Galardi request for hearing denied

Stephen Curran

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

Attorneys for strip club magnate Jack Galardi will not get a new hearing before the Clark County Commission.

Commissioners, acting as the county Liquor and Gaming Licensing Board, unanimously turned down the request for a new hearing to determine whether the Leopard Lounge will receive a new liquor license. The move was rejected 4-0, with Commissioner Chip Maxfield abstaining because, he said, he had not been present for previous votes. Commissioner Bruce Woodbury and Chairman Rory Reid were absent for the vote.

Lawyer Dominic Gentile appeared before the board with South Carolina-based lawyer Suzanne Coe, who represents Galardi's clubs in Georgia and Florida. Speaking after the hearing, Coe and Gentile accused the commissioners of making up the rules as they go along and of unfairly applying laws governing temporary liquor licenses.

The attorneys expect to take the matter to court, Gentile said. Galardi did not attend the meeting.

The Leopard Lounge had been operating for 14 months on temporary liquor licenses while Metro Police investigated alleged crimes at Galardi's other clubs in Florida and Georgia.

Speaking during the meeting, Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, chairwoman of the liquor board, disputed the claims made by Galardi's attorneys, saying that commissioners were within their rights to deny the license because the hearing was not disciplinary in nature.

"The issue that was before the board was a limited license, not a disciplinary hearing," Atkinson Gates said.

The strip club at 3500 West Naples Drive near West Tropicana Avenue was denied a permanent liquor license last month amid Metro Police reports of solicitation of prostitution at Galardi's topless clubs in other states.

Clark County commissioners, acting as the County Liquor and Gaming Licensing board, had rejected Galardi's request for a permanent liquor license for Leopard Lounge 6-0 on March 22.

Commissioners last month said their decision was based on reports that solicitation of prostitution and illegal touching between strippers and patrons occurred at Galardi's other clubs in Florida and Georgia.

Gentile said in March that he expected he would wind up fighting the decision to deny the license in either district or federal court.

Last month, Gentile argued that the board failed to evaluate the club's performance during the year Galardi was in charge, instead focusing on events at other clubs. By late March, dancers at the Leopard Lounge recieved one citation and one warning, which is fewer than dancers at most other Southern Nevada clubs, Gentile said.