Malone still missing; FBI mum on ex-commissioner’s involvement

Jace Radke

Friday, May 16, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

Former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone, a link between Las Vegas strip club owners and politicians who are the focus of an FBI public corruption investigation, has yet to surface, and the FBI's refusal to answer questions about his whereabouts is fueling speculation that he is working with investigators.

Numerous calls to Malone's phone numbers have gone unanswered for days. The grass in front of Malone's northwest Las Vegas home needs mowing, and knocks on his door go unanswered. Neighbors won't say when they last saw him. Mention Malone, a former Metro Police officer, to FBI agents and they clam up.

Malone seems to have disappeared since the Wednesday afternoon FBI and Metro raids of Cheetahs and Jaguars, strip clubs owned by Jack Galardi and his son, Michael Galardi. Peter S. Christiansen, attorney for the Galardis, has said he has not been able to reach Malone.

According to a sealed search warrant obtained by the Sun, agents were looking for documentation of payments to Las Vegas Councilman Michael McDonald, County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and former County Commissioners Erin Kenny and Dario Herrera.

The search warrant, however, did not mention Malone. When asked if Malone was a part of the investigation, an informant for the investigation or if the FBI knows his whereabouts, FBI spokesman Special Agent Daron Borst would not comment.

Metro Police said no missing person report has been filed on Malone.

Malone was a Clark County Commissioner until 2000 when voters replaced him following an ethics scandal. After he left office, the Galardis became clients of Malone's G.R. Consulting even though he had been a vocal critic of strip clubs when he was an elected official.

Malone wound up delivering campaign contributions from Galardi employees and other Las Vegans to San Diego city council members whose offices were raided Wednesday along with the Cheetahs location in that city.

On Wednesday the FBI raided the offices of three San Diego councilmen, Ralph Inzunza, Charles Lewis and Michael Zuchet.

The San Diego Union-Tribune has reported that Malone was the contact between Lewis' campaign and contributions from the Las Vegas area. Lewis and Inzunza received campaign money from contributors associated with Galardi businesses, and from Malone, according to election records.

Malone and his wife contributed $500 to Lewis' campaign in June 2001, and $1,000 to Inzunza's campaign the same month. Employees and companies with connections to the the Galardis contributed $3,250 to Lewis and $2,250 to Inzunza in June 2001, election records show.

Malone has been involved in political controversies in the past. In 1998 Malone was stung with an ethics law violation after he placed an acquaintance's name on a list of potential McCarran International Airport concessionaires and voted for her in 1997 without disclosing his relationship.

He was also at the center of a controversy involving a vote on a neighborhood casino in Spring Valley in 2000.

Malone initially said he would vote against an application by the Boyd Group to build a neighborhood casino in Spring Valley, but then he changed his mind, angering officials with Station Casinos, which was also planning to build a casino in the area.

Shortly afterward, a flier that was later revealed to have come from Station Casinos appeared, stating "You just can't trust Lance Malone."

The flier alleged that Malone took more than $100,000 from companies that were in favor of more neighborhood casinos.

Malone also was one of the commissioners who participated in a controversial May 1999 vote involving Jack Galardi.

Ardel Jorgenson, the county's director of business licensing, had asked the commission for funding to send investigators to Atlanta to investigate Galardi, who also owns strip clubs there and who was seeking approval to open Jaguars in Las Vegas.

But by a 4-3 margin, the commission turned down her request. Malone, Kenny and Herrera, along with Commissioner Myrna Williams, voted against the funding.

FBI agents have interviewed Jorgenson about that vote.