Cecola withdrawn as candidate for black book

Friday, Aug. 24, 2001 | 10:37 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Gaming Control Board backed down in its nomination of Sam Cecola for the Black Book because its "case fell apart," says the lawyer for Cecola.

Dominic Gentile, attorney for Cecola, said the gaming board relied on "shoddy" investigation material from other agencies to nominate Cecola for the list of persons who are banned from Nevada casinos.

The board, Gentile said, had the courage to withdraw the nomination when it started checking the allegations.

The state Gaming Commission Thursday voted unanimously to allow the board to rescind its nomination of Cecola, who was the founder of the Club Paradise topless dancing club in Las Vegas.

The five-member commission held the meeting without a full-time chairman because of the resignation of Brian Sandoval. Vice Chairman Sue Wagner conducted the session, the first time a woman has presided over a full meeting.

A spokeswoman for the commission said this is the first time the board has ever nominated anybody for the Black Book and then withdrawn the name.

The board in September 2000 nominated Cecola, who now lives in Barrington, Ill., based on his 1997 conviction of federal tax violations and his alleged ties to organized crime in the Chicago area.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rodefer told the commission that some of the evidence the board relied upon in making the nomination was "less substantial then thought." He said the board felt it could present a strong case to the commission for inclusion of Cecola on the list but it was taking a "cautious" approach in pulling the nomination.

Gentile said the misinformation that the board relied on came from the intelligence division of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department and from the Chicago Crime Commission.

For instance, he said law enforcement records for six years contained information that Cecola made phone calls to Joseph "The Clown" Lombardo, a reported crime figure in Chicago. But a check showed the phone number being called belonged to Joseph Lombardi, a commodities broker in Chicago.

The Chicago Crime Commission, Gentile said, relies on "police rumors" and doesn't check out the information it gathers. He said that during depositions in the case, a member of the crime commission admitted it doesn't follow due process procedures, which the Nevada gaming board does.

The gaming board originally suggested Cecola was a threat to Nevada gaming. Gentile said research showed there were 8,721 felons in Nevada with gaming work cards. He questioned why Cecola was singled out while these others were permitted to work in the casino industry.

In another area, Gentile said eight percent of the Nevada population is Italian but 56 percent of the names in the Black Book are of the same heritage. He said this discrepancy would have brought a federal civil rights lawsuit.

The board also said Cecola had a notorious and unsavory reputation. Gentile said he hired the Cannon Research Center at UNLV to do a poll and the results showed "Nobody ever heard of him (Cecola)."

He said the action by Nevada gaming regulators renewed his faith in government. And he praised Rodefer for withdrawing the nomination when he saw holes in the investigation.

Cecola was sentenced to 46 months in prison on his 1997 conviction of six felony counts for skimming money from adult bookstores in Illinois and Wisconsin. He was accused of taking $2.5 million "off the top" from the stores over an 11-year period.

There are presently 37 people in the Black Book. A casino that allows one of these individuals to enter the premises faces disciplinary action from the state.

The commission also denied the application Sapphire Gaming LLC of Los Angeles to buy the Flamingo Reno and the Comstock Hotel, both in Reno. The deal fell through a long time ago.

Sapphire Gaming sought to withdraw its application, but the control board wanted to deny it because the company was controlled by Judah Hertz, who investigators say may have ties to numerous people with criminal backgrounds. The board also said Hertz conducted questionable business practices and was involved in 86 lawsuits.