Until he pays his debt, Rick Rizzolo hangs like a monkey on your back

I resolved to quit several bad habits in 2009. Unfortunately, I'm off to a slow start.

It's less than a week into the new year, and I'm already slipping.

As newsprint is pricey and cataloging all my personal failings would consume too much space, I'll list just three examples: drinking tequila bearing the name of the supermarket chain from which it was purchased, eating cheeseburgers promoted by kings and clowns, and writing about the sordid saga of Crazy Horse Too topless cabaret ex-owner Rick Rizzolo.

Setting aside a jug of Jose Albertson's finest is a challenge. Avoiding the McGreasy with Cheese lunch is tougher still. Admittedly, I'm weak-willed with taste buds like tire treads.

But I figured that by 2009, resolving never again to write Rizzolo's name in the column would be a cinch of a promise to keep. I was sure that by now Rizzolo, the affable wiseguy, high-rolling gambler, and former soft touch for politicians, would have wised up and settled his debts with the government and quadriplegic Kirk Henry.

Henry was a Kansas tourist who was nearly killed after having his neck broken, allegedly by Crazy Horse Too thug Bobby D'Apice, after a dispute over an $80 bar tab in September 2001. Henry sued Rizzolo, and the $10 million civil settlement was made a part of the federal government's global settlement of criminal charges against the topless club owner and 15 associates in 2006. Rizzolo was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on a tax conviction and, quite frankly, was lucky to get the deal.

All Rizzolo had to do was keep up his end of the bargain by paying his debts, and he would be able to walk away and move on with his life. But to rewrite a phrase from Michael Corleone, "Just when I think he's out, he pulls himself back in."

Instead of bucking up and giving Henry the $9 million he's still owed after an initial $1 million payment, Rizzolo and his lawyers are accused by Henry's lead attorney, Donald Campbell, of stalling the case and concealing assets. Now U.S. District Judge George Foley has given Mr. Crazy Horse Too until Thursday to produce the pertinent financial records.

That Foley would compel the production of numerous documents to fill in the paper trail -- or lack of one -- is a sign Henry's attorneys have a persuasive argument. If those documents reveal signs of collusion between Rizzolo and his ex-wife, that could haunt the couple for a long time to come.

On the federal side, Rizzolo and Co. continue to play footsie with flummoxed federal attorneys and U.S. Marshals Service officials who have the dubious task of attempting to sell the shuttered Industrial Road topless club and settle the outstanding debts. When Rizzolo signed off on the global settlement, it was agreed that proceeds from the club's sale would be used to compensate Henry. Because there is no sale, there are no proceeds, and thus no check for the quadriplegic and his financially burdened family.

Get the picture?

But what if Rizzolo hasn't lived up to his agreement? What if he secretly influences a local topless cabaret after agreeing to leave the business? What if he's attempted to divert and conceal his assets through a 2005 divorce?

Some people are seeking answers to just such questions, and that means 2009 promises to be a rocky year for Rick Rizzolo and some of his friends.

It's little secret that at least one intrepid IRS agent is asking about Rizzolo's connection to suspicious payments made through a local law firm to a former local politician for supposed investigative and security consultation. The arrangement smacks of an under-the-radar financial relationship.

That could mean big headaches for a lawyer and a former politician, and yet more trouble for Rizzolo.

That also means law enforcement, which opened a file on Rizzolo and his circle of mob-associated friends back in the late 1980s, continues to investigate him two decades later. And in 2009 he continues to miss the opportunity to pay his debts, cut his mounting losses and move on with his life. He's remarkably consistent in that regard.

Now I'm having trouble moving on, too.

I resolved to stop writing about the tangled Rizzolo affair in 2009, but they just pulled me back in.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith/.