‘Three issues’ left in escort-service investigation

Friday, Oct. 30, 1998 | 11:09 a.m.

The FBI and Metro Police expect to conclude a joint investigation soon into allegations of corruption involving the escort-service industry, Undersheriff Richard Winget said Thursday.

"We still have about three issues to clarify," Winget said. "We're looking at wrapping those things up and completing the investigation in the next couple of weeks."

Winget said FBI agents and members of Metro's Organized Crime Bureau are "running down" leads together in an attempt to determine whether any law-enforcement officers received favors from operators of escort services.

"We have confidence that with the expertise of both organizations, we will be able to show without a doubt what the truth is," he said.

All 24 members of the vice squad, which deals with the escort-service industry, and some former vice detectives have been interviewed in the probe so far, Winget said.

Earlier this month, Sheriff Jerry Keller ordered the criminal investigation of his own department after an FBI probe uncovered allegations that some local law-enforcement officers may have received cash and gifts to fix cases involving escort services.

The undercover FBI investigation smashed an alleged plot by New York's Gambino crime family to kill three of the most widely known outcall owners in Las Vegas and take over the lucrative industry.

During the course of the probe, the FBI said, it also picked up word that "one or more individuals in the Clark County district attorney's office" may have been compromised.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens, who is helping coordinate efforts with police and the FBI, said Thursday that no evidence of wrongdoing in his office has been turned up so far.

"We're still looking into it, and we're cooperating fully with the police department and the federal authorities," Owens said. "But we haven't uncovered anything that causes us concern with regard to the district attorney's office."

A high-level law-enforcement meeting took place at the sheriff's last Friday to map out a strategy for the corruption investigation.

Among those joining Keller were District Attorney Stewart Bell, FBI chief Bobby Siller and U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth.

The FBI inquiry into the escort-service industry has illustrated that the mob still has an interest in street rackets here. Las Vegas is regarded as an "open city" for the nation's 26 organized-crime families.

Six alleged associates of the Gambino mob, including escort-service operator Christiano DeCarlo, were arrested this month in the reported scheme to "take out" three of DeCarlo's rivals.

The six men are charged with conspiring to wrestle away control of outcall businesses run by Frank "Vince" Bartello, Richard Soranno and Harry Jacobs.

The corruption allegations were raised by some of the suspects during secretly recorded conversations with an undercover FBI agent.