Tag Archives: Rick Rizzolo

Dead Las Vegas Topless Club May Miraculously Get Resuscitated

Christopher Condotti, a trucking company owner from Chicago, has just been approved by the United States Department of Justice to purchase the long defunct Crazy Horse Too topless bar and nightclub in Las Vegas for $10.5 million. 

The extremely popular bar closed in July, 2007 and was once the haunt of porn star Jenna Jameson who used to strip there.   And the nightclub was frequented nightly by many celebrities and politicians.

The bar’s previous owner, ex-felon Rick Rizzolo, is still obligated to pay court ordered debts amounting to more than $17 million dollars including $10 million to beating victim Kirk Henry which must come totally from the sale of the bar. 

However, the pending sale to Condotti (listed under CC Holdings LLC, where Condotti is manager) for less than $17 million leaves Rizzolo responsible for making up the deficit from his personal assets most likely hidden in the Cook Islands, according to court records. 

Because of the club’s close proximity to other adult uses, it was grandfathered in and operated for many years on a Special Use Permit that expired in 2008 following the bar’sclosure by the City of Las Vegas based on it being a public nuisance. 

The current sale is dependent on the Las Vegas City Council granting Condotti a change of zoning and a permanent liquor license according to the ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT, released on April 21.  The sale is contigent upon the club being granted several licenses, including a special-use zoning permit, a liquor license, a tobacco license and a retail sales license.  The deadline for getting those is Nov. 30, 2010. 

Included in the Order of Forfeiture filed in 2008, and the following document filed in U.S. Federal Court on January 29, 2010, Rizzolo agreed to stand personally responsible to pay the difference in the event the Crazy Horse Too does not sell for an amount adequate to pay his court ordered debts. He did so in exchange for a feather light prison sentence.

Based on the current sale, it’s probable that Rick and Lisa Rizzolo’s hidden off shore assets will be seized to pay the deficit in the likely event Kirk Henry or the government prevails at a Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (UFTA) jury trial tentatively scheduled for September 2010. 

The seizure is expected unless Rick Rizzolo’s attorneys can effectively convince the jury that their client is broke, and that he transferred half his assets to his ex-wife during a legitimate divorce that was finalized one month before he began plea negotiations, and following the filing of Mr. Henry’s personal injury lawsuit.  To see the full ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT, click here.

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Mob, Celebrities are Supreme Toppings for Las Vegas Pizza Biz

joe-pesciActor Joe Pesci, right, who won an Oscar for his supporting role in the 1990 mob classic “Goodfellas,” is apparently going into refined cahoots with Las Vegas convicted racketeer Rick Rizzolo, left, planning to rick-rizzoloslice up the payola coming from opening up several pizza joints called “Pesci’s Pizza Parlors” in Las Vegas, with several others in a foreign country.

Tough-guy actor Pesci is keeping the business dealings close to the cuff, though, disavowing any connection with Rizzolo, simply saying his longtime friend and personal assistant Tommy DeVito – and story source – “was confused.”

Pesci quickly switched gears,  saying  he is partnering with Las Vegas businessmen Sig Rogich, Sig Rogicha prominent public relations that advised the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and Elias Ghanem II,  who works for Wynn Resorts in the executive training program.  Ghanem’s dad, Dr. Elias Ghanem, was known as the “physican to the stars,” serving celebrities including Elvis Presley, Liberace, Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Ann-Margret, and Wayne Newton.

Currently finalizing the new business paperwork, they plan to be in business in four or five months, according to longtime Pesci associate Tommy DeVito, who has lived in Las Vegas since 1970. 

DeVito, 80, and Pesci, 66, have been guitar-playing pals since they were 11-years-old and living in New Jersery.  DeVito, center, went on to form the Frankie Valli-led Four Seasons and was the group’s leading guitarist until a falling out with the group over his mounting gambling debts. tommy-devito

Pesci is a producer of the “Jersey Boys,” a musical based on the lives of the Four Seasons.  A spinoff of the Broadway hit has been playing in Las Vegas for a year at The Palazzo. 

Pesci and DeVito are such close friends that Pesci called DeVito a couple of months before the filming began on Martin Scorcese’s “Casino” to say he was taking the name Tom DeVito for his character, a mob thug based on Las Vegas hit man Anthony “The Ant” Spilotro. 

Rick Rizzolo, 50, received notoriety during the Las Vegas “G-Sting” federal trial, causing former Justice Department Organized Strike Force prosecutor Stan Hunteroton to exclaim to the court:  “Not since the reign of Anthony Spilotro and his associates has there been a more infamous hoodlum than Rick Rizzolo.” 

Rizzolo was among 17 defendants, including Las Vegas city officials, later found guilty on a related charge.  He served 11 months of a sentence of one year and one day before his release last year.   Rizzolo was also ordered to sell the Las Vegas topless cabaret Crazy Horse Too business and placed under three years of supervised release and fined $250,000. 

‘Dying’ to taste their pizza?   Maybe they could open up a pizza parlor in the planned Las Vegas Mob Museum?

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