Hearing planned in casino holdups

Kim Smith

Monday, Dec. 3, 2001 | 9:18 a.m.

About 40 witnesses are expected to take the stand this week during a preliminary hearing for two men accused of pulling off a series of daring casinos heists.

At the end of the weeklong hearing, Justice of the Peace James Bixler will decide if prosecutors have enough evidence against Jose Vigoa and Pedro Duarte to present to a jury.

Police allege Vigoa, 41, began robbing hotels in June 1998 with the help of Luis Suarez, 37, Duarte, 37, and Oscar Sanchez Cisneros, 23.

Vigoa and Cisneros were arrested on June 7, 2000, a few days after the Bellagio was hit in an $188,000 heist. Police soon began suspecting they were also responsible for six other casino robberies and the killing of two armored truck guards in Henderson in March 2000.

The police began putting together several cases against the men and two others they believed helped in the heists and the murders. Both men, Suarez and Duarte, are married to Vigoa's wife's sisters.

Suarez was arrested in August 2000 and Duarte was arrested in June.

Suarez faces 14 charges in the Bellagio robbery, and Vigoa faces 46 counts in connection with four casino heists and the March 3, 2000, holdup and slaying of armed truck guards Richard Sosa, 47, and Gary Dean Prestidge II, 23.

A previous preliminary hearing already determined that Suarez and Vigoa will stand trial on the Bellagio charges.

This week's hearing will determine whether Vigoa will stand trial in the Henderson slayings and three other casino robberies and whether Duarte will be tried on seven counts relating to a June 1999 Desert Inn robbery.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger said he also will press for a conspiracy charge against Duarte and Vigoa.

Cisneros, who implicated himself and the others in several of the crimes, committed suicide in October in the Clark County jail.

Despite several special grand jury sessions, prosecutors say they have not come up with enough evidence to charge anyone other than Vigoa with the deaths of Sosa and Prestidge.

Among those on Roger's witness list are guards from the MGM Grand and Desert Inn, some of whom were fired upon during robberies, Roger said. In addition, Octavio Cisneros is expected to identify Vigoa and his brother, Oscar, on a surveillance tape taken during the Bellagio heist.