The FBI on Wednesday raided Cheetah's and Jaguars, the two Las Vegas strip clubs owned by father-son partners Jack and Mike Galardi, as well as Galardi Enterprises in downtown Las Vegas and an unidentified private residence in Southern Nevada. The raids all allegedly involve a campaign contribution investigation that stretches from the Nevada city to San Diego and is said to involve several politicians, including Clark County commissioner-turned-lobbyist Lance Malone.
"The critical thing is, he [Malone] was a cop for Metro [police]," reflected Las Vegas cabaret owner Raymond Pistol. "Then he ran for County Commission and won, and then, he got defeated and became more or less a lobbyist for the Galardis. So therefore, that put him as the liaison between politicians, which he had the experience because he used to be one, and his work with the Galardis. I have seen him representing the Galardis at various and sundry functions."
According to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal , the assault-rifle-toting FBI agents had warrants authorizing a search for all "campaign contribution records from 1997 made on behalf of or by" the strip clubs and several businesses connected to the Galardis, as well as all "records including ledgers or journals or handwritten notes of payments or gifts" to several individuals, among whom were some current and former elected officials.
The raids took place in the late afternoon, and several topless dancers said they were frightened by the gun-toting feds. One dancer named Salsa had just completed a series of lap dances and was naked in her dressing room when a female FBI agent burst in.
"She said, 'Do you have any weapons?' and I was like, 'I'm naked. There's nowhere for me to hide an Uzi,' " said the 25-year-old Salsa. She and other dancers were later herded into a VIP area, and they and their lockers were searched for drugs and other "contraband."
On the political side, specifically targeted for search and seizure elsewhere were Las Vegas City Councilman Michael McDonald; former Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny and her husband, John; former County Commissioner Dario Herrera and his wife, Emily; County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and her husband, Robert; and several officials in the county's building inspections division.
"I was fighting tooth and nail against McDonald," Pistol recalled of a late-'90s attempt by city investigators to shut down his clubs for liquor violations. "The Galardis and Rick Rizzolo [another club owner] were his friends so they weren't being prosecuted at all."
Pistol noted that he had since made peace with McDonald, and gave him a football as a token of their friendship.
As for McDonald, he has stated that he always has disclosed his relationships with the Galardis – McDonald went to high school with Mike Galardi – and abstained from voting whenever the council considered matters in which Mike Galardi had an interest.
According to one source quoted in the Review-Journal , the investigation stems from a 1999 Commission vote in which Metro police were barred from spending more than $10,000 to fly to Atlanta to find out if the Galardis, who have clubs in that city, were under investigation by a grand jury there. At the time, federal officials were just beginning to look into violations taking place at Atlanta's Gold Club; an investigation which resulted in several trials, no convictions and one guilty plea by the club's owner. The club was later demolished.
The Atlanta trip was purported to be part of a routine investigation begun after the Galardis applied for a liquor license for their new club, Jaguars, which was scheduled to open shortly just off The Strip.
One of the commissioners voting against the trip was Malone, and according to the Review-Journal , that position was a departure for the ex-cop, who frequently pushed for more stringent restrictions against adult-oriented businesses. In August 1999, he even proposed increasing the distance requirements between adult businesses. However, when Malone lost his commission seat, he went to work for the Galardis as a "consultant" to help the Galardis resolve a legal battle with the city over their other club, Cheetah's.
At issue were several modest contributions that the Galardis made to various political campaigns both in Las Vegas and San Diego, where the partners also have dance clubs. The FBI is looking into whether the contributions, none of which seem to have been over $5000 each, were used to influence the awarding of liquor licenses and the passage of adult-use ordinances in those cities.
"The Galardis have been generous political contributors in this city and they were friends with Jan Jones, who was the mayor of Las Vegas at that time," Pistol stated. "They would be guests in each other's houses. They were part of proper society, if you will. They wouldn't have to pay these people for their votes; they were all friends."
