Jeff German gets conflicting stories about the future of the Crazy Horse Too

Friday, Feb. 3, 2006 | 12:30 p.m.

If Luke Brugnara has a deal to buy the Crazy Horse Too, he's not having an easy time closing it.

We now know that city licensing officials don't believe the San Francisco real estate man has a legitimate deal.

Jim DiFiore, the city's top licensing executive, told me that late last Friday his office formally returned Brugnara's application for a temporary license to run the topless club.

DiFiore said Brugnara submitted a letter of intent to buy the embattled club, which is the target of a federal racketeering investigation, but he did not provide a signed purchase agreement.

"I'm not sure what's going on between the two parties," DiFiore said. "But until he submits a purchase agreement with a completed application, we wouldn't process an application for a change of ownership."

Rizzolo's longtime lawyer, Tony Sgro, also made it crystal clear to DiFiore in a letter dated last Friday that there is no deal.

Sgro provided me with a copy of the two-page letter in which he refers to quotes from Brugnara in my Jan. 26 column saying he had an agreement to buy the Crazy Horse for $40 million.

"Like dozens of persons before him, he is nothing more than a person who expressed interest in purchasing the club," Sgro wrote. "Simply put, no meeting of the minds occurred during the negotiations and further no documents were executed to complete a deal."

According to Sgro, Brugnara has been asked several times to stop coming to the club and telling employees that he's the new owner.

"Our office is currently investigating Mr. Brugnara's dissemination of these false statements concerning a completed deal to purchase the Crazy Horse Too," Sgro wrote. "We plan to advise Mr. Brugnara to refrain from visting the club and to cease and desist making these false statements."

As of Thursday, however, Brugnara - who unsuccessfully tried to obtain a gaming license to run the old Silver City casino five years ago - still wasn't shy about talking.

He continued to maintain that he has an agreement and said that he now hopes to provide DiFiore with something in writing by Feb. 15.

"Everything I said still stands," Brugnara told me. "I still have a deal.

"I can't tell you why Sgro does what he does. But I'm very comfortable about this entire process. I know the people who are in control of the deal. Everything's good."

Eventually, however, Brugnara will have to put up or shut up.

For a long time, they had the distinction of being Nevada's first husband and wife to serve together as elected judges.

The New York Times brought the high-profile couple national attention in 2004 when it featured their troubles with their teenage daughter in a series on Las Vegas.

But District Judges Kathy and Gerald Hardcastle are a couple no more.

Kathy Hardcastle, the chief district judge in Clark County, confirms that she and Gerald, who serves in Family Court, were granted a divorce on Jan. 9.

The split, I'm told, was amicable.

Just why the marriage broke apart, though, is under seal.

Jeff German's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Sun. He can be reached at 259-4067 or at german@lasvegassun.com.