Thursday, Feb. 19, 1998 | 10 a.m.
A rift between Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible led to an intelligence probe of the state's top casino regulator, a former Del Papa investigator charged Wednesday.
In a lawsuit filed in District Court, Mike Anzalone alleged that one of Del Papa's deputies, David Thompson, went as far as asking him in December 1995 to obtain telephone and bank records of Bible and other board members during the secret inquiry.
But the 52-year-old Anzalone said he refused to seek the records, saying he couldn't justify requesting subpoenas because Bible and the others were not targets of the criminal investigation he was conducting.
At the time, Anzalone was the lead investigator in the case against Ron Harris, a former Control Board electronics expert who was sentenced to seven years in prison in January for using his position to further a slot cheating conspiracy.
After striking a deal to plead guilty in August 1996, Harris leveled charges of misconduct against his colleagues at the board. Thompson made videotapes of a lengthy and wide-ranging debriefing of Harris that were leaked to ABC News last spring while Bible was being considered by President Clinton for an appointment to a federal gaming commission.
None of the allegations were proven, and Bible ultimately was named to the federal panel. But the airing of the tapes and their unsubstantiated allegations on a national television network embarrassed Nevada gaming regulators.
The leak enraged Bible and intensified the feud between the board chairman and Del Papa to the point where Gov. Bob Miller summoned both to his office to urge them to stop sparring in public.
No charges were ever brought by the attorney general's office against Bible or any other current or former board members, and Anzalone said in an interview he did not know whether the attorney general ever actually obtained the telephone and bank records.
In his 47-page suit, Anzalone did not identify the other board members Thompson had wanted him to investigate, but former member Gerald Cunningham is said to be one of them.
Anzalone, who contends he lost his job over the secret inquiry, said in the suit that he telephoned Assistant Attorney General Brooke Nielsen to voice his concerns about the probe, and Nielsen agreed there was reason to believe it exceeded the authority of the office.
But several days later, Nielsen, who reports directly to Del Papa, called back and told him Thompson had authority to proceed with the probe, Anzalone said.
Del Papa Wednesday called Anzalone's allegations unfounded.
"This office does not conduct intelligence investigations," she said. "It's rubbish to suggest that Bill Bible and other Gaming Control Board members were investigated."
Anzalone, however, alleged in his suit that he was forced to resign Feb. 26, 1996, after he had declined to submit to the "illegal and unwarranted activity" of the attorney general's office.
He said he believes he got caught in the rift between Del Papa and Bible that dated back to the spring of 1995, when Bible told the attorney general he was unhappy with the legal representation from her office.
Del Papa, Thompson, her top Las Vegas deputy Donald Haight, investigators J.T. Healy and Ronald Wheatley and the state of Nevada, all were named as defendants in the suit, filed on Anzalone's behalf by Phoenix lawyer Christine Manno.
Bible Wednesday reacted with caution, but concern, over Anzalone's allegations.
"If the attorney general has knowledge of wrongdoing by any state employee, including myself, she has the responsibility to thoroughly investigate the charges," Bible said. "If any investigation was launched against myself and other board members because of policy disagreements as alleged by Mr. Anzalone, I am outraged."
Bible also challenged Del Papa to make public her records in the criminal case against Harris, whom Bible once called the "most serious" threat to Nevada gaming ever.
"Now that all the criminal matters involving Mr. Harris have been resolved, I think the attorney general's office should release the entire investigative file, including the videotaped debriefing of Mr. Harris, to the public," Bible said.
Control Board member Steve DuCharme said Wednesday that, as a public official, he has come to expect intrusions on his personal life.
But he added: "These allegations haven't been proven. But assuming that they are all true as represented, that would appear to be an abuse of the process."
Anzalone, meanwhile, alleged in his suit that Del Papa not only forced him to resign in February 1996, but defamed him a year later after she found out that he had spoken to a SUN reporter about the reported intelligence probe.
In a March 26 SUN story, Anzalone and two former enforcement chiefs at the Control Board, Ron Asher and Andy Vanyo, first disclosed the reported intelligence investigation.
Asher said he concluded from a meeting with Thompson last spring that the attorney general's office was trying to dig up dirt on the Control Board.
Vanyo said an investigator with the attorney general pressed him for derogatory information on Bible.
Both said they could offer no evidence of the wrongdoing being alleged by the attorney general.
Two days before the story was published, Anzalone said in the suit, he got a telephone call at his home from Del Papa.
He alleged that Del Papa told him he would be "dragged through the mud" for talking about the investigation to a reporter.
On the day the story appeared in print, Del Papa sent a letter to the SUN maligning Anzalone.
Anzalone said the reasons Del Papa cited in the letter for his forced resignation were false and a violation of his civil rights.
The attorney general sent similar letters defaming him to the governor, the Control Board, and the Nevada Gaming Commission, Anzalone charged.
Del Papa Wednesday said Anzalone has "previously distorted the facts" about his employment in her office.
She promised to "respond accordingly" to his latest accusations.
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