Ex-Palomino strip club owner, son go on trial in 2005 slaying

Around midnight on May 19, 2005, the lifeless body of Timothy Hadland was discovered in the middle of an isolated road near Lake Mead.

Motorists found the ex-employee of the Palomino strip club with gunshot wounds to the head and fliers for the strip club littered near his body.

Police quickly linked Hadland's slaying to the North Las Vegas club.

They arrested a handful of people who worked or had ties to the club, including the son and girlfriend of the club's owner.

Then last year, the club's former owner, Luis Hidalgo Jr., was arrested and charged in connection with the killing.

On Monday, the murder trial began for Luis Hidalgo Jr., 58, and his son Luis Hidalgo III.

Authorities said Hidalgo Jr., known affectionately as "Mr. H," was the mastermind behind Hadland's slaying. He ordered Hadland killed because he was bad-mouthing the club to cabdrivers, which cost the club thousands in lost revenue, authorities said.

His son Luis "Little Luis" Hidalgo III, 27, conspired to kill Hadland and later plotted to kill eyewitnesses by poisoning them with Tanqueray gin spiked with rat poison, county prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said.

"The order was to kill Timothy Hadland," he said.

The case involves multiple defendants, several of whom have pleaded guilty to lesser charges or have been convicted in connection with the slaying.

One of Hidalgo Jr.'s attorneys, Dominic Gentile, said his client knew nothing about the plot to kill Hadland. Gentile shifted blame to another man, Deangelo Carroll, 28, who also is charged with Hadland's killing and is awaiting trial.

Several days after the slaying, Carroll wore a police wire and recorded conversations he had with Luis Hidalgo III and Anabel Espindola, 36, the girlfriend of Luis Hidalgo Jr.

On the wire, parts of which were played for the jury Monday, Carroll can be heard discussing the slaying. The other two whispered so quietly that their conversations were unclear.

Gentile said Carroll cooperated with police and stated things on the recording to steer responsibility away from himself and avoid prison.

Gentile said the strip club was not the Hidalgo's family business. Hidalgo Jr., who once worked as a civilian in a California sheriff's office, was in the car repair business. He moved to the Las Vegas Valley in the 1990s and opened Simone's Auto Plaza.

He became involved in the club through his friendship with the owner.

Christopher Adams, one of Luis Hidalgo III's attorney, also maneuvered blame from his client to another defendant, Espindola. He said Espindola was "in charge" after the slaying and suggested that she was the architect behind Hadland's killing.

Espindola initially was charged with murder and soliciting murder, among other charges, in connection with the case.

She pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a deadly weapon, a lesser charge, and could be released from jail after she testifies in the trial.

The case is not the first time the Palomino has figured prominently in a Las Vegas slaying.

In 2000, Jack Perry, son of the owner at the time, shot and killed a worker who wanted to buy the club. He pleaded guilty and is serving a sentence of life with the possibility of parole after 14 years.

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.