Del Papa faces tough videotaped deposition

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2001 | 11:08 a.m.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa was expected to face tough questions about a secret intelligence probe of gaming regulators at a videotaped deposition in Las Vegas today.

The long-awaited deposition, part of a lawsuit filed by one of Del Papa's former investigators, Mike Anzalone, originally was scheduled to take place May 15. But the attorney general protested the videotaping and walked out before the deposition got under way.

Last month, over Del Papa's objections, District Judge James Mahan ordered the videotaping on the condition the tape be withheld from the public.

Anzalone has alleged in his suit that Del Papa forced him to resign in February 1996 after he refused to participate in the intelligence investigation, which targeted then Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible and other regulators. Bible was at odds politically with Del Papa at the time of the probe.

Today's deposition was scheduled to get under way at 9 a.m. at the West Sahara Avenue office of Associated Reporters, a local court reporting firm.

Del Papa, planned to show up with her private Reno lawyer, Eugene Wait Jr.

Anzalone's Phoenix lawyer, Christine Manno, has set aside two days for the attorney general's testimony.

In a sworn affidavit earlier this year, Del Papa contended that she had "limited knowledge" about the case, and she accused Manno of "demeaning" her by forcing the videotaping.

"I believe that the creation of 12 to 14 hours of videotape recording of my testimony will provide an almost limitless opportunity for abuse if a copy of the videotape is leaked to the media," Del Papa wrote.

Del Papa also said the Anzalone case has "serious political overtones for her."

Del Papa bowed out of the 2000 U.S. Senate race amid growing questions about the intelligence investigation.

The Bible inquiry, which never resulted in the filing of a charges, sprang from the criminal probe into the slot cheating activities of Ron Harris, a former Control Board computer expert.

Harris pleaded guilty in August 1996 and gave Del Papa confidant, Deputy Attorney General David Thompson, derogatory information on the Control Board agents who had helped Anzalone build the criminal case against the former electronics whiz.

Months earlier, independent of Harris, Thompson had sought to substantiate allegations that Bible had taken bribes.

Bible, now president of the powerful Nevada Resort Association, the casino industry's political arm, had clashed politically with Del Papa at the 1995 Legislature.

The heart of Del Papa's intelligence probe was revealed in a secret, 21-page report made public in April.

The report -- which also claimed that other top Nevada officials were susceptible to bribes -- was obtained by the Las Vegas Sun and KLAS Channel 8 through a court order.