Del Papa documents ordered unsealed

Tuesday, March 21, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

District Judge James Mahan today ordered the unsealing of documents and videotapes that reportedly show that the state attorney general's office conducted a secret intelligence probe of top gaming regulators.

Following an hourlong hearing, Mahan gave the attorney general's office until April 4 to decide whether to appeal his order to the Nevada Supreme Court.

"The First Amendment is the first of the amendments for a very good reason," Mahan said. "I've carefully weighed this. I've given it my best judgment."

During the hearing, attorney Dominic Gentile, who represents the Sun and KLAS Channel 8, urged Mahan to make public the documents.

In his ruling Mahan also agreed to release eight hours of videotapes of former Gaming Control Board employee Ron Harris talking about the alleged investigation.

The Sun and Channel 8 had sought to gain access to the tapes and about 900 pages of documents recently turned over to Mike Anzalone, a former investigator in the Attorney General's Office who has alleged he was forced to resign because he wouldn't participate in the intelligence probe. Anzalone has filed suit against Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa.

"This court is justice," Gentile said. "This court is all we've got."

Gentile argued that the public had a right to know whether Del Papa condoned the gathering of intelligence on prominent Nevadans.

After the hearing, Solicitor General Mark Ghan, who is representing the attorney general, said he was "disappointed" with the judge's decision.

Ghan had argued that the documents should remain sealed to protect the privacy rights of those named who were not charged with any crimes. Ghan acknowledged during the hearing that some "defamatory statements" were made in the documents.

Last week five former gaming regulators signed sworn affidavits urging Mahan to unseal the documents.

Topping the list of regulators was former state Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible, who was regarded as a political enemy of Del Papa when the probe was launched.

The four others were former Control Board member Gerald Cunningham, Rex Carlson, an ex-director of the board's electronics lab, and two former chiefs of enforcement, Ron Asher and Andy Vanyo.

Bible, now president of the influential Nevada Resort Association, said in his affidavit that he believes Del Papa gathered intelligence on him and his colleagues as part of the criminal investigation of Harris, a former Control Board electronics expert who pleaded guilty to slot cheating in 1996.

"I feel that all documents relating to the Ron Harris investigation -- other than those that may contain trade secrets of slot manufacturers and perhaps those resulting from his unfounded allegations about co-workers -- should be made public at this time so individuals such as myself can ascertain if they were improperly investigated under the guise of the Ron Harris investigation," Bible said.

All five former regulators said in their affidavits that they didn't believe disclosure of the documents would cause any further harm to their privacy than what already has occurred as a result of public knowledge of the attorney general's investigation.

Del Papa at first denied conducting the probe, but amid Anzalone's lawsuit her office has modified her position and acknowledged that some intelligence was gathered.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com