Metro sued by dance show owner; claims racketeering

Rachael Levy

Tuesday, July 9, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The owner of a company that dispatches dancers for private strip-tease shows is accusing six Metro Police officers of trying to run him out of town.

Richard Soranno, president of S.O.C. Inc., contends the officers spread rumors that he was involved in drugs and falsely arrested dancers, causing him to lose clients and money. He is seeking more than $1 million in damages.

The year-old lawsuit bounced from one lawyer to another, idling in federal court until last week when Soranno's third attorney, Dominic Gentile, broadened the scope of the civil rights allegations to include a pattern of racketeering.

That charge -- originally designed as a weapon against organized crime -- for the first time is being used against Metro, attorneys said.

Gentile modeled the lawsuit after a 1994 U.S. Supreme Court case brought by the National Organization for Women against a coalition of anti-abortion groups called the Pro-Life Action Network.

In that case, the justices ruled that racketeering violations can be proven, even if there is no economic motive. Until that point, racketeering had to include allegations that the crimes were committed to make money.

Gentile said he had no evidence that the officers were being paid to harass Soranno. He speculated, however, that the cops' actions may be based on moral righteousness, just like the anti-abortion activists.

The police conspiracy, Gentile said, sprung up after county leaders repeatedly lost efforts to "outlaw" or "oppressively restrict" outcall services. (The ordinances were invalidated in federal court on grounds that they violated the dancers' First Amendment rights.)

The lawsuit names as defendants Clark County, Deputy District Attorney William Hehn, vice Lt. William Young, Detectives Victor Vigna and Gawain Guedry, Sgts. David Logue and Gaylen Hammack, and Officer James Mitchell.

When the lawsuit was first filed in July 1995, Young said he had evidence that S.O.C. Inc. was a front for prostitution, which is illegal in Clark County.

"They're not strippers, they want money for sex," Young said.

Clark County Deputy District Attorney Robert Gower was not intimidated by last week's 45-page complaint that cites as support 23 arrests and/or interrogations of S.O.C. Inc. employees.

Gower said the majority of those prostitution arrests resulted in convictions.

"If an initial inquiry (into the allegations) shows that half the complaint is inaccurate, it doesn't suggest that the county is in deep trouble," he said.