State high court overturns fine on Crazy Horse Too

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court has thrown out a $2.2 million fine levied by the city of Las Vegas against a strip club that pleaded guilty to tax and extortion charges.

The court on Friday ordered Clark County District Judge Mark Denton to hold a hearing to determine how much the now shuttered Crazy Horse Too could be fined.

The court said there was a real discrepancy as to how long the Roman-themed club just off the Strip had engaged in a conspiracy scheme.

The Las Vegas City Council claimed The Power Company, the club's corporate parent, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to engage in a racketeering enterprise for five years or 2,192 days. The council levied a of fine of $1,000 a day.

The parent of the Crazy Horse maintains the conspiracy lasted only 1,461 days.

"We conclude that the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the city because a genuine issue of material fact exists as to how long The Power Company participated in the conspiracy," the court wrote in its ruling.

In the guilty plea in federal court, The Power Company admitted to count one, which alleged the conspiracy was committed between 2000 and 2005.

However, the plea memorandum states the conspiracy was between 2000 and 2003.

The Crazy Horse Too was owned by Rick Rizzolo, who was sentenced in January 2007 to one year and one day in prison, three years of supervised release and fined $250,000 fine for conspiring to escape payment of federal taxes.

Rizzolo's June 2006 plea deal ended a decade-long federal probe of whether the club was linked to the mob.