Tuesday, March 4, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
AND THE PLOT thickens in the mystery over who leaked those secret tapes that appear to embarrass the casino industry.
Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa denies her office had anything to do with giving copies to ABC News reporter Brian Ross.
But she doesn't seem to have done much digging on this one.
The videotapes were made by the attorney general's office during interviews last year of convicted slot cheat Ron Harris, a former electronics expert with the State Gaming Control Board.
Harris alleged that slot machines could be rigged and that the board showed favoritism to some gaming companies, charges Del Papa's investigators could not corroborate.
Last week, Deputy Attorney General David Thompson, who made the tapes, denied giving them to ABC, which plans to use them in a March 12 broadcast.
Thompson, you'll recall, indicated he gave copies only to Harris' Reno lawyer, Scott Freeman, and the Control Board.
But Freeman said he didn't recall ever getting copies, and Control Board Chairman Bill Bible insisted there was no way the tapes could have left his office.
Thompson, meanwhile, acknowledged he didn't have total control over the tapes.
He said copies were kept in the Reno and Las Vegas offices.
Thompson, who works in Reno, also said he didn't know how an internal AG memorandum on unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing at the Control Board wound up in the ABC reporter's hands.
In a letter to the editor this week, Del Papa insisted her office was clean in the local "Tapegate" controversy.
"All investigative material in the custody of this office, wherever it is located, is secured under lock and key," Del Papa wrote. "This office is not the source of news stories in this regard."
That gives us denials from all of the possible sources of the leak.
Somebody's not being totally truthful here, friends.
Brian Ross didn't obtain the tapes by closing his eyes, kicking his heels and wishing he were in Kansas.
* An auto accident at City Hall involving Councilman Matthew Callister has ruffled a few feathers at the police department.
Police and city marshals showed up to investigate the Feb. 18 collision, but the marshals eagerly took jurisdiction.
Capt. Carl Fruge, head of Metro's traffic division, says the department has since requested a clarification of the city's policy in such cases.
That's a polite way of asking whether the marshals intend to investigate all future traffic accidents at City Hall or just those involving influential members of the City Council.
Fruge says he's not upset that the marshals took the case, and he welcomes any help the marshals can give his overworked traffic cops.
He says he just wants to know how to respond to City Hall accidents in the future so he can plan accordingly.
* Callister, meanwhile, is leaving little doubt he's got high-powered campaign support in his re-election bid.
A who's who of casino bosses is hosting a fund-raiser for Callister Wednesday night at the Spanish Trail home of lawyer Frank Schreck.
Among those lending their names are Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn, Circus Circus Enterprises Chairman Clyde Turner and Hilton Hotels Gaming Division President Arthur Goldberg.
Also listed as hosts are Horseshoe Club President Jack Binion, Boyd Group boss Bill Boyd and Station Casinos chief Frank Fertitta III.
Callister is said to be vulnerable, but you'd never know it by his list of campaign supporters.
* Don't count on a pair of former UNLV athletic directors being given serious consideration to succeed Tucker DiEdwardo as president of Las Vegas Events Inc.
Dennis Finfrock and Jim Weaver, both dirtied up in the Maxson-Tarkanian rift at UNLV a few years back, are too hot for the position, which is a delicate one these days.
Whomever fills DiEdwardo's shoes will be thrust in the middle of a rift between Las Vegas Events and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
The agencies have been at odds over promoting special events in Las Vegas.
* Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., says he won't decide whether to run against Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 1998 until later this year.
But in the meantime, he's doing things that lead people to believe he'll be in the race.
Ensign has been spending a lot of time recently in Northern Nevada, which is not in his congressional district.
Next week, he's scheduled to speak at a GOP function in Lyon County, which, you guessed it, isn't in his district, either.
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