Thursday, Oct. 15, 1998 | 11:09 a.m.
The New York mob's attempt to muscle in on the escort service industry here illustrates how Las Vegas remains an open city to the nation's crime families.
It is the second time in two years that undercover FBI agents have caught a La Cosa Nostra crime family in the act of trying to take over lucrative street rackets in Las Vegas.
Last year, agents smashed an attempt by the Los Angeles mob to grab control of the loan-sharking and insurance fraud operations run by Chicago underworld figure Herbie Blitzstein, who was murdered in the middle of the investigation.
"We've been very fortunate to be on top of these things and stop them," Las Vegas FBI chief Bobby Siller said Wednesday.
Siller said quick action by FBI agents on Friday crushed the escort service plot and saved three local operators from physical harm.
"We think we were successful in saving the lives of a number of people," Siller said. "They had planned to take over the entire escort service industry."
There are more than 160 licensed out call businesses in Las Vegas. Each company has the capability of sending male or female dancers, usually described as entertainers, to customers, who pay a fee of $150 to $200 for the services.
In a 19-page complaint unsealed Tuesday, FBI affidavit Agent Charles Maurer said many out call agencies operate within the law.
But he added "numerous sources" told the FBI that the escort service industry was a front for prostitution, drug trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activity.
"These same sources ... advised that the LCN (La Cosa Nostra)is making an attempt to gain control of this lucrative cash business through threats, extortion and other illegal means," Maurer said.
The six-month investigation, which made use of an undercover FBI agent, a cooperating witness out of New York and court-approved electronic surveillance, was forced to shut down Friday, after agents learned the plan to harm the escort service operators was being acted out.
In the aftermath of the probe, startling, but unsubstantiated allegations have surfaced that some local law enforcement officers may have been corrupted by escort service operators.
The FBI said it turned up accusations that local law enforcement officers may have received cash payments and gifts from those in the out call business in return for protection from arrest. There was word that "one or more individuals in the Clark County District Attorney's Office may have been compromised."
Both District Attorney Stewart Bell and Sheriff Jerry Keller said Wednesday they were concerned about the allegations, but they remained skeptical of their veracity.
Bell attributed the allegations to "just bad guys bragging," but he said he has urged Siller to get to the bottom of it.
"I told him the worst thing you can have is unrefuted allegations because it taints all 115 attorneys in this office," Bell said. "We have pledged our full cooperation."
Keller said it's still unclear whether any Metro officers have been accused of wrongdoing and that he was anxious to see whether the FBI can document the allegations. He said he would conduct an internal investigation if needed.
Like Bell, Keller also has vowed to cooperate with the FBI.
Siller said he intends to work closely with the two local law enforcement leaders "to see if there's any validity to this."
U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth, meanwhile, praised the FBI's decisive action last week in closing out the probe under trying circumstances.
"I applaud the work of the FBI in bringing this case to a quick closure given the concerns about the safety and security of some people in the Las Vegas community," Landreth said Wednesday. "This is another example of the FBI's ability to stem an attempt by organized crime to invade Las Vegas."
Traditionally, Las Vegas has been considered an open city for the nation's 26 Mafia families. For much of the 1970s and 1980s, however, the Chicago mob dominated Las Vegas street rackets. Chicago's reign ended in 1986 after its overseer here, Anthony Spilotro, was murdered gangland style outside Chicago.
Since then, no crime family has been able to assert itself in Las Vegas.
On Wednesday, six alleged associates of New York's Gambino crime family, once led by imprisoned Mafia kingpin John Gotti, Sr., remained in jail on no bond in connection with the plot to take over the Las Vegas escort service industry.
The six men are charged with conspiring to wrestle away control of the out call operations (through threats of bodily harm) from three of the most widely known operators, Frank "Vince" Bartello, Richard Soranno and Harry Jacobs.
Bartello, who runs Hillsboro Enterprises, told the SUN he didn't know anything about the plot to harm him until he read it in the newspaper this week.
"I'm really shocked over this," Bartello said. "I think they should have told me a little earlier, but I thank them very much."
FBI agents plan to interview Bartello on Friday.
Sources said agents had control of the situation all day Friday and did not inform any of the intended targets. The suspects and the targets were kept under surveillance the entire time.
After the arrests of the suspects, agents found semi-automatic weapons, bullet proof vests, silencers and a list of what is believed to be targets in their possession, Siller said.
Among those named in a five-count racketeering and extortion indictment unsealed on Tuesday is escort service operator Christiano DeCarlo, 27, who according to an FBI complaint, bragged of ties to New York crime families and having the ability to fix court cases in Las Vegas.
Also charged is Mario Stefano, known on the street as Mario Pugliese, described by the FBI as a Gambino family crime associate who lives in New York.
Two other alleged Gambino family associates, Vincent Congiusti, 48, and Anton Nelson, no age, both of Tampa, also were charged, along with Kenneth Byrnes, 38, of New Jersey, and Joshua Snellings, 20, of Las Vegas.
Congiusti, who runs a plumbing company in Tampa, was described in the FBI complaint as having a reputation for torturing people. Stefano was overheard by agents as saying Congiusti on occasion used a cordless drill to drill holes into the head of a victim.
Nelson, a Tampa area contractor, was described in the affidavit as a "former mercenary and explosive expert.
Both men, the FBI said, were brought to Las Vegas from Florida on Oct. 7 to intimidate and harm the three escort service operators.
Congiusti and Nelson were arrested about 3 p.m. Friday with DeCarlo, Byrnes and Snellings at DeCarlo's offices at 1500 E. Tropicana. Stefano was taken into custody in New York.
During the course of the investigation, the complaint said, DeCarlo told the undercover FBI agent that the plan was to inform Bartello, Soranno and Jacobs that they had a choice of either turning over their agencies to the mob or be killed.
DeCarlo reportedly told the agent that he had persuaded Stefano not to kill all three at the same time because it would attract too much attention in Las Vegas.
Sun staff writers Brian Seals, Karen Zekan and Bill Gang contributed to this report.
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