Lawyer seeks secret AG files

Thursday, Dec. 9, 1999 | 11:29 a.m.

Documents that may show the Nevada attorney general's office conducted a secret intelligence probe of gaming regulators could be unsealed next week if a lawyer persuades a judge to release them.

Christine Manno, a Phoenix attorney representing a former Nevada investigator suing Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, has asked District Judge James Mahan to allow her to pick up the documents in Las Vegas on Monday following a hearing in the judge's courtroom.

Manno wrote a letter to Mahan this week suggesting she was entitled to the 900-plus pages of documents because the attorney general's office did not appeal Mahan's Nov. 4 order releasing the documents within the required 30 days. Two of Del Papa's top deputies were reprimanded in the judge's order for "abusive" tactics in stonewalling efforts to make public the documents.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Richard Linstrom today declined to respond specifically to Manno's letter.

"We will not litigate Ms. Manno's assertions in the press," Linstrom said in a prepared statement. "These issues are properly addressed in motions set for hearing before Judge Mahan on Monday. Any actions or decisions to be taken by this office will depend on the outcome of that hearing."

Discovery Commissioner Thomas Biggar, who oversees the sharing of evidence in civil cases, already has said the documents Manno is seeking tend to support the claims of the ex-investigator, Mike Anzalone, that the attorney general's office secretly investigated former Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible and others at the state agency. Bible, now chairman of the Nevada Resort Association, was at odds politically with Del Papa when the probe took place in 1995 and 1996.

Anzalone, who no longer lives in Nevada, filed suit against Del Papa for forcing him to resign in February 1996 because he wouldn't participate in the investigation, which was headed by Del Papa's close friend, Deputy Attorney General David Thompson.

Del Papa, who dropped out of the 2000 U.S. Senate race earlier this year, originally denied investigating Bible and his colleagues. But recently, amid the heated court battle over the release of the documents, she modified her position, saying some intelligence was gathered. Del Papa continues to insist, however, that her office did not break the law.

Among the documents ordered turned over to Manno and Anzalone are reports of secret background checks on Bible and Frank Schreck, a politically connected gaming attorney who has raised campaign funds for the last three Nevada governors.

Monday's hearing was called to discuss Manno's objections to Mahan's decision allowing the two Del Papa deputies, Bridget Branigan and Mark Ghan, to perform 10 hours of free legal service instead of paying a $1,500 fine each out of their own pockets.

Manno charged in court papers this week that Branigan violated Mahan's order by using office resources, including her secretary, to complete the community service. The attorney general's office denied the allegations.

Mahan also plans to hear Manno's argument that she should be given copies of videotapes the attorney general made with Ron Harris, a former Control Board electronics expert who pleaded guilty to slot cheating in August 1996. Harris cooperated in the secret probe of gaming regulators, which never resulted in any charges being filed.

Last month, Mahan gave Manno permission to view eight hours worth of Harris tapes, portions of which once were leaked to ABC news and other media outlets. But because the allegations contained on the tapes are uncorroborated, Mahan refused to provide Manno with copies. He also instructed the attorney not to disclose what's on the tapes.

Harris, sentenced to seven years in prison and listed in Nevada's Black Book of "undesirables" banned from casinos, has been described by Bible as one of the biggest threats ever to gaming here.

Bible has called for the release of the entire 50,000-page Harris file.