Columnist Jeff German: Wiretaps likely part of probe

Friday, May 16, 2003 | 11:44 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

If this week's FBI raid at Cheetahs and Jaguars didn't put the fear of God into Southern Nevada's politicians, talk of wiretaps in the case may cause some of them to get religion in a hurry.

One thing a crooked politician hates is being caught on tape in the act of doing something crooked. It generally leads to a long vacation behind bars.

Nobody's saying, at least at this point, that that's going to be the case with the current and former elected officials caught up in the FBI's ongoing racketeering investigation of the topless nightclub industry.

But there's a good chance that the politicians who struck up telephone conversations with Jack and Michael Galardi, the owners of Cheetahs and Jaguars, over the past two years are having trouble sleeping at night trying to remember what they said.

Anyone who talked to Lance Malone, a former county commissioner-turned lobbyist for the Galardis, may be in for some nightmares. There's been much speculation that Malone, who allegedly spread money around town for the Galardis, is either a target, a witness or a combination of both in this investigation. He seems to have gone underground for the time being.

As for the wiretaps, you can bet your favorite bookie that they occurred in this case. It's almost standard procedure for the FBI in complex racketeering probes.

But if you want more tangible evidence, consider the "2002 Wiretap Report," issued by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The report lists the Justice Department's court-approved electronic surveillance in each state last year.

In Nevada 10 wiretaps were reported, which isn't very unusual. What is unusual, however, is that two of them, identified in the report as part of a racketeering investigation, lasted nearly a year.

The first one was authorized by U.S. District Judge Philip Pro for 30 days on June 20, 2001, and extended for 11 more months to May 2002. It was singled out in the administrative report as the longest federal intercept in the country last year.

Pro signed the second wiretap order on July 27, 2001, and extended it for 10 months until May 2002.

Any criminal defense lawyer who has practiced in federal court will tell you that the only time wiretaps are extended this frequently is in racketeering cases where the government has to show a course of illegal conduct over a long period of time.

Establishing political corruption in an ongoing racketeering conspiracy doesn't happen overnight. So it's reasonable to assume that one or both of these wiretap orders were part of this investigation -- unless there's another probe out there even more important to the FBI than this one.

Just consider this column a community service for all of the Southern Nevada politicians tossing and turning at night while their minds race through their memories for any relevant phone conversations after June 20, 2001.

Sweet dreams.