Strip club workers ordered to testify in probe

Wednesday, July 9, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

A string of ranking employees who work for two Las Vegas strip clubs owned by Michael Galardi have been subpoenaed to testify before a San Diego federal grand jury investigating possible political corruption.

Las Vegas attorney Peter S. Christiansen, who represents Galardi, said Tuesday that 20 to 25 employees and family members have been ordered to appear in San Diego over the next three weeks starting on Friday.

Those who received subpoenas made small political contributions to two San Diego city councilmen whose offices were raided as part of the investigation.

Galardi is believed to be a target in the San Diego investigation, as well as a similar probe into alleged political corruption in Las Vegas.

Defense attorney Stan Hunterton, a former federal prosecutor who is not representing anyone in the investigations, said prosecutors likely were subpoenaing the Las Vegans to nail down their relationship between the San Diego politicians, the contributions and the people prosecutors believe are behind the contributions.

The question appears to be whether someone is sending the politicians money through other people.

"If they're dealing with small contributions from people to politicians in San Diego, then my guess would be what they're looking for is whether the contributions were in fact from some kind of bundle from someone who had an interest in San Diego," he said. "It would be part of an overall investigation to show that these people didn't know the councilmen."

Most of the Las Vegans subpoenaed in San Diego hold managerial or administrative jobs for Galardi at Cheetahs and Jaguars in Las Vegas, Christiansen said. Some work for Galardi Enterprises, which Christiansen said is owned by Galardi's father, Jack Galardi.

Federal officials declined to comment on the subpoenas, but defense attorneys think investigators want to know if there were contributions funneled from the Galardis through their employees.

Christiansen would not disclose the identity of the employees. But sources said the names of many of those subpoenaed appear on 2001 campaign reports in San Diego as having made contributions of $250 or less to the campaigns of the two San Diego city councilmen.

The Sun reported in May that campaign reports show employees of Michael Galardi and his father contributed more than $3,200 to the campaign of San Diego Councilman Charles Lewis and more than $2,200 to the campaign of Councilman Ralph Inzunza.

Though the campaign disclosure reports filed by Lewis and Inzunza list more than two dozen Las Vegas residents, the Sun was only able to find phone numbers for a few of them.

One Galardi employee listed in a Lewis campaign report said his memories of contributing $250 were distant.

"Off the top of my head right now, that's a few years ago, I can't remember," said Richard Buonantony, who is the general manager of Jaguars. "I give contributions to many things."

When asked if he had received a subpoena from a grand jury, Buonantony said, "No subpoena, but the FBI keeps calling me and telling me I'm getting one."

Buonantony said he has known the Galardis "very well" for years.

Las Vegan Debora Reese, another contributor on the Lewis report, said she knew who Lewis was. When asked if she had contributed to his campaign, she said, "I sure did."

But she declined to comment on whether she had received a subpoena to testify in San Diego.

Former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone, a lobbyist for Galardi, and his wife also contributed a total of $500 to Lewis and $1,000 to Inzunza in 2001, records show.

Malone is believed to be a central figure in the investigations in San Diego and Las Vegas. His Las Vegas attorney Dominic Gentile said Tuesday that Malone has not received a subpoena to testify in San Diego and has not received a letter identifying him as a target of the investigation.

Christiansen said Galardi also has not been subpoenaed there.

Christiansen said some of Galardi's employees have been ordered to appear in San Diego on Friday, while others have been subpoenaed to testify on July 18 and 25.

Debra Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, could not be reached for comment this morning.

The U.S. attorney there is responsible for paying the costs of transporting the Las Vegans to San Diego.

The investigations in San Diego and Las Vegas became public when FBI agents conducted searches in both cities on May 14.

In San Diego agents raided the City Hall offices of Inzunza, Lewis and Councilman Michael Zucchet, as well as Galardi's Cheetahs nightclub there. Agents also executed search warrants at the same time at Cheetahs and Jaguars in Las Vegas.

In the Las Vegas raid, FBI agents were looking for records of payments or gifts to four politicians, including County Commission Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and her husband Robert Chauncey.

The warrants also gave agents permission to look for records of payments to former County Commissioners Dario Herrera and his wife, Emily Herrera, and former County Commissioner Erin Kenny and her husband, John Kenny. The name of former City Councilman Michael McDonald, who was in office at the time of the search, also appeared on the warrants.

Herrera, Kenny and Kincaid-Chauncey have been told they were targets of the FBI investigation.

Sun reporters

Mary Manning and Jace Radke contributed to this story.