Web site shows life of Mazzeo

A new Web site that seeks contributions for Chrissy Mazzeo's lawsuit against Gov. Jim Gibbons and others sheds light on how she dropped from sight afterwards.

The site, vindicatemazzeo.com, which was copyrighted by her attorney, Robert J. Kossack, includes the claim that the former cocktail waitress was "run out of town," but is taking on "four of the most powerful men in Nevada" to clear her name.

Mazzeo, 34, filed a lawsuit in federal court in October alleging her rights to due process and equal protection were violated during a 2006 incident with Gibbons and the following police investigation. The lawsuit names Gibbons, political consultant Sig Rogich, Las Vegas police, former Sheriff Bill Young, attorney Don Campbell and former friend Pennie Mossett-Puhek as defendants.

In the lawsuit, she accuses Gibbons of assaulting her on Oct. 13, 2006, in a parking garage near McCormick & Schmick's restaurant in Las Vegas.

Revelations on the Web site include her childhood health battles while growing up outside Flagstaff, Ariz. A rare condition when she was 3 years old led to complete hair loss, a setback that forced her to wear a bandana to cover her head and made her "an expert in the application of wigs and false eyelashes."

As a teen, she had a malignant thyroid removed.

When her first marriage didn't survive, she refused alimony and assumed all of the couple's debts, out of gratitude for all that her former husband had done for her during her cancer treatments, according to the Web site.

Unable to get pregnant during her eight-year marriage, she moved to Las Vegas and subsequently had a daughter she named Parris.

She worked as a dental assistant for Dr. Thomas Puhek, where she befriended Puhek's wife, Pennie, according to the Web site. Mazzeo on the Web site goes on to criticize Pennie Mossett-Puhek.

Mazzeo left her cocktail serving job at Bellagio in 2005 to become the first cocktail server hired for the opening of Wynn Las Vegas, the Web site says.

A year later, when the story broke and almost cost Gibbons his big lead in the polls, the controversy caused her to be "blacklisted" from local jobs, the Web site says.

She avoided the media glare by moving to Highland, Calif., where she worked as a cocktail server at Indian casinos near Riverside, Calif., before moving in with a boyfriend who owned a security company and lived in Huntington Beach, Calif.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Restaurateur and chef Louis Osteen took a double hit when the economy went south. "To have opened and closed two restaurants inside of 12 months required a 'perfect storm,' a term being used a lot these days," he said in an e-mail. Osteen, who specialized in low-country cuisine, recently closed Louis' Fine Dining in Town Square not long after shuttering sister eatery Louis's Fish Camp. "They were good restaurants, made a lot of people happy -- just not enough," he said. He's hoping to stay in Las Vegas -- "a cool place," he said. ... Kuldeep Singh, the new chef at Origin India, called the general manager of the historic Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel in Mumbai, India, over the weekend to check on friends. Singh said three Taj chefs were among the first to die when the terrorists began their coordinated attacks that left more than 170 dead. Singh worked in the kitchen at the Oberoi Hotel, another target, for seven years before moving to the London area. He did not know any of the victims.

SIGHTINGS

Backstage with the Jonas Brothers after their second concert Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden: Las Vegas actress Meaghan Jette Martin, who co-starred with them in The Disney Channel hit "Camp Rock." ... Rapper Too Short, pulling up to the entrance of Poetry Nightclub (Forum Shops at Caesars) on Saturday in a brand new Mercedes CL 700. Later, he gave an impromptu performance to a sold-out crowd at Poetry. ... Cast members of the HBO series "True Blood," including Ryan Kwanten, Kristin Bauer and Alexander Skarsgard, co-hosting at Privé (Planet Hollywood Resort) on Friday. They were celebrating Bauer's birthday and the finale of their first season. ... Skarsgard, dining in Strip House at Planet Hollywood Resort on Saturday.

THE PUNCH LINE

"A mailman was arrested for not delivering junk mail. Still no word on bin Laden." -- David Letterman

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.