Judge: Prosecutors can’t reference alleged bribery of Vegas officials

Thursday, June 9, 2005 | 11:11 a.m.

SAN DIEGO -- A parade of allegedly corrupted Southern Nevada public officials will not be turning a California trial into a "Las Vegas sideshow," a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller ruled that prosecutors would not be allowed to reference the alleged bribery of Las Vegas officials in a trial here of three San Diego City Council members and former Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone.

They face charges related to alleged corruption through the cash of a Las Vegas strip club owner, Michael Galardi.

Galardi, who before his 2003 indictment owned a string of clubs in Nevada and one in San Diego, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government.

According to the motions made by federal prosecutors, Galardi was ready to testify that the alleged bribery of San Diego officials was a continuation of practices already going on in Las Vegas with Malone and 17 unidentified politicians.

Malone's attorney, Dominic Gentile, had prepped many of those politicians, whom he also declined to identify, with letters letting them know they could be subpoenaed to testify at the San Diego trial to refute Galardi's claims of wholesale public corruption.

The judge said federal prosecutors should instead rely on thousands of hours of wiretaps of Galardi, his associates, Malone and the San Diego officials to prove the case.

"The nature of the proposed testimony and cross examination of Galardi, including the examination of the allegedly bribed Las Vegas officials, would tend to convert the San Diego case into a Las Vegas sideshow via a parade of witnesses consisting of many Las Vegas public officials," Miller said.

"The testimony runs the risk of unfairly portraying many Las Vegas public officials in a negative light and risks harming reputations, perhaps beyond repair.

"The court finds the evidence (Galardi's testimony on Las Vegas bribes) more prejudicial than probative."

Federal prosecutors have at times elicited testimony from their witnesses, including a government informant and former gun and drug trafficker known by the name Tony Montagna, that Galardi bribed Las Vegas officials -- claims that have sparked successful objections from the battery of defense attorneys representing Malone and the San Diego officials.

Although the record was technically cleansed of the remarks, Montagna said in court that Galardi paid bribes to former Las Vegas Councilman Michael McDonald and other unnamed officials.

McDonald has never disputed that he worked as a paid consultant to Galardi's strip club operations and has not been charged in either the San Diego case or the parallel prosecution of four former Clark County commissioners in Las Vegas -- Malone, Erin Kenny, Dario Herrera and Mary Kincaid Chauncey.

The trial is expected to begin early next year. Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Ott, who is slated to prosecute the government's case in Las Vegas, attended the hearing in which Miller excluded the Las Vegas bribery references. Ott did not comment as Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Ciaffa argued the issues Wednesday.

Kenny, in Las Vegas, has also pleaded guilty. Federal prosecutors had included her in the witness list for the San Diego trial, but she may now be excluded by Miller's ruling.

Prosecutors were not immediately available for comment, but Gentile noted that Ciaffa argued that the government could limit their references to Las Vegas corruption to only those indicted in the parallel trial, an option Miller also rejected.

That would seem to exclude Kenny, Gentile said.

The defense seemed to win on another Miller ruling Wednesday. Miller will allow the defense attorneys to probe Galardi's truthfulness regarding his claims that Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson visited Las Vegas strip clubs and took free gifts and comps.

Johnson was originally assigned to prosecute the Las Vegas corruption case but was taken off the case after Galardi made the allegations in 2004, early in the case and before Galardi had agreed to work with the government. Johnson denied the charges, and a Justice Department investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility found that the charges against Johnson were not supported by a preponderance of evidence.

Miller said the Office of Professional Responsibility report should not come in, but the defenders can raise the issue of Galardi's truthfulness in his accusations against Johnson.

"If the jury were to conclude that Galardi lied for his self-interest in this other overarching case, the jury might reasonably draw other inferences regarding Galardi's testimony in this case," Miller said. "For these reasons, such limiting inquiry into the Eric Johnson affair is appropriate.

"There is a nexus between such evidence and Galardi's testimony in this case that is relevant, will not cause undue delay, will not confuse the jury, will not create unfair prejudice to anyone and will not convert the San Diego trial into a Las Vegas trial."