Columnist Susan Snyder: Fans still in step with Jackson

Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003 | 8:15 a.m.

Michael Jackson just may be invincible.

"He's totally innocent," Brittanie Vasquez said as she marched down the Strip Saturday night with a knot of Jackson faithful.

Most of the crowd was plastered against the fence, watching The Mirage volcano erupt. But Vasquez and her crowd, well, they had places to go.

Their idol, who hit the stage professionally some 20 years before most of them likely were born, had been charged by Santa Barbara, Calif., law enforcement officials with molesting a 12-year-old boy at the fabled Neverland compound near Los Olivos.

He posted $3 million Thursday and was back in the Las Vegas Valley faster than fans could say Jacko.

For Vasquez, of Las Vegas, talking with a newspaper columnist wasn't exactly a thriller. Her friends toted signs proclaiming Jackson's innocence and wore concert T-shirts. One pretty young thing had wrapped herself in an ankle-length shawl bearing his picture.

They weren't about to say where they were headed in such a hurry.

"Shhh. Don't say anything," a friend cautioned Vasquez.

And they were off.

Anyone looking for Jackson in Las Vegas will have no trouble finding his likeness here and there.

Jackson's "Another Part of Me," from the 1987 "Bad" album, blared from loudspeakers inside and outside TI, the former Treasure Island.

At Madame Tussauds, he's immortalized in wax -- which may or may not be as durable as a fan's devotion. An early 1990s version of the King of Pop stands in a room with Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Mick Jagger.

The figure has long hair and wears a white jumpsuit with gold-plated guards around the knees and elbows. The nose looks more human than the Tin Man's.

Its skin is black.

A woman visitor giggled, pinched the petite nose and posed for a picture.

Jackson's ghost also shows up nightly at Imperial Palace, where a Jacko impersonator was unveiled as a "dealertainer" in Legends blackjack pit last week -- about the time charges were being filed against the real Jackson in California.

The Legends tables were active Saturday night, with Liza Minnelli and Ray Charles drawing full chairs and Jackson's table drawing a full house along with a crowd of onlookers and dozens of double-takes.

"Oh, my gosh look," a woman gasped, yanking her date back toward the table and nearly giving him whiplash.

"Well, he's out on parole or probation or something," the guy shrugged.

A lot of people stopped just to stare. They didn't watch the card game, which was going really well for a couple of guys. They gawked at the ashen-faced imposter, who looked like a cross between 1990s Michael and the creepy guy he played in the "Thriller" video.

Still, he was semi-believable, if you looked fast and overlooked that he was playing with grownups.

OK, I'm bad.

"We're from Las Vegas and all over the world. None of us even knew each other before," Vasquez said as her group trotted along on their secret mission. "We know he's innocent. Totally innocent."

And for the love of fans, invincible.