Columnist Jeff German: Rizzolo opens PR campaign

Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2003 | 11:20 a.m.

Rick Rizzolo isn't showing any signs of buckling under the pressure of a massive federal raid on his popular Crazy Horse Too strip club.

If anything, he has gone on the offensive.

And he's doing what you would expect a wealthy businessman with strong political connections to do when his reputation is on the line -- challenging his accusers to a public relations battle.

It's a precursor to the unfolding court battle.

In the last several days Rizzolo has given media interviews denying any hidden organized crime interests at his club, and he has authorized his attorney, Tony Sgro, to go on local television talk shows to blast the feds.

Sgro also filed federal court papers attacking last week's FBI-led raid with rhetoric meant for public consumption.

In a sworn affidavit, Rizzolo questions the motives of the government, which he says is "hell bent" on destroying his lucrative business.

It's an indication of how high the stakes are for Rizzolo. Portraying himself as the victim of a government vendetta provides some cover for the many politicians he has befriended, and it allows him to continue to attract business to his club in a very competitive environment.

Rizzolo isn't the first target of a criminal investigation to publicly attack the motives of the government. It's pretty routine, especially early in an investigation when the target has not been privy to all of the evidence the government has been accumulating.

Remember, this case still is before a federal grand jury, which conducts its business in secret to protect the identity of witnesses. Under seal in federal court is an FBI affidavit used to persuade U.S. Magistrate Peggy Leen to authorize last week's search.

At some point Rizzolo is going to want to get his hands on that affidavit, which likely would reveal that undercover agents, informants and wiretaps were used in this investigation. Then he'll see exactly what kind of resources the government has put into this case. But that's a fight that will take place in the future.

In the meantime his only option is to wage a public relations battle.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson, who is overseeing the Crazy Horse Too probe, insisted Monday that last week's search was conducted properly with no over-reaching.

But on Friday Rizzolo and his lawyers will get their first chance to put the government on the defensive and test that claim.

Leen will hold a hearing on whether to instruct the government to return some of the seized items, such as cash registers, payroll records and vendor lists, that the Crazy Horse says it needs to stay in business.

Any minor admission of overzealousness on the part of the feds will be exploited by Rizzolo as a victory in the public relations battle.

But it's not likely to stop agents from pursuing Rizzolo or change the course of the expected court battle -- which is the only battle that's going to count.