Sin City scandal hits home

Atlanta strip club mogul Jack Galardi is making a big name for himself out West, but not in the way one suspects he had in mind.

On May 14, FBI agents and local police raided a San Diego strip club owned by Galardi's son, Michael, as well as two Las-Vegas clubs — one owned by Michael, the other co-owned by father and son. San Diego police also raided the City Hall offices of three council members.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the feds are particularly interested in determining whether payoffs were involved in a 1999 county commission vote not to allow police to travel to Atlanta to find out if the Galardis were subjects of the federal racketeering investigation of the Gold Club. The commission action allowed the Galardis to open their second strip club in metro Las Vegas.

Later, the commissioners now under investigation tried to enact a licensing ordinance that would have blocked a Galardi competitor from opening a new club. Since the probe began last month, one Las Vegas councilman has admitted doing paid consulting work for the Galardis and a former county commissioner has come under suspicion as being a bagman who ferried bribery money to San Diego officials. So far, two former commissioners and at least one current commissioner have been named probe targets in Nevada.

Although Michael Galardi has been formally named as a target of the ongoing investigation, the feds haven't said whether they suspect his father of wrongdoing.

Jack Galardi, whose primary residence is in metro Atlanta, heads a vast adult entertainment empire that includes 11 clubs in Florida, as well as locations in West Virginia and the Carolinas. Locally, his clubs include the Pink Pony, the Gold Rush Showbar, the Crazy Horse Saloon, the Master Gentleman's Club and the Riveria, a 24-hour nightclub.

Jackson Cook, Galardi's longtime Atlanta attorney, declined comment.