Crazy Horse Too’s new owner to try to scrub away its sordid past

Mike Galam considers himself a hard-working guy, but it’s going to take more than elbow grease and a mop to clean up the reputation of the Crazy Horse Too.

The notorious Industrial Road topless club, which Galam purchased as part of a $5.5 million, 59 percent stake in Canico Capital, has all the charm of a haunted house.

Under previous owner Rick Rizzolo, the topless cabaret was enormously profitable — and the scene of organized crime influence and customer beatings punctuated by the September 2001 crippling of Kansas tourist Kirk Henry.

The high-rolling Rizzolo’s run ended abruptly in 2006, when he ended a lengthy battle with law enforcement by pleading guilty to a tax evasion charge.

As part of a global settlement that saw 16 Crazy Horse Too employees accept felony convictions, Rizzolo also
agreed to pay the Henry family $10 million to settle a lawsuit. Rizzolo served a year and a day and failed to pay his debt to the man one of his goons made a quadriplegic.

In 2013, attorneys for the Henrys continue to chase Rizzolo for the millions they’re owed.

Galam, 47, said he’s read the stories and makes it clear he has nothing to do with the previous owner. The Southern California topless club owner of the popular Bare Elegance cabarets, by now must be used to scrubbing the stigma left by previous ownership.

In 2004 he bought the Valley Ball jiggle joint in Van Nuys. The club’s previous partners, two ex-California Highway Patrol officers, settled their differences with machine-gun fire. In 2001, Michael Woods was convicted of hiring a hit man to kill co-owner Horace “Big Mac” McKenna, who died in a hail of Uzi bullets in March 1989 outside his Brea hillside ranch.

“It’s very interesting,” Galam says. “I bought that off two highway patrol officers who got into a little bit more trouble than Rick here. One had the other one shot.”

Galam also admits it took some time before local law enforcement in California believed he wasn’t connected with the previous ownership. Considering the Crazy Horse’s tortured ownership history, he should probably expect the same treatment here.

Galam’s Rhino-Bare limited liability company was listed at the Clark County recorder’s office March 19. He says he hopes to have his liquor license approved in time for a June 1 opening and is infusing several hundred thousand dollars into making the club ready to operate. He’s also juggling a lawsuit with a minority investor.

He assures skeptics it will have a decidedly different approach to customer service.

“I have an excellent reputation, and especially at my clubs,” he says. “There’s no violence. We’re extremely strict on the conduct of the girls. And there’s a zero drug tolerance policy. I feel extremely confident in being successful because our modus operandi is completely different from the previous owner. We’re friendly, courteous. All of my security staff will be signing a no-violence waiver, including if they’re attacked. The most they can do is bear hug a guy and restrain him until the police come. No punching, no assaults of any kind, including self-defense. We have a bear hug-only policy.”

That rule applies to the bouncers, not the dancers.

According to a corporate biography, Galam was born in Buffalo Grove, Ill., and began working in a grocery store at 14, gravitated toward the music business and at one point managed rock bands. In addition to the topless clubs, he owns a gypsum mine and mill in Blythe, Calif., a parking lot, storage facility and Hollywood real estate.

And he swears he has no links to the Crazy Horse Too’s previous ownership. Galam’s attorney, Michael Mushkin, shrugs off any questions about the wisdom of his client’s decision to open a club at that notorious Industrial Road address.

“He’s a real operator,” Mushkin says. “He’s not in it to do anything but open the joint and run it. He wants to be in Las Vegas and sees this as the best opportunity for him.”

There’s even talk of producing a reality TV series based on the reopening of the Crazy Horse Too.

“We plan on a whole new demeanor of smiles instead of punches,” Galam says.

Then he grins like a man who’s ready for the cameras to start rolling.

John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at jsmith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295.