Columnist Jeff German: Sometimes you just can’t win

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 | 10:46 a.m.

Vinny Faraci's world is heating up all around him.

That includes his personal life.

Faraci, the son of a ranking New York crime figure, is among those who have attracted the interest of FBI agents in the stepped-up federal racketeering investigation at the Crazy Horse Too topless nightclub.

The former Crazy Horse shift manager also is under fire in a civil lawsuit brought against the club by Kirk Henry, a Kansas City man who suffered a broken neck during a 2001 altercation there.

Two weeks ago I reported that Faraci asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions during a sworn deposition in the case, which is being followed very closely by FBI agents.

Since then he hasn't exactly kept a low profile.

On Friday Faraci was seen partying into the late-night hours at the Hard Rock Hotel's jam-packed Body English nightclub with a well-known show producer type.

And it was no ordinary night on the town.

His ex-wife and her new husband, professional race car champion and Las Vegan Paul Tracy, happened to be two VIP booths away.

Faraci and his former wife are locked in a bitter custody fight over the couple's two young children. The battle is getting nastier by the day.

Tracy, who won the Champ Car (formerly CART) title in 2003, is regarded as something of a bad boy on the open-wheel racing circuit. He obviously wasn't intimidated by Faraci's reputation on the street.

The flamboyant race car driver made it perfectly clear that Faraci's ex is in good hands now.

Tracy, I'm told, sent Faraci a bottle of Dom Perignon, which cost $1,000 at Body English's inflated nightclub price.

That's a man who's used to taking victory laps.

Now, for your monorail mishap update.

County building inspectors tell me that Las Vegas Monorail officials are replacing the handles on all of the emergency windows in their nine trains.

That's a total of 72 handles, eight for each train.

The switch is designed to make sure that passengers actually will be able to open the windows the next time they're stranded high above the streets on this supposedly state-of-the-art contraption.

Earlier this month, you may recall, when the malfunctioning transportation system suddenly went idle because of a "communication breakdown," one of the small, red handles broke off after it was pulled by a stranded passenger.

That didn't give the tourists on board much confidence in the monorail's emergency evacuation procedures.

The new handles, building inspectors say, are stronger and twice the size.

Oh, and they're being glued on with a stronger adhesive this time, too.

Call it high-tech know-how, Las Vegas Monorail style.