Sunday 07-19-09   

Tuesday  07-21-09

Norm took the day off

'Mafia Princess' planning museum

The "Mafia Princess" is moving to Las Vegas to help open a mob-themed exhibit.

Antoinette Giancana, daughter of murdered Chicago mob chief Sam Giancana, was in Las Vegas over the weekend for meetings with backers of the museum, which is planned for a Strip location. It would compete with a $50 million downtown mob museum being pushed by Mayor Oscar Goodman.

She's partnering with local investors Jay Bloom and Charlie Sandefur, who reportedly are in negotiations with Strip properties for their venue.

"There would be tremendous foot traffic," she said by phone Tuesday. "I think it's going to be dynamite. Jeez," she paused, adding, "I shouldn't use that word."

Her 1984 book was titled "Mafia Princess," as was the 1986 made-for-TV movie that starred Susan Lucci as Giancana and Tony Curtis as her father.

Las Vegas was part of her father's territory, and she's excited about "following in the shadow of his footsteps."

Giancana, 74, said she's moving here this summer to take a hands-on role in the project.

Her father, who controlled Chicago in the late 1950s and 1960s, was killed at his Chicago home June 19, 1975, four days before her birthday.

While the name of Las Vegas hit man Tony Spilotro has come up as a suspect, her No. 1 suspect, she said, remains the CIA.

She's convinced the CIA wanted to silence her father. She co-wrote the 2005 book "JFK and Sam: The Connection Between the Giancana and Kennedy Assassinations," which made the case that her father ordered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Giancana arrived with two beefy bodyguards for a business dinner Saturday at Capo's on West Sahara Avenue. She has asked Capo's owner Nico Santucci, a Chicago native, to design the Giancana room for the exhibit, which will include the same furniture that was in the family home the night her father was killed while frying Italian sausage and peppers.

"Sam would love this joint," she told Santucci, who opened the Italian steakhouse at 5675 W. Sahara Ave. this year. It's patterned after a Chicago speakeasy with photographs of mob icons and members of the Rat Pack.

The exhibit is "going to be a first," Giancana said. Bloom, she said, is "bringing in millions of dollars (worth of stuff) from various different (crime) families that have never, ever been seen" by the public.

JACKSON UPDATE

Following up on leads, Los Angeles investigators probing Michael Jackson's death were in Las Vegas on Monday to interview physicians and personnel at medical facilities, according to Fox News.

The Fox report said the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery and Homicide Division, along with several field agents from the Los Angeles Drug Enforcement Administration office, were focusing on information that at least one drug believed to have contributed to Jackson's death June 25 originated in Las Vegas.

Jackson's personal physician, Conrad Murray, who has had a practice here, has come under scrutiny in the case.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas is being mentioned as an option as opposition grows to having Jackson's Neverland Ranch turned into a Graceland-like memorial.

Bob Field, former Santa Ynez Valley Planning Advisory Committee chairman, is proposing that Neverland Ranch be dismantled and moved to Las Vegas.

Building a memorial on the current site "would take five or 10 years," Field told USA Today. "And I wouldn't bet that it would get approved. ... (In Las Vegas) the infrastructure's there. Picture what they've built on the Strip. This is easy."

The Scene And Heard

Rumblings out of Orange County, Calif., have Fred Glusman selling out his share of the Ritz restaurant in Newport Beach and moving back to Las Vegas, where he owns Piero's Italian Cuisine.

Sightings

Former NBA star Isiah Thomas, with former coach George Raveling and friends Tuesday at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab (Forum Shops at Caesars). ... Hugh Hefner, drawing a sheep with a smoking pipe in its mouth on the wall of Holly Madison's dressing room during his visit Saturday to "Peepshow." She plays "Bo Peep" in the burlesque show. ... Miko Brando, longtime friend and former bodyguard to Jackson, working his iPhone incessantly while dining on the patio at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab.

Book peeks inside world of Sinatra

Frank Sinatra's Las Vegas days come alive in "Jilly -- Sinatra's Right-Hand Man."

The new book about Jilly Rizzo, Sinatra's longtime friend and confidant, offers a rare glimpse inside Sinatra's inner circle by dozens of insiders, including numerous Las Vegans.

Author Scott Nollen and Rizzo's son, Las Vegas resident William "Willie" Rizzo, who participated in the book project with his brother Joseph, are appearing at the Bootlegger Bistro, 7700 Las Vegas Blvd., at 5 tonight for a book signing and media availability session.

Local vocalists will entertain with Sinatra songs from 5-9 p.m.

Jilly Rizzo, an ex-bootlegger and jazz lover who owned a popular New York City nightspot, officially met Sinatra at the Copacabana sometime after Sinatra saw the big man in action as a bouncer. They hit it off, and Rizzo spent much of the 1960s and 1970s at Sinatra's side, often as his protector.

Rizzo died in an automobile accident in 1992, on his 75th birthday, in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He is buried near Sinatra in the Desert Memorial Park in Palm Springs, Calif.

The book is loaded with remembrances, from Sinatra pals Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, who toured with Sinatra, to Sinatra's musical director Vincent Falcone, Sinatra security guard "Uncle Frank" Potenza (Jimmy Kimmel's uncle) and Cleto Escobedo Sr., former head butler at Caesars Palace, now a member of Kimmel's band.

JACKSON BENEFIT

Local entertainers are stepping up for the Michael Jackson benefit tribute Aug. 29.

So far, commitments have come in from "Jersey Boys," "Ultimate Manilow: The Hits," "Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular," "Peepshow," "The Lion King" and Human Nature, among others.

Tickets go on sale Saturday for the event, which is being held at The Pearl, the Palms' concert venue on what would have been Jackson's 51st birthday. Ticket prices start at $29. They can be purchased through Ticketmaster and the Palms box office. All of the proceeds are going to the Clark County Public Education Foundation, specifically earmarked for music education programs.

'TODAY' ON THE WAY

Natalie Morales and Amy Robach of NBC's "Today" show will be broadcasting live from Pure nightclub in Caesars Palace on July 30. They'll be joined by Flamingo headliners Donny and Marie Osmond.

According to NBC's news release, Morales and Robach will also become special agents for a day in "Vegas' popular Stiletto Spy School."

"Popular" Stiletto Spy School?

Apparently, it's one of those under-the-radar Vegas attractions. I checked the Web site, and it says you can enroll in "Mission Las Vegas" for $3,650, which includes "spy girl training" for a business group, a birthday bash or a bachelorette looking for "something out of the ordinary."

Enrollees must use their wiles to avoid "enemy agents." Training includes "advanced seduction skills" and learning how to handle all kinds of firearms, from Glock pistols to Uzis and M16s.

The Scene And Heard

Wednesday was a big day for Las Vegas entertainer Nelson Sardelli. While in New York City to see his daughter, Giovanna Sardelli, direct the off-Broadway play "Wildflower," the proud father was browsing in a bookstore when he spotted an old friend on the cover of a new book. He opened up Vic Damone's "Singing Was the Easy Part," and among the acknowledgments was Sardelli's name, along with Lawrence, Steve Wynn and Carroll Shelby. ... Ray Jarvis, a singing sensation with the Folies Bergere at the Tropicana in the 1960s, will be remembered Sunday during Wes Winters' tribute concert at the Clark County Library on Flamingo. The show starts at 2 p.m.

Sightings

Eva Longoria Parker in Las Vegas on Tuesday, with Bobby Baldwin, CityCenter's president and CEO, and others. She was in town to discuss her restaurant, Beso, which opens at CityCenter in December. ... Stevie Wonder, singing "Happy Birthday" by telephone to Flamingo headliner George Wallace during Tuesday's show. Another highlight: comedy magician Nathan Burton performed a trick that started with a showgirl in a pink bustier walking into a dressing room area on stage. In an instant, Burton "transformed" the showgirl into Donny Osmond, who was wearing the bustier.

Friday 07-24-09

Nightclub trouble is far from over

First Pure, now Privé. Look for another domino to fall this weekend.

The once-raging nightclub industry in Las Vegas is getting the equivalent of a cold shower.

The Internal Revenue Service sent the first message with its raid 17 months ago of local nightclub kingpin Pure Management Group.

The crackdown continued Thursday when Planet Hollywood Resort paid a $500,000 fine to the Nevada Gaming Commission and the Clark County Business License Department denied its nightclub, Privé, a liquor license.

Privé, which opened in late 2007 in the former Curve space, must close by Tuesday. Its ultralounge, the Living Room, also owned by The Opium Group of Miami Beach, must cease operations by midnight July 30.

There have been rumblings this week that Wolfgang Puck's Chinois could be closing as soon as this weekend, which would force its second-floor tenant, Poetry nightclub, to shut down.

Meanwhile, rumors continue to fly that a blowup between Steve Wynn and Victor Drai, who has been operating Wynn's clubs Tryst and XS, could result in Drai's exit as a managing partner this year.

Drai also has restaurant deals with Wynn that might involve buyouts.

The raid at Pure involved allegations of unreported income. The IRS has not announced results of the investigation.

According to the Business License Department, Privé and its lounge failed to uphold county code requirements.

They were cited for violations ranging from allowing topless and lewd activity to take place to stalling or interfering with agents conducting inspections at the venues.

MOON GLOW

Las Vegas Country Club resident Fred Peters missed the party 40 years ago, but not this time.

He's in Houston today for the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 splashdown.

The longtime Las Vegan was a project engineer for the Apollo space program and later the Skylab and space shuttle eras.

Peters, who was living in New York City at the time of the splashdown, was among an elite group invited back to Houston for the anniversary party.

As one proud spectator at the New York ticker tape parade after Apollo 11's success, he recalls being knee deep in the stuff.

"What was even more impressive was the night we landed on the moon," he said.

The city had set up a huge TV screen in Central Park, and it was a rainy night. "In spite of the rain, all those blasé New Yorkers filled up the park."

May I Recommend...

Starting today, the Palms pool deck will be covered for Kandy Vegas, a three-day, ladies-in-lingerie extravaganza with top DJs, a Snoop Dogg concert Saturday and a Miss Sunset Tan swimsuit pageant Saturday and Sunday. Men are to wear all white. It's being filmed for Season 3 of the "Sunset Tan" reality show. ... Melissa Rycroft of ABC's "The Bachelor" and "Dancing with the Stars" hosts Saturday at Azure, the pool venue at Palazzo. She makes her appearance on the blue carpet about 1:15 p.m. ... NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus is at Field of Dreams at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, for autographs and photos, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. today and noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Sightings

Mel Gibson, taking in Blue Man Group (Venetian) on Wednesday and Pole Position Raceway on Thursday. ... Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, with a large party at "O" (Bellagio) on Wednesday. ... At N9NE Steakhouse (Palms) on Wednesday: Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart and Utah Jazz standout Deron Williams, in separate parties.

Order Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales

Norm Clarke's newest book, Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales ($12.95, Stephens Press, February 2008), dishes up a feast from Sin City's Ace Insider on celeb's club hopping, spending sprees, outrageous behavior, feuds and meltdowns, and the best (and worst) tippers.