Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Third and long for AG

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 1999 | 9:15 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

IT IS THE THIRD TIME for the attorney general's office. And there is nothing charming about it.

Now that Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa has removed herself from the rigors of running for Nevada's U.S. Senate seat next year, perhaps she will find the time to look into what one of her deputies is doing in her and the state of Nevada's name. For if I am right, something or someone has run amok. And if I am wrong, something or someone has still run amok.

Well-known Las Vegas sports bettor and businessman Billy Walters has just been notified by the attorney general's office that a third grand jury soon will be deciding whether to indict him. If that happens it will be the third such indictment against Walters for the same charge. The other two are in various states of limbo in the criminal justice system. What is most interesting about this latest effort to get Billy -- or is it to get his money -- is Deputy Attorney General David Thompson's "damn the torpedoes" attitude. Or is it a "damn the Nevada Supreme Court" attitude about which we should be more concerned?

I do not profess to understand the intricacies that seem to elude everyone but Thompson in his single-minded quest to indict and convict the likable Walters. I do know how to read the law and I do know Billy, and therein lie the reasons for my questioning what Deputy Thompson is doing without what seems like the proper oversight from his boss.

Life, of course, is not that simple. Let me explain. I know Billy Walters. I like him and I find in my very few dealings with him a man whose word seems to be very important. That immediately sets him apart from a lot of people. I also know that there are others in this town who do not share my opinion. Some of these folks are substantial players who would just as soon see Billy pack or be packed up and removed from our midst.

Some gamblers evoke that kind of reaction from people because they are always looking for -- and more often than not find -- the "edge" in their quest to succeed. I can attest to the fact that Billy has never left the first tee without what I am certain he believes is the best of the bet. But being an astute bettor myself, I know I am being taken and adjust accordingly. But golf is not where Billy earns his living.

He is one of the best football bettors in the nation. And like many who know they are very good at something, he does it in a very big way. I suspect that what he wins or loses in a weekend would make most mortals cringe, not only at the size of the bets but in the risks he is willing to take each week to pursue his profession. Part of his edge, of course, is the way he places those bets and the way the odds or point spreads react to his action. He does that part of his business smarter than most and therein lies the basis for Thompson's zealousness.

A couple of years have passed since one of Billy's betting operations was raided as part of an investigation having nothing to do with Walters. However, the police did find almost $3 million in cash -- I think the betting fraternity calls that investment money -- and confiscated it, thinking they had hit the mother lode of illegal bookmaking and money-laundering operations. What they found, however, was Billy's effort to get the best of the betting system. And since there was no law against what he was doing, when all the dust settled all they had was his millions. He wanted it back. They still have it and they can only keep it if he is found guilty or makes a deal. And that's how the whole row started.

Twice Thompson indicted Walters and twice the District Court has thrown out the charges. The Nevada Supreme Court reversed, remanded and then mooted the District Court's first decision and an appeal on the second dismissal still awaits the high court's decision. In the meantime, though, as if to say he doesn't care what the Supreme Court says or does, Thompson has decided to indict again with no new facts or no new anything to support his zeal.

What ever happened to letting due process take its course? Which means, what's the rush? If Thompson is right, the Supreme Court will tell him so. If he is wrong in his effort to convict Walters of a crime that didn't exist in the state of Nevada when Billy's money was first arrested, I suspect they will tell him that, too. Can it be that his desire to keep Walters' millions is what is driving him so hard? I know that is one reason why Billy has hired top criminal lawyers John Moran and Rick Wright to fight his cause. It is not to say the money doesn't mean anything to the wealthy Walters because it does. But in his world, the thought that he could walk from his troubles by forking over his dough just doesn't sit well. "Not one penny for tribute" comes to mind when assessing Billy's determination to fight this to the end.

So we know Billy Walter's motivation -- it's his money and his freedom at stake. The remaining question is what is Deputy Thompson's deep-seated motivation for his relentless pursuit of what some of Nevada's top legal eagles tell me is a bogus cause?

That's what the attorney general should find out right away before the third time turns out not so charming and the rights of a Nevada citizen get trampled for being in the way of who-knows-what. For if it turns out that Billy Walters is right, in the end we will all know what. And that may not look good for the folks on the wrong side of this bet.