Anzalone lawsuit move denied

Tuesday, June 12, 2001 | 10:19 a.m.

District Judge James Mahan Monday refused to move Mike Anzalone's July 10 wrongful termination lawsuit to Reno.

At a hearing, Mahan denied a change of venue request by Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, the chief defendant in the suit.

Del Papa wanted the trial held in Northern Nevada, where the actions involving Anzalone's forced resignation as an investiator took place.

The attorney general also contended that publicity over Anzalone's resignation, primarily in the Las Vegas Sun, made it difficult to select a jury in Las Vegas.

But in his ruling, Mahan said Del Papa waited too long in the three-year-old suit to file her motion, and the judge said he was confident he could pick a fair and impartial jury.

Anzalone has alleged that he was told to quit because he refused to participate in a secret intelligence investigation of top gaming regulators, including Bill Bible, the former longtime chairman of the state Gaming Control Board.

But Del Papa contends Anzalone was let go because she lost confidence in his investigative abilities.

Del Papa has denied conducting an unlawful intelligence probe, but acknowledged that her office did background checks on Bible, whom she has been at odds with politically.

In a related matter Monday, Mahan dismissed Ron Wheatley, Anzalone's former supervisor, as a defendant in the suit, saying Anzalone's defamation claims against Wheatley were filed too late.

Wheatley became active in the intelligence probe after Anzalone left the office.

He wrote an intelligence report in December 1996 that suggested Bible and top elected leaders, such as Sen. Harry Reid, former Sen. Richard Bryan and former Gov. Bob Miller were prone to taking bribes from the gaming industry.

The allegations were uncorroborated but passed on to the FBI, which later found no merit to them.

Wheatley also claimed in his report that the CIA was using the gaming industry to launder money.