burn? Even more importantly, how much of what he accused them of is actually provable?

It's unlikely Galardi was simply lying to save his skin. It's more complicated than that. In fact, he might have reported the facts as he viewed them -- especially under the threat of his sweet deal going south.

Problem is, he named so many officials, bureaucrats and members of local and federal law enforcement that it's hard to separate the 100-proof material from the snake oil.

Take some local judges, for instance.

In an interview in 2003 arranged by Raphaelson during his negotiations with the Department of Justice and in the presence of FBI case agents, Galardi had damning things to say about District Judges Lee Gates, Donald Mosley, and Nancy Saitta. He also accused Municipal Judges Toy Gregory and George Assad, and Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo of inappropriate activity: Namely, accepting contributions in checks and cash.

Galardi accused:

• Gregory of accepting a $5,000 check and $5,000 in cash. He also said club official Lori Iurato was encouraged to donate to Gregory's campaign.

• Assad of accepting a $5,000 check and $5,000 in cash from County Commissioner-turned-lobbyist Lance Malone in an exchange in the bathroom of the California Pizza Kitchen at the Golden Nugget.

• Abbatangelo of accepting checks and cash contributions along with girls for the judge's bachelor party.

• Gates of accepting a $5,000 check and $5,000 in cash plus other cash through attorney Pete Christiansen, who has denied such allegations.

• Saitta of inappropriate favoritism in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of a group of topless dancers seeking back wages.

• Mosley of a long, for some unstated reason, ethically questionable association with Galardi's father, topless bar mogul Jack Galardi.

• A Nevada Supreme Court justice, whose name he could not recall, of unethical behavior. A skeptic might be left to wonder how Galardi could remember so many details of so many allegedly unethical and illegal contacts with members of the judiciary and somehow forget the name of one of the seven most important judges in the state.

And you didn't have to be successful to receive Galardi's judicial largess, according to his debriefing memo. He claimed to have given Municipal Court candidate Craig Hendricks, currently a chief deputy district attorney, $20,000 for his campaign. He also told investigators he comped Hendricks a variety of the services available at Cheetahs.

The judges who responded to interview requests for this story not only denied acting unethically or illegally but said they never received calls from the local FBI agents who have been investigating Galardi's allegations.

Interestingly, Galardi named Mosley as a recipient of inappropriate favor, but when asked to describe what the veteran judge had done, he couldn't think of anything specific. In Galardi's debriefing memo, it's written: "Galardi said Moseley (sic) was part of Seymore Brown's clique, and like Brown, was a friend of Jack (Galardi, Mike's father). Galardi said he never called him for a favor." He also said that "together he and Jack gave Mosley $50,000" over the years.

But Galardi didn't say whether any of those contributions were either inappropriate or resulted in unethical favoritism by Mosley.

Galardi's recollection of the activity of Saitta, a veteran judge and the wife of the former head of the Las Vegas office of the Secret Service, Joseph Saitta, was more elaborate than most of the other judges he named. He said she accepted a $10,000 contribution.

When a class-action lawsuit seeking back wages was filed on behalf of local topless dancers, it wended its way from one court to another and wound up in front of Saitta. The judge had come under federal scrutiny because she had sat on several cases involving controversial Crazy Horse Too topless club owner Rick Rizzolo.

The back wages case was eventually resolved, but during his interview with the FBI, Galardi recalled Rizzolo telling him that he had "taken care of Saitta." At a settlement conference, Galardi also recalled, Judge Saitta gave Rizzolo "a big hug and kiss like they were friends" and thanked Galardi for his generous contribution with several witnesses present.

Saitta denied ever acting unethically or illegally and called laughable the idea that she was somehow compromised by either Galardi or Rizzolo.

"I think that it is so unfair that a system where judges are elected gives them the ability to throw out such nonsense because it is nonsense," Saitta said. "They can allege anything they want. In doing so ... I think that is patently unfair.

"I cannot more vehemently deny that there was any type of influence, subtle or real."

She said a computer randomly selects all cases, and she said she is only able to recognize Galardi now because she's seen his picture in the newspaper.

As for Rizzolo, she admitted she attended his Christmas party and is one of hundreds of local elected officials to do so, but her "relationship" with him is limited to accepting fully legal and fully disclosed campaign contributions.

Asked to speculate on Galardi's motivation for giving such a detailed description, Saitta replied, "I guess the only answer is, when one's own liberty is at stake, perhaps they feel it necessary to throw as much out as they can in order to save themselves."

Contacted at home, Assad said the Canons of Judicial Ethics precluded him from commenting on a pending case.

Meanwhile, Municipal Court Chief Judge Gregory denied Galardi's allegation and asked how it was possible for him to prove he's innocent of something that didn't happen.

"It's just entirely false," Gregory said. "He's talking about a lot of people. He's talking about a lot of people. And a lot of it's lies. And it hurts people when it's baseless.

"I don't know why he pulled my name out of the hat. I think he wanted to make a deal with the government. I think he wanted to show he could bribe anybody."

Gregory said he solicited a contribution from Galardi and drove to Jaguars to accept a $5,000 check from his secretary.

The judge said he had met Jack Galardi through the late Municipal Court Judge Seymore Brown, but was unacquainted with Michael Galardi.

The late Brown made no secret of his friendship with the elder Galardi.

As for the accusation he also accepted cash, Gregory replied, "Not a penny. It's just absolutely false."

The judge then raised an issue that reverberates through the political corruption investigation. Facts and indictments aside, how do those named prove a negative?

"When you're accused of something that you didn't do, just like Nancy, you don't have any proof that you didn't do it," Gregory said. "Whenever something comes out and your name appears like this, somebody's going to believe it. I know Nancy. I worked with her. She's one of the most honest people in the world."

Meanwhile, in Justice Court, veteran Judge Tony Abbatangelo also denied Galardi's allegations, including the statement that the topless mogul sent girls to the judge's bachelor party.

"All of it's a lie," Abbatangelo said. "I met Mike Galardi twice. He's given me two checks in the mail. My bachelor party was in Cabo San Lucas."

Asked what would motivate Galardi to falsely accuse the judge, Abbatangelo said, "I have no idea why. I can only speculate. Ask (Assistant U.S. Attorney) Eric Johnson. I don't know Eric very well, but he is as straight as they get."

Johnson was also named by Galardi as a recipient of club favors, but a federal inquiry called the accusation factually unsubstantiated.

Abbatangelo speculated that Galardi mentioned his name because the judge knows Chief Deputy District Attorney Craig Hendricks, former Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon, and former Galardi lawyer Pete Christiansen. Galardi also accused Christiansen and Guymon of acting as middlemen for the off-the-books judicial contributions.

Back when he was debriefed in 2003, Galardi told his interviewers that he didn't keep a record of the cash bribes he so clearly recalled directly and indirectly handing out.

A lack of records is smart if you're in the business of giving bribes, but it's a shortcoming should you later decide to cut a deal with the government to save yourself from growing old in the penitentiary.

Like most political corruption cases, allegations are far easier to level than they are to prove. Galardi is not the first defendant to offer more information that he could substantiate. Nor does the fact he talked a better game than he was capable of delivering necessarily mean he was merely spinning yarns for salivating investigators.

But if the responses to some of Galardi's allegations are any indicator, local judges don't plan to remain silent about his damning accusations.

The Galardi case confirms your most cynical suspicions, and that makes it irresistible.

The fact the case has already resulted in convictions in San Diego and Las Vegas and has led to the indictment of former County Commissioners Dario Herrera, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Lance Malone, makes it one of the most important political corruption investigations in Southern Nevada history.

But with reputations and careers hanging in the balance, separating bankable facts from the arguable fiction is proving perhaps the government's greatest challenge of all.

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