Tuesday, April 27, 2004 | 10:46 a.m.
The Patriot Act wasn't used by FBI agents to intercept phone calls and other communications in connection with an investigation into local politicians charged with trading political influence for money and gifts from a local strip club owner, a federal prosecutor said Monday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Schiess told a U.S. Magistrate that the Patriot Act was not used to collect any of the nearly 120,000 intercepted communications the FBI garnered in the course of an investigation that resulted in the indictments of Clark County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and former commissioners Lance Malone and Dario Herrera.
"I'm 100 percent certain and have no doubt that the Patriot Act was not used for any of the intercepts in this case," Schiess said Monday during a status check hearing on the strip-club indictments.
The FBI has said the U.S. Patriot Act was used to obtain financial information in the political corruption investigation.
Malone's attorney, Dominic Gentile, said he still plans to file a motion relating to the use of the Patriot Act in connection with the two-year investigation. Gentile said his challenge had to do with other issues and would not elaborate except to say he planned to file a motion in the coming weeks.
Defense attorneys for Kincaid-Chauncey, Malone and Herrera told Leavitt that they would not be ready to go to trial until sometime in 2005 because of the thousands of telephonic and body wire recordings that need to be reviewed.
Gentile said he has had Malone and an investigator working 40 hours a week since October listening to and reviewing the recordings, and that they may be finished by January.
The intercepts vary in length from a few minutes to as long as eight-hour recordings from the body wire of a cooperating witness. The witness worked at one of Galardi's clubs in Las Vegas and his San Diego club during the investigation that resulted in 18 months of wiretaps in Las Vegas and 11 months in San Diego.
Seventy thousand wiretapped conversations were intercepted from five phone lines in Las Vegas over the course of the investigation, and nearly as many intercepts were gleaned in San Diego. Other evidence includes surveillance videos, photographs, financial records and Clark County Commission records.
Leavitt said that it was "imperative" that the defendants in the case have time to review the discovery materials, and said he will issue an order with a new trial date to replace the old trial date scheduled in August.
Gentile said one of the things that has slowed down his processing of the intercepts was a sealed order that stops him from speaking to some of the people on the recordings. Schiess asked that the order not be discussed in open court because of its sealed nature.
After the hearing Gentile said he couldn't talk about the order.
Kincaid-Chauncey, Malone and Herrera have all pleaded not guilty in the case, while former strip club owner Michael Galardi and former commissioner Erin Kenny have entered guilty pleas and are cooperating with authorities.
Federal prosecutors allege the politicians took thousands of dollars in exchange for their votes and use of their influence to help Michael Galardi's Las Vegas strip clubs Jaguars, Cheetahs and Leopard Lounge.
The indictment charges Kincaid-Chauncey, Herrera and Malone with one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 14 counts each of wire fraud. In addition Malone was charged with racketeering, Herrera faces eight counts of extortion, and Kincaid-Chauncey faces four extortion counts.
Kenny pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud, and Galardi pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge.
Galardi has also agreed to forfeit $3.85 million to the government, pay $200,000 in restitution to both the city of Las Vegas and the county, and give up ownership of his clubs. Kenny has agreed to forfeit $70,258.53.
Drawing largely from the wiretaps, prosecutors allege that Galardi had been trying to bribe politicians, funneling as much as $400,000 to commissioners. Galardi's plea agreement says he tried to bribe public officials between 1994 and 2003, but the indictment focuses on events from 1999 to 2003.
Prosecutors say the commissioners voted to change an ordinance regulating stripper-patron body contact at strip clubs and changed zoning ordinances to help Galardi's clubs.
If convicted Malone could face up to 20 years in prison on the racketeering charge and five years in prison on the conspiracy charge. If convicted on all charges, Malone could also have to forfeit $1.45 million to the government.
Herrera and Kincaid-Chauncey could face maximum sentences of five years in prison on the conspiracy charges and 20 years on each of the wire fraud and extortion charges.
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