Columnist Jeff German: Galardis: Sins of son and father

Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2003 | 11:03 a.m.

Strip club mogul Michael Galardi may be working on the side of the law now, but you won't find too many people at the Clark County Government Center putting him on their Christmas card list.

And that isn't helping his wealthy father, Jack Galardi, persuade county officials to let him take control of his estranged son's two strip clubs in the county, Jaguars and Leopard Lounge.

Last week, as it became official that Michael Galardi had pleaded guilty to a federal corruption charge and was cooperating with prosecutors, the elder Galardi's lawyer, Dominic Gentile, told me his client had an agreement in principle to buy the two clubs.

Gentile earlier had negotiated a deal for Jack Galardi to take possession of Cheetahs, a club he co-owned with his son within the Las Vegas city limits.

But this week the County Commission threw Gentile a curve when it set a special hearing for Friday to discuss the process of revoking Michael Galardi's licenses to operate Jaguars and Leopard Lounge.

If Jack Galardi already has a deal to take over the county topless joints, why is the commission creating a public spectacle over ousting his son from the businesses?

Part of it is payback to Michael Galardi for the embarrassment he has caused the commission. Its chairwoman, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, was among those charged last week with accepting bribes from Galardi.

My guess is the commission also wants to send Galardi's father a message that he isn't welcome in the county. Several commissioners told me that unless they know Metro Police support it, they won't approve a temporary license for Jack Galardi, who has had his share of controversy.

City officials haven't signed off on the Cheetahs deal, either. But the elder Galardi already is licensed to run a strip club in the city and has undergone a background investigation. So barring any new questions about his suitability, the city probably will have to approve him.

The father, however, has no strip club license in the county and would have to submit to a lengthy background probe. If concerns surface about his business dealings he could easily be denied a license.

Police already have bad memories of the last time they tried to look into his background.

In 1999 officers asked the commission to allow them to investigate whether Jack Galardi had a financial interest in Jaguars, but the commission denied their request by a 4-3 vote, leaving police with the impression Galardi escaped scrutiny because of his political influence.

Three of the four officials who voted against the background check, Dario Herrera, Lance Malone and Erin Kenny, have since been charged in the federal corruption investigation, which makes that vote a bad memory for the commission, as well.

And though Jack Galardi wasn't charged in the federal probe, we should remember that search warrants obtained in a May 14 FBI raid on his son's operations sought records to confirm whether he had any hidden ownership in Jaguars.

We don't know whether the agents got the records they wanted.

And we don't know whether the County Commission ultimately will be able to stop Jack Galardi from taking over his son's topless clubs.

But given what we now know about the Galardi family, the commission doesn't have to make it easy for him to do it.