Federal grand jury hears testimony from bookkeepers for topless clubs

Jace Radke

Wednesday, June 18, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

After a federal grand jury heard testimony from two bookkeepers for topless clubs that are at the center of an FBI probe into political corruption, the attorney for topless club owner Jack Galardi said her client is not a target of the investigation.

"This is being painted so broad, and anyone whose name is mentioned is being treated like a criminal," said Suzanne Coe, an attorney based in Atlanta and South Carolina who has represented Galardi for nine years. "The bookkeepers have nothing to do with this and Jack Galardi doesn't either.

"He's being painted as some kind of don of the mafia."

Two women who keep the books for topless clubs owned by Galardi and his son, Michael Galardi, in Las Vegas and San Diego were in the grand jury room for about 35 minutes Tuesday. The bookkeepers, who refused comment, left a cardboard box of records with the grand jury.

Coe said that the records were ordinary paperwork not taken in the May 14 FBI raids of the Jaguars and Cheetahs strip clubs in Las Vegas and the Cheetahs club in San Diego.

"There was nothing that's real sexy," Coe said of the records. "It was just a clerical nightmare for us to find it."

Peter S. Christiansen, attorney for Michael Galardi, who is Jack Galardi's son and an owner of the clubs, said that the records turned over Tuesday were related to the Cheetahs club in San Diego, and had been left at Jaguars.

Also raided by the FBI on May 14 were the Las Vegas offices of Galardi Enterprises and the offices of three San Diego city councilmen. Search warrants gave agents permission to look for records of payments or gifts to former Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald and three other politicians: County Commission Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and former county commissioners Dario Herrera and Erin Kenny.

The grand jury had previously heard from McDonald, a former Metro Police officer, who was subpoenaed to appear on June 10. McDonald has maintained that he is not a target of the of the ongoing two-year FBI probe into alleged political influence wielded by strip club owners.

Kincaid-Chauncey, a former longtime North Las Vegas city councilwoman, also has denied wrongdoing, as have Herrera, a former commission chairman who ran unsuccessfully in November for Congress, and Kenny, who lost a bid last year for lieutenant governor.

Michael Galardi, Kincaid-Chauncey and Kenny have all acknowledged that they have been told they are targets of the investigation. Herrera has not said whether or not he is a target, but search warrants reportedly were served at his home.

The name of a third former county commissioner, Lance Malone, did not appear on the search warrants executed at the clubs, but he is reported to be central figure in the investigation. Like the others, Malone has denied any wrongdoing.

Malone, a lobbyist and consultant for Michael Galardi on projects in Las Vegas and San Diego since he left office in 2000, has denied cooperating with authorities.

The two bookkeepers, who refused to identify themselves but are from Las Vegas, were the only two witnesses heard by the grand jury Tuesday.

"We really don't have much to say today," Coe said of the testimony and records. "They asked (the bookkeepers) if they had complied with the subpoenas, and some other general questions."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson, who heads the Las Vegas Organized Crime Strike Force, which is conducting the investigation, left the jury room carrying the box of records turned over by the bookkeepers.