Thursday, Jan. 20, 2005 | 10:49 a.m.
A manager at the Crazy Horse Too was arrested Wednesday and is facing a variety of federal racketeering charges including some related to the alleged assault of a Kansas man who was found outside the club with a broken neck in 2001.
Robert D'Apice, a 50-year-old shift manager at the Crazy Horse Too, is also charged with four counts of making false statements to a grand jury in an indictment returned Tuesday.
The indictment states that D'Apice and other male employees of the club, located at 2476 S. Industrial Road, wanted to promote an atmosphere of fear, and that D'Apice and others overcharged, threatened and assaulted patrons.
The indictment goes on to allege that D'Apice, who has been working at the Rick Rizzolo-owned club since 1997, aided and abetted in, "the use of women from outside Nevada... in prostitution or illegal sexual activity and the... distribution of narcotics inside the Crazy Horse Too."
Also charged in the indictment is Paula McBride, a 27-year-old Henderson woman who is a former cocktail waitress at the club. She faces two counts of making false statements to the grand jury.
A second indictment, returned by the grand jury Jan. 11 and unsealed Wednesday, charges D'Apice and his wife, Nicole Lee Rubino, with tax evasion for failure to pay at least $40,000 allegedly owed the government.
If convicted, D'Apice is facing up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the racketeering charge, while the false statement and tax evasion charges each carry a possible sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
D'Apice was arrested at the club about 12:30 p.m. by FBI agents and is being held at the Las Vegas Detention Center at Stewart Avenue and Mojave Road. McBride was also arrested and a warrant was pending for Rubino's arrest Wednesday afternoon.
All three are expected to make initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Johnston today.
Buffalo Jim Barrier, who owns a mechanic shop next door to the Crazy Horse, said he saw FBI agents arrest D'Apice in the parking lot of the club as he was going to work.
"He was getting out of his car, and they grabbed him and took him to the ground," Barrier said. "They handcuffed him and then took him away."
Barrier alleges that Rizzolo has tried to have Barrier's businesses shut down so that the Crazy Horse Too could expand. Barrier has leased property in the strip mall since 1978, and the Crazy Horse Too opened in 1984.
The federal grand jury and federal authorities have been investigating the club for nearly a decade, but the indictments against D'Apice are the only charges to come from the investigation thus far.
Rizzolo's attorney, Tony Sgro, said the indictments are the result of an effort by the govenrment to "justify the massive amount of time and money" it spent on the investigation.
"To simply walk way on their part doesn't appear to be realistic," he said.
The racketeering indictment states that D'Apice and others at the club wanted to create an "atmosphere of fear" and lists several instances since 2001 in which D'Apice allegedly threatened, extorted and robbed Crazy Horse customers.
One such incident allegedly involved Kirk Henry, a Kansas man, who is suing the club in Clark County District Court. He alleges that an altercation with a bouncer on September 2001 led to his broken neck. Henry is now a quadriplegic.
Henry's lawsuit alleges that he was in the club when a bartender and a dancer approached him regarding an $88 tab. Henry then went to look for a friend, with whom he was with, and then left the club, according to a Metro Police report.
"Once outside, (Henry) was going to get in his car and (a) bouncer of Crazy Horse grabbed him around the neck, manually strangling him and twisting his neck," the report states. "(Henry) then fell to the ground, recalling his body went numb and, lying there, found it hard to breathe."
Henry also alleges that he told police that a bouncer took money from his wallet while he was injured on the ground.
Shortly after the incident Rizzolo, in an interview with the Sun, said he did not think any of his employees were involved in the Henry incident.
"The first time we saw the guy (Henry) he was lying on the ground and (one of the club's employees) called 911," Rizzolo said at the time.
Henry was taken by ambulance to Valley Hospital, where he underwent surgery on his neck -- the sixth and seventh vertebrae were broken, according to the report.
Henry's lawyer, Don Campbell said his client is "very gratified" by the indictment.
"There is now some finding by a party other than himself that he was in fact terribly wronged," Campbell said. "Anytime you've been wronged, you want to see justice done."
Campbell said Henry wanted him to extend his thanks to the Las Vegas FBI office for its work.
"It's been a long three years for him," Campbell said. "His life changed forever when he was attacked, and it will never be the same."
Henry's civil suit against the Crazy Horse is set for a Jan. 31 status check to set a trial date before District Court Judge Jackie Glass.
The indictment alleges that D'Apice lied under oath before the grand jury when he denied touching or assaulting Henry in front of the Crazy Horse. It goes on to allege that D'Apice testified falsely when he denied detaining, threatening and intimidating customers to get them to pay their disputed charges.
McBride is alleged to have testified falsely when she denied seeing Henry leave the club with D'Apice, and denying that she had seen D'Apice near Kirk Henry in the early morning hours of Sept. 20, 2001, when Henry was found injured outside the club.
Other instances of violence erupting in and around the club have also been reported.
In August 1995 a California man was found beaten to death in a desert area near the club. The family of Scott Fau alleged that he was beaten to death by the club's bouncers, and they sued. In Jan. 2003 a jury sided with the club in the case.
In another incident, Kenneth Kirkpatrick told police he and several friends went to the club May 24, 2001, for a bachelor party. Kirkpatrick and his friends had a disagreement regarding the amount of the bill and asked for the manager, according to a police report.
Kirkpatrick said security personnel threatened him. In the report he claimed he was forced to sign a charge on his Visa card for $220 and that "the bouncers were shoving (him) around."
The report states that Kirkpatrick, "being afraid he was going to be beaten, threw a punch hitting one of the bouncers. Security then knocked him to the ground and punched and kicked him in the face and back of the head. Victim's arms were grabbed and he was handcuffed. Victim then states he felt hands in his pockets."
A few minutes later his wallet was tossed into his lap, the handcuffs were taken off and he was told to leave, according to the report. Later he discovered that $140 was missing from his wallet.
A civil suit was filed in Clark County District Court against the Crazy Horse and Rizzolo in connection with the incident and is scheduled to go to trial in June.
The club remained open Wednesday following D'Apice's arrest, but that wasn't the case in Feb. 2003 when the club was forced to close its doors temporarily after it was raided by FBI agents.
The focus of the joint federal and local law enforcement raid was to locate evidence of connections to organized crime interests in New York and Illinois and seize financial records dating to 1995, according to a federal search warrant.
The search warrant states that agents were searching for "documents and records which would demonstrate the existence of tribute payments for the period of 1995 to 2003 made to LCN (La Cosa Nostra) families for allowing the Crazy Horse Too to operate in Las Vegas."
More than 80 officers with Metro, the FBI, and other law enforcement agencies, some of whom were armed with MP5 machine guns and shotguns, served the warrant.
Rizzolo has been linked over the years to several organized crime figures, including Joseph Cusumano, once a top lieutenant of slain mob kingpin Anthony Spilotro. Rizzolo has said he no longer associates with Cusumano, who was formerly a close friend of Rizzolo.
In 1999 Rizzolo was with reputed Chicago mob figure Fred Pascente when Pascente was arrested at McCarran International Airport, and in 2002 Rizzolo won approval from the city to hire Albert Rapuano, a former casino executive once investigated for ties to organized crime.
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