Peter "Chris" Christoff stands Friday in The Little Church of Las Vegas, located in an office in a Western Avenue strip mall. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Click image for enlargement. Graphic by Mike Johnson.

Out-of-work strippers counting on the Crazy Horse Too reopening might want to get on their knees and pray.

A foe of the troubled topless club has opened a church near the closed-down strip club, a move that could stop a prospective operator from getting a new liquor license with which to reopen the business.

City code prohibits establishments that serve liquor from operating within 1,500 feet of a church.

The Little Church of Las Vegas plans to have its first service a week from Sunday in a second-floor office of a drab shopping mall on Western Avenue, a few hundred feet from the Crazy Horse Too, said its deacon, Peter "Chris" Christoff.

Christoff is a frequent character in the political theater of Las Vegas City Council and Clark County Commission meetings.

Earlier this month, he was outside the Crazy Horse Too mugging for cameras and flashing the victory sign after the council revoked the club's liquor license. Joining him in the celebration were former Councilman Steve Miller and "Buffalo" Jim Barrier, both longtime railers against the strip club and the violence that sometimes surrounded it.

Christoff denied he's opening the church to scuttle efforts by Michael Signorelli to obtain a temporary liquor license at the Crazy Horse Too. The City Council is scheduled to hear Signorelli's application on Wednesday.

"I didn't find God. God found me," Christoff said.

A questionable church opening to block a strip club is not an unprecedented occurrence in Las Vegas.

In 2000, the sister of Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo opened a church 219 feet from a proposed strip club, initially scuttling the license application. Annette Marie Patterson moved the church after revelations she was behind it and was not an ordained minister.

For years now, Christoff said, he has wanted to open a church for Bible study, Sunday sermons and marriages to serve the downtrodden Meadows Village area, better known as the Naked City. He suggested the possibility of heavenly intervention in realizing his goal.

"I don't know if it's a coincidence. Maybe he's directing me," said Christoff, looking upward at the fluorescent lights on the shabby ceiling of the new church.

William Ahern, who described himself as a retired limousine driver, stood with Christoff on Friday holding a framed certificate from Clark County that he says proves Ahern is an ordained minister and can perform marriages. With a thick white goatee and a golden crucifix around his neck, Ahern said his longtime friend Christoff asked him to be a part of the church, and he was hoping to perform marriages there.

Signorelli's attorney, Steve Caruso, called the church a sham.

"Mysteriously, this old thorn in Rick Rizzolo's side, this crony of Steve Miller, decided to open up the church?" he said. "They're using the law meant to protect the citizens of Las Vegas to their own advantage with bad intent. I don't think it's allowed. This is clearly a pretense, a sham."

He pointed out that Miller owns the land under Club Paradise, a competitor of the Crazy Horse Too.

Caruso said Signorelli has worked out a $400,000-a-month lease which includes the right to purchase the Crazy Horse Too from Rizzolo for $45 million.

He said the parcel of land is big enough for two 40-story, mixed-use towers, where there could be condos, hotel rooms or a casino in addition to the Crazy Horse Too.

Christoff said he didn't have any problem with the Crazy Horse Too. But he delivered a letter signed by Ahern on Thursday to the city attorney's office protesting Signorelli's liquor license application.

Signorelli, owner of the Golden Steer Steakhouse, only met Rizzolo two weeks ago, Caruso said.

Caruso said Signorelli was moved by the testimony of Amy Henry, whose husband Kirk Henry was paralyzed following a fight outside the club after disputing an $80 tab. Amy Henry asked the City Council to allow the club to keep its liquor license so Rizzolo could sell it and her family could get the balance of the $10 million settlement that was part of a federal plea agreement.

"He saw Amy Henry talking about how the city closing down the Crazy Horse would affect their family, and his heart went out to her," he said. Signorelli paid for a ramp to be installed at the home of a neighbor who is paraplegic, Caruso said.

On Sept. 6, the City Council issued a $2.2 million fine and revoked Rizzolo's liquor license after federal plea agreements from Rizzolo, the company that owned Crazy Horse Too, and 16 employees. The fine was later reduced to up to $1 million by a judge.

Goodman recused himself from participating in that hearing. He will also miss the upcoming vote on Signorelli's license application because he will be traveling next week in Europe to promote the 2007 NBA All-Star game, which will be in Las Vegas.