KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasI-Team Exclusive: G-Sting Probe Explodes

I-Team Exclusive: G-Sting Probe Explodes

(Dec. 2) -- A former strip club owner says he let police officers and prosecutors get free drinks, lap dances and sexual favors at his clubs. Mike Galardi made the accusations during an FBI investigation into a political corruption probe.

Sheriff Bill Young and District Attorney David Roger say they have been frustrated in attempts to investigate this allegations because the FBI won't give them enough information about Galardi's testimony.

(Nov. 30) -- New revelations concerning the G-Sting political corruption investigation have surfaced. The channel 8 I-Team has obtained exclusive access to confidential documents based on testimony from topless nightclub owner Mike Galardi, the central witness in the G-Sting probe.

Galardi has told federal agents that he was extorted for money by numerous politicians, bureaucrats, even lawmen, and that he paid people with cash, checks, and sexual favors.

Troubled topless nightclub owner Mike Galardi told federal lawmen that he handed out hundreds of thousands of dollars to a wide spectrum of Nevada officials, including county commissioners -- three of whom have already been indicted, city councilmen -- two of whom have been mentioned in media accounts, and several judges -- six of whom are listed by name in statements Galardi made during extensive debriefing sessions held in both San Diego and Las Vegas during the summer of 2003.

Galardi said he often used former commissioner Lance Malone as his bag man to deliver payoffs to officials, but he also relied on several attorneys, both private lawyers and county prosecutors, whom Galardi said were only too happy to deliver under the table payments to judges. Galardi assumes that the cash payments were never declared by the judges as contributions.

Galardi told the FBI that he didn't even know all of the names of the judges who got the cash, although a few of them showed up at his Jaguars club to personally pick up the money. At least one judge got more than cash, Galardi says. He says he sent two strippers to sexually service the judge.

Galardi said only a small percentage of his dancers were willing to perform sex acts at his request. Among the most frequent beneficiaries of sexual favors were a handful of deputy D.A.'s, one of whom had so many strippers visit his home that Galardi referred to it as a quote, "orgy house."

Galardi estimates that as many as 20 deputy D.A.'s were regular customers at his clubs, and an unknown number of police officers. Galardi said his usual practice was to give drink discounts to cops, and to provide $500 to $1000 in cash to pay for drinks and lap dances for prosecutors. He also said club managers would look the other way if police or prosecutors took the dancers home.

One of the few politicians to say no to Galardi was Sheriff Bill Young. Galardi told the FBI he tried to give cash to Young through a third party but Young turned him down flat. Metro sources say that in response to an earlier I-Team report, the Sheriff has asked the FBI for any information it may have on officers who accepted comps from Galardi's clubs.

Galardi also told federal authorities that his clubs were frequented by FBI agents and federal prosecutors. Although he provided the names of six FBI agents, only one seems to have been a player at the clubs.

The I-Team has seen the results of four polygraph tests of Galardi administered last year by a longtime FBI polygraph expert. In one test, Galardi was asked whether the FBI agent in question received cash, lap dances, and sex. He said yes, and was found truthful. In a second test, he was asked whether a federal prosecutor visited the club and received comps. Again he said yes, and was found truthful. In a third test Galardi was asked whether he was involved in illegal gun sales. He said no, and no deception was detected. And in a fourth, he was asked whether he ever had customers beaten up. He said no, and again was found truthful by the FBI expert.

The fact that he passed four lie detector tests has convinced federal authorities that Galardi is being truthful about the much larger picture of corruption that he has painted, including a stunning allegation that he was solicited in Jaguars by one county official for a bribe of $100,000, a claim that may now be under investigation by the FBI, along with a plethora of other potential cases.

Although the FBI will not comment, the I-Team has learned that the FBI agent who was pals with Galardi was disciplined and transferred out of the country. The federal prosecutor denied ever being in Galardi's clubs. An investigation found that he was being truthful, despite Galardi's polygraph results.