FBI agents show jurors rifles seized from Duarte’s home

Erica D. Johnson

Friday, July 25, 2003 | 9:39 a.m.

FBI agents on Thursday showed jurors assault rifles seized from the home of one of three men charged in a casino heist.

On the third day of Pedro Duarte's trial, FBI agent Larry Wenko said agents found a hatbox containing $24,870 when they searched the home of Oscar Cisneros, one of Duarte's alleged accomplices in a June 1999 Desert Inn robbery in which two armored truck guards were shot.

The agents discovered more incriminating evidence when they stumbled across a secret compartment hidden under a carpet in an upstairs closet, Wenko said.

"We found a number of items of note," he said. "Hats, guns, masks, rifles, and towards the end, even some improvised explosives."

During the next hour, Wenko ripped open bag after bag of police evidence, holding up for jurors a semi-automatic assault rifle, a .45-caliber pistol and several boxes of ammunition.

"The (rifle) was lying in the hidden compartment wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil," he said.

Two ski masks, bulletproof vests and black leather batting gloves were also found, along with a canvas carrying case with the words, "Do it for the money," on the front.

Metro Sgt. Lazaro Chavez testified that he questioned Duarte in Spanish about a red pickup truck police suspect was used in the robbery.

The truck, which had fake license plates, was found in the parking lot of the Vagabond Inn, where authorities allege the men stopped briefly to switch getaway cars.

Police later found the truck was registered to Duarte and Duarte's fingerprint was found on the plates. Duarte's wife had reported the truck stolen following the robbery.

In a 65-page interview Duarte could not account for most of his time during the 19 hours his truck was missing. He had not been arrested when he was questioned.

He told police he had gotten into an argument with his wife and walked the Strip aimlessly, drinking and going into various casinos.

"He was evasive, in my opinion," Chavez said. "He said it was his bad luck that the robbers chose his truck."

Still, Duarte denied any involvement in the robbery. When Chavez asked Duarte to take a polygraph test, Duarte asked for a lawyer.

"I don't know the laws in this country," said Duarte, who is Cuban. "I'm going to need a lawyer to give me my rights."

Prosecutors say Duarte drove the getaway car when Cisneros and Jose Vigoa ambushed three Brinks armored truck guards as they prepared to make a routine delivery at the Desert Inn.

Prosecutors initially alleged Duarte conspired with Vigoa and Luis Suarez in several other casino heists between 1998 and 2000, and the robbery of a Ross Dress For Less in Henderson in which two armored truck guards were killed.

Conspiracy charges against Duarte in those cases were dropped.

Vigoa, the alleged ringleader of the operations, is serving multiple life sentences for a range of charges pertaining to the robberies. Cisneros committed suicide in prison in October 2000.

Kennett Paniello said he was putting clothes in his friend's sport utility vehicle in the Commercial Center shopping center on April 15, 1999, when he was carjacked by at least two men. The SUV was the same one used in the robbery days later.

"As I was coming from the back seat I was greeted by a gun," Paniello said. "I felt it on my temple and they told me not to say anything."

He said one of the men pulled his baseball cap down on his face and forced him face down on the floor in the back seat of the SUV.

The men drove for about 15 to 20 minutes with a gun placed at his back, he said.

The men stopped the car and forced him out. Paniello ran to the closest house and banged on the window, where the residents called police, he testified.