Naked On The Roof In Vegas
guest blog by Nila Ridings
guest blog by Nila Ridings
I would have made a rotten fiction writer. Just about the time I dreamed up the wildest possible plot, some actual news story would break that wrecked my work of fiction. And Ladies & Gents? It’s happened again and this one’s a whopper. But it’s all true.
This month, the U.S. Attorney is scheduled to go to trial in one of the biggest public corruption cases in history. Thirty crooks have already pleaded guilty. And they’ll be testifying against nine of their former friends in the HOA corruption case. Organized crime involving racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud, election fraud and about fifty other federal charges. There are even some hints about connections with a Mexican drug cartel! The bad guys are police officials, attorneys, politicians, a TV star, well-known public figures.
Now, two of the most prominent politicians in Nevada (who are also under investigation for public corruption) are going to monkey skip right under the limbo pole. “How low can you go? Everybody limbo, now!”
Yep, the Department of Justice has decided it’s not going to prosecute or even investigate Nevada Senators Harry Reid and Mike Lee. One Democrat and one Republican. It apparently doesn’t matter what they did, they’ve been declared off-limits and the FBI has been ordered off the case!
There are lots of honest people in Nevada. I have some very good friends who live in Nevada. But it’s time to let you know, folks, the stench rising from your state is beyond polite description. You folks need to pay attention to the headlines. Your state’s economy is based on tourism and tourists don’t want to get pummeled and robbed. Home buyers don’t want the value of their vacation homes to drop 80 and 90 percent. A lot of Vistana homeowners were made penniless by these criminals.
Get with it, Nevada! Sniff the air!
The biggest corruption investigation in the history of Nevada, and one of the largest criminal investigations in the history of the U.S. Attorney’s Office is in danger of collapsing, with four years and millions of dollars of investigative efforts going down the tubes. The ultimate result will be the U.S. Government totally turning its eyes away from one of the biggest and most vicious frauds in American history.
A massive number of homeowners in the Las Vegas Valley have discovered the assets they thought they’d accumulated in their retirement homes were stolen…by lawyers, politicians, public officials, corrupt Homeowner Association officials.
The feds have known about this scam for years. Nevada law enforcement officials have known about it for at least a decade. 29 HOA officials have already pleaded guilty in exchange for their testimony against the bigwigs who rigged HOA elections with phony board members and funneled millions of dollars into private pockets.
A dozen Nevada bigwigs have been indicted. But their defense attorneys are now claiming they need at least another year to prepare a defense for their clients. They claim they still have millions of pages of testimony to examine.
This is the way Organized Crime works, folks. Stall, stall, stall, let a witness die here and there, some by suicide, some by car accident. Let a few more come down with faulty memories, get a few more federal investigators transferred to cushy assignments in foreign embassies, get some different people elected… and your investigation goes right down the toilet.
Did the feds finally get Al Capone for murder, assault, robbery, kidnapping, smuggling, murder for hire? Naw, they got him for a few income tax violations.
Yep, folks. That’s the way it works. Pray this Nevada judge doesn’t grant defense attorneys a year-long stay.
(link to latest Las Vegas Review Journal story)
By coincidence the celebration of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving begin in the same few hours this year. And I am thankful for all my friends in many faiths… and even those who are skeptics. But you can all have faith in this: I respect you and am thankful for all of you.
Ward Lucas
As you read the Vegas Voice editorial linked below, please keep in mind the massive organized crime and racketeering indictments in Nevada. The Homeowners Association movement in this country is fundamentally corrupt. The basic HOA structure is flawed because it encourages embezzlement, extortion, bribery, and abuse of neighbors. It’s good to see a few public voices here and there expressing concern.
(click here for The Vegas Voice story)
http://www.thevegasvoice.net/articles/the-flip-side-of-hoa-wars-2-it-s-all-about-money-4104.aspx