Political corruption case involving strip club postponed

Jace Radke

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2005 | 10:46 a.m.

The political corruption case involving former public officials taking bribes from a former strip club owner was postponed to September this morning as attorneys continue to listen to thousands of hours of FBI wire-tapped conversations.

The trial had been set to begin March 8.

But Dominic Gentile, who represents former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone, this morning told U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks that he has a team of six people listening to the recordings and they still have 400 hours left to review.

Gentile said he doubted he will be ready to go to trial "until the very late part of this year."

Hicks tentatively scheduled the trial for Sept. 13, and referred the case back to U.S. Magistrate Lawrence Leavitt for further status checks.

Malone is facing federal political corruption charges in San Diego and Las Vegas in two seperate cases. In both cases Malone is charged with acting as a middleman for former strip club owner Michael Galardi, who traded money and gifts for political influence.

The San Diego trial involving two city councilmen there, is scheduled for May 3, and U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller is scheduled to hear Gentile's motion to dismiss the case due to allegations of prosecutorial misconduct on March 7.

Galardi has pleaded guilty in both the San Diego case and the Las Vegas case. In the Las Vegas case, County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and former Commissioner Dario Herrera have also been charged with taking bribes and using their influence to benefit Galardi's clubs.

Former County Commissioner Erin Kenny was also charged in the Las Vegas case, but like Galardi she has pleaded guilty and has agreed to cooperate with the government's prosecution of Malone, Herrera and Kincaid-Chauncey.