Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta Face Their Worst Nightmare as the Culinary Union Takes Center Stage in National Democratic Primary Picture

By: Rich Bergeron

This Saturday Nevada will caucus to determine how many delegates will go to which candidates running as Democrats in the 2020 race for the White House. The most significant political force to weigh in on who should get the ultimate nod on this special day for national politics will be Local 226, The Culinary Union.

This reality is much to the chagrin of a common enemy I share with this particular union, Billionaire Brothers and Sophisticated Scam Artists Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta III. Suddenly the blackjack tables are turned in Las Vegas. It used to be the Fertittas wielding power over the union, refusing to acknowledge stringent efforts to unionize their casino chain. Station Casinos, AKA Red Rock Resorts is now losing the fight. The Culinary crew is infiltrating one Station establishment after another.

The Palms Casino, the latest acquisition for Station Casinos, is one of the last bastions of union resistance. The Fertittas already sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into upgrading this casino, and the culinary union fight actually resulted in the threat of financial kickbacks from the government getting jammed up by congressional democrats. Prior to the vote this Saturday, some democratic candidates for president may actually even join the picket line at The Palms and herald the Culinary Union effort to grab another piece of the Fertitta casino empire's pie.  

This is a nasty fight, one that countless union dues have gone toward waging relentlessly over the years since I began investigating the Fertittas for their shady involvement in the Xyience scandal. I've actually personally been interviewed at length by Culinary Union researchers on multiple occasions. Much of the information they put on their anti-Fertitta Web-sites originated with my reporting here and simply expanded on that work. At one point this fight was so fierce that the union resorted to what I saw as a sick and twisted campaign to make fighters in the UFC (also owned by the Fertittas at the time) believe that this same union would step up and stand up for their rights to fair treatment, too. The culinary union put up a Web-site pointing to a potential effort to organize fighters but never really bothered to make any legitimate foray into that realm. It was a bluff I personally blasted in an article on Rant Sports.

Now that the Fertittas are out of the fighting business altogether, I can look at this union a bit more objectively and perhaps forgive them for biting off more than they could chew years ago. After all, their people definitely picked up where I left off with exposing these spoon-fed crooks moonlighting as successful self-made men.

If you wonder just how much this feud is hurting the brothers and their casino investors, consider the moves they've made recently to pump up the stock with personal investments from family trusts and the suggested selling of senior notes to raise $750 million. They are even shopping around property they own to pay down some of the massive debt they've incurred. The fact that this company once again left the veil of private ownership and became a public entity did not stop the managing interests from tainting the brand with their financial tricks.

The Palms project alone comes in at an expense of nearly $1 billion if the cost of the purchase is included. This gamble will really have to pay off, and they will have to pinch every penny moving forward to survive an ongoing battle like this with the likes of the Culinary Union. Only the infusion of their own personal capital staved off a completely negative trend in the Red Rock Resorts stock that saw more investors losing shares than acquiring them last year. That money was not even really all that important to the Fertitta brothers themselves. It was more like a raiding of the piggy bank where they keep the future inheritance their children will enjoy someday. All of the funds came from trusts, not really out of the personal coffers they covet and hide in multiple business entities like "Fertitta Capital" and "Fertitta Enterprises."

The Culinary Union is in this for keeps, and now they are clearly at a tipping point ahead of this caucus. There is no doubt the Fertittas and their friends will be flooding Donald Trump and the rest of his party representatives with donations to stave off a Democrat takeover after the 2020 general election. If the United States decides to elect a Democrat as president, the Fertittas will likely get out of the casino business as fast as they possibly can. The union takeover will be all but inevitable.

Already the pressure is becoming unbearable as there is no stone left unturned in the fight to expose the Fertittas as frauds. At one point Station Casinos was voted by workers as one of the best places to work in Nevada, but these days Culinary folks are alleging that the chain is an unsafe working environment that OSHA should investigate. It's hard not to look back at this very moment on the tumultuous bankruptcy the chain escaped virtually unscathed. Billions of dollars in debt were erased. The amount of money spent on "going big" with The Palms may come back to haunt the company. This is especially true since there is such a focus on art involved in the $690 million overhaul. The Fertittas have not had the best luck in the art world. Frank Fertitta III once bought what was later determined to be a fake Mark Rothko painting. He paid a whopping $7.2 million for the con in the classic case of a swindler who got a taste of his own medicine. Lawsuits helped him recover the money he lost, but it was still an indicator of how the brothers often spend their income recklessly and don't use the best judgment in business decisions.

It is no surprise then that there are rumors that the Fertittas want a way out of the casino business, and they may choose the path of a complete sell-off. Only a few properties would remain under their control in that scenario, namely The Palms and Palace Station. It would also take a monumental effort to do this kind of transaction under public ownership if it doesn't represent an instant and significant benefit for all current investors.

There is also still tremendous buzz about the Fertitta brothers being interested in owning an NFL team, which would likely depend on a major sale like what I described above. Still, I would not offer any odds on that prospect unless they ingratiate themselves with a more wholesome group of partners to make the deal. As is, they are barely suitable to be given a gaming license in any state. Their connection to various cases of corruption, scandal, fraud and abuse of the bankruptcy laws is telling. They cannot run from their history, as this recent Chicago Tribune article explains. The National Football League would be wise to keep them far away from any team ownership position.

As for this weekend's caucus efforts, look for the Culinary Union to take advantage of the spotlight that will be on Las Vegas and Station Casinos on Saturday. Regardless of whether or not the Democrats have any chance to unseat Trump, the Culinary Union will continue to fight for better treatment of their workers. Their momentum is palpable, and their influencing power is potent. For once in their lives, it may actually be time for the Fertitta brothers to play nice and surrender in this war of attrition. They will only hurt themselves and their investors in the long run if they keep butting heads with this growing political force. Financial losses can be recovered, but reputational damage is typically more permanent.

Corporate Raiders of Las Vegas Launching Campaign to Move Oakland Raiders to Sin City; Fertittas Making Slick Moves to Liquidate Assets for NFL Team Purchase

By: Rich Bergeron

As a passionate NFL fan who happens to also have unique insight into the number one mixed martial arts organization on the planet, I'd like this article serve as a formal warning to the National Football League...

The Fertittas owning the Oakland Raiders or having anything to do with that storied franchise, or any other NFL team with such a solid football history will forever taint your organization. To put it bluntly: the brothers Fertitta are bad news, period.

It is a wonder to me that the Fertitta brothers (now through Red Rock Resorts) can still legally hold and profit off a gaming license in the state of Nevada in light of their own HISTORY. Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III are not now, and they never will be... real "team" players. Here are three reasons why:

1.) They are always paying themselves first in every business deal they design, and they will do whatever it takes to create vast wealth off of shady and ruthless business practices.

2.) They have a documented history of abusing the bankruptcy courts to benefit themselves off the backs of hundreds of innocent investors.

3.) The Fertitta ownership of the UFC is a prime example of why they would be the worst possible owners of an NFL team the league could even imagine. UFC fighters are often saddled with egregious contracts that are riddled with complicated performance clauses and other nuances that make it very difficult for them to maximize their earning potential.

These slick Vegas casino baron brothers might be making stadium plans after collecting a boatload of liquid assets through their IPO of Station Casinos, but they are far from suitable owners for a major sports franchise in the NFL.

In their case, NFL ought to stand for "No Frank and Lorenzo."

The Oakland Raiders would be a great fit in Las Vegas, don't get me wrong. I'd love to see that city with an official NFL team, and it would generate local and international interest. I lived in Las Vegas for about two years (thanks in part to the Fertittas and their lawyers), and the city needs something like a big NFL stadium to stimulate the local economy and bring a different demographic to the area to enjoy something other than gambling and showgirls.

The main problem here with the proposed move is the movers. There are plenty of other fair players and sports enthusiasts based in Las Vegas who would be better ambassadors for the sport of football. NFL officials, please beware of these evil-minded brothers who wield an iron fist over the sport of mixed martial arts as it is. Even if they divest themselves from their casinos and the UFC, bringing them onboard the big NFL ownership bus means bringing their whole ugly past with them. It sends a bad message to honest people everywhere...nice guys finish last and greed is great.

The prior business moves and absolute disregard for the people they built their fortunes off the backs of is proof enough of the Fertitta brothers being unfit for NFL ownership. If there is any way to prevent any sale of an NFL team to this brotherhood, NFL officials should take that course of action and seek other investors who are unrelated to the Fertittas and their ugly shadow cast by a history of family corruption and financial scheming. The Oakland Raiders may need a figurative Hail Mary to stay alive in the league, but involving the Fertittas in their franchise as financial backers is like inviting the devil himself to be part of the ownership group. The Oakland Raiders can choose from a multitude of "lesser evils" in Sin City to build the franchise on a new frontier.

As an NFL fan who appreciates the growth of the sport amidst so many challenges like the concussion situation and the criminal tendencies exhibited by so many players in the league, I look at Fertitta ownership of an NFL team as a stain on the sport it will never be able to erase. I consider Fertitta ownership of an NFL team to be a crime against the sport itself.

I sincerely hope the National Football League engages in a due dilligence investigation into the past business dealings of the Fertitta Brothers before they hand Lorenzo and Frank the keys to Raiders Kingdom. Their civil litigation history alone is enough to raise plenty of concerns as to their ability to fairly manage such an undertaking without resorting to their familiar MO of scheming and scamming to line their own pockets. The NFL is rife with enough scandal without the shade these two brothers bring to the collective bargaining table.

IP NO: Station Casinos, AKA Red Rock Resorts (RRR) Not Worth The Investment

By: Rich Bergeron

LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE

Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta were set to make out like bandits, raiding their cash cow corporation once again for a massive amount of funds with a single scheme. The "Red Rock Resorts" IPO was the talk of the town and Wall Street for a little while, but the brothers pulled back at the last second after feeling the shellshock of heavy market losses in late January.

Anyone who might be thinking about investing in this latest Fertitta financial scheme should also pull back.

This IPO debacle is par for the Fertitta course. If you know the real history of the Fertitta family, you know these folks are the type of people who ruthlessly screw over other people to make all their money. From the card tables to the boardroom, the Fertitta brothers have a knack for separating honest people from their savings and fortunes.

The only "offering" the public really gets in buying Red Rock Resorts stock is an offer to help the Fertitta brothers set themselves and their kids up with more voluminous, ridiculous, ludicrous wealth. And at the end of the day, the Fertittas will still run the whole Station Casinos show. And when the Fertittas run the show, history proves that they always pay themselves first.

According to BloodyElbow.com, the main beneficiaries of a Red Rock Resorts IPO would be two generations of the Fertitta family:

"...all net proceeds will go towards reorganizing the corporate structure, including an acquisition of Fertitta Entertainment LLC. It's expected that Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta will each take home $112.5 million while trusts for their six children will receive $53 million. Additional stock sales included in the IPO could net the brothers even more."

Obviously, I have my own reasons for not trusting the Fertittas. They spent an awful lot of money on lawyers trying to prove they had nothing to do with the bogus $25 million suit against me that I successfully defeated over the course of six years of representing myself in their home courts. Yet, at the same time, the injunctions secured against me prevented me from writing the truth at the beginning of that case. That allowed the Fertittas to take Xyience out from under all the honest investors in the company who thought the Fertittas would help the company and set them all up for life once the long-awaited Xyience IPO came around.

Instead of the Fertittas doing the right thing, they used fall guys to take care of themselves and stole Xyience with what the bankruptcy trustee called a "loan to own" scheme. The casino barons simply pumped a little money into their shady acquisition, sat on their stolen nest egg for a few years, and sold the whole operation off to a Texas company for way more than it was worth.

BUYER BEWARE

Wall Street regulators and speculators would also be naive to forget that Station Casinos went public before, only to find a way to allegedly underbid shareholders in reclaiming the brand as a private corporation a few years later. This is not to mention all the other small maneuvers and manipulations pulled off by these casino barons to line their own pockets and take care of their friends and family.

Dig just beneath the surface of the amusement park the Fertittas built over the bodies of their financial kills, and you will find enough skeletons to fill a cemetery. Rather than physical bodies that an "old school" mobster might leave, these new school gangsters leave broken hopes and dreams, other people paying their tabs and countless fighters on the UFC roster who are constantly and consistently underpaid and under-appreciated if they fail to "put on a show." Even banks end up feeling screwed over after agreeing to do business with these brothers and their associates.

The Fertittas and Station Casinos have a lengthy history of being involved in deals that allegedly favor them (and their friends and relatives) only to degrade and devalue their distant or direct partners at the same time. To call them duplicitous is too nice in this context, and to call them devious is also too much of a compliment. Yet, throughout the patterns of their business transactions, they seem to leave a ton of people on the other end feeling cheated, right down to the casino patrons who get comped by management just so they can lose their life savings trying to win back what's already lost. "The house always wins" is a concept that is well known and fabulously executed in the Fertitta family business acumen. Just take a gander at their litigation history:

Lawsuit over 2001 "sweetheart deal" (Station Casinos made $1.7 million on sale to former executive and family friend Blake Sartini):

"Station Casinos failed to negotiate the sale of Southwest Gaming to [Blake] Sartini at arm's length, according to the suit. The company also failed to appoint a committee of independent directors to negotiate the deal or retain a financial valuation expert to determine whether the terms of the sale were fair to the company, the suit said. The board also failed to seek independent, third-party bidders for Southwest Gaming or otherwise shop around the company for the highest possible price, it said."  

Back in 1998, investors accused Station Casinos principals of wasting company assets by paying a $54 million "breakup fee" to Crescent Real Estate Equities. Crescent, owned by billionaire Richard Rainwater, initially agreed to pay $1.7 billion to acquire the locals casino chain, but the deal went sour. The resulting fallout culminated with a federal lawsuit. Instead of getting roughly $18 per share in a buyout by Crescent, Station Casinos investors obviously felt shafted in having to foot the bill for another Fertitta family financial flop.

Station Casinos ended their first stint as a publicly traded company with a $5.77 billion buyout in 2007, which resulted in another slew of investor lawsuits. A few years, and around $6.5 billion in debt accumulation followed before the Fertittas put the chain through a very favorable bankruptcy process. As Donald Trump admitted to doing during his recent presidential run, the Fertittas "took advantage of the laws" in buying the bulk of the company's assets back on the other side of the bankruptcy (with the help of Deutsche Bank) for pennies on the dollar ($772 million).

The bankruptcy process victimized a long list of people (including a Texas Teachers' Pension Fund) who put money on the prospect of the Fertitta brothers building the brand into a bigger entity than their founding father Frank Junior could have ever imagined. Bondholders left in the cold by the massive bankruptcy filing sued, looking back at that 2007 leveraged buyout as the beginning of the end for the company. They filed their claims before the bankruptcy became imminent:

"The ... defendants are not acting gentlemanly,’’ the lawsuit charges. The suit alleges: "The exchange offers unfairly, disloyally and without bondholders’ consent, deny plaintiff and the entire class of similarly situated bondholders the ability to take advantage of the bond tender offers. Plaintiffs’ bond holdings will be subordinated to the newly issued bonds and, as a result, will likely be rendered worthless as the specter of Station Casinos’ insolvency approaches.’’

According to bankruptcy paperwork, the bondholders also made serious accusations that the Fertittas and their partners engaged in insider dealing with the buyout in 2007:

The buyout cost Station Casinos $4.17 billion in costs to purchase stock and incur new debt of $1.6 billion.
The filing says the buyout provided approximately $500 million in payments for insiders, nearly $300 million of which went to the Fertittas, including Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank Fertitta III and brother and Vice Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta. The insiders' ownership stake rose to 25 percent. 

The Xyience bankruptcy suspiciously went down under "Fertitta Enterprises" ownership just before Station Casinos officially declared bankruptcy. It appeared like the Fertittas were testing the waters by casually steering a canoe down the bankruptcy river first, waving on the giant paddleboat to follow.

At some point it seems like this family figured out that making money off their various schemes required having really great lawyers on hand to fight inevitable lawsuits, get around business and financing laws, and avoid the loss of their gaming licenses. After all, associations with criminals or criminal enterprises are supposed to disqualify certain individuals from even being involved in gaming:

Nevada Revised Statutes NRS463.0129 state: “The continued growth and success of gaming is dependent upon public confidence and trust…that gaming is free from criminal and corruptive elements.”

It's hard to believe these brothers could ever be involved in gaming when you consider their involvement in the USA Capital scandal. The former President and COO of that company earned a 12-year prison sentence for fraud perpetrated there. Some of that fraudulent activity allowed the Fertittas to benefit directly through shady loan schemes providing millions in capital to Fertitta Enterprises. Fertitta Enterprises GM Bill Bullard was a gung-ho, pit-boss-type of mover and shaker for USA Capital before Joseph Milanowski's fraud brought the company crashing down. 

According to the Las Vegas Review Journal: "The Fertitta family, founder of Station Casinos in Las Vegas, had $17 million invested in USA Capital and got it all back when one of their attorneys was on the oversight committee...The attorney then resigned from the committee." One scheme Bullard orchestrated prompted lawyers to draw up a diagram to explain it:

   

Bullard was even audacious enough to address company investors and tell them: "The longer this thing goes on (in bankruptcy court), the more the attorneys are going to get paid." 

Deutsche Bank, one of the main partners in the current Station Casinos conglomerate, is also facing recent scrutiny for alleged illegal dealings. The bank agreed last year to pay more than $2 billion in penalties to US and British authorities after admitting to rigging global interest rates. Deutsche Bank is also the subject of two ongoing criminal investigations in the United States. The bank is also facing allegations of supporting the money laundering activities of Russian clients.

On top of all this, the Fertittas willfully supported the violation of federal gaming laws by allowing "Full Tilt Poker" to advertise in association with UFC events. These in-cage and on-screen plugs obviously sent more customers to a Web-site that was not only shut down for operating illegally in the United States, but it was also later determined to be a Ponzi Scheme. The Fertittas, who also pursued online gambling through legal channels in the wake of the poker site crackdown, obviously should have known Full Tilt was always operating outside of federal gambling laws. Ray Bitar, one of the founders of Full Tilt Poker, struck a deal on various charges in 2013 that included bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling. Station Casinos principals and a few of their associates launched "Ultimate Poker" the same year Bitar made that last deal.  

The arrest of Bitar in 2011 also came at a time when the UFC was working on a deal to double down on their sponsorship arrangement with Full Tilt Poker. Reports in the wake of the Full Tilt bust additionally indicated that Station Casinos had their own plans to unite with Full Tilt in anticipation of favorable federal regulation regarding online gaming. Instead, Station Casinos tried and failed to do it themselves with Ultimate Poker. Even as the first and only operator in the niche for a short while, the profits made by Ultimate Poker were scarce, especially since only Nevada residents could legally use the site. 

During the Xyience debacle, the Fertittas also had peculiar connections to people disgraced by a scandal at Global Cash Access. One of the GCA flunkies, Kirk Sanford, ended up being the co-CEO of Xyience during a time when the company's collapse was inevitable. I had a meeting with Sanford and the other co-CEO Adam Frank before UFC 78: Validation in Newark, New Jersey. The two executives authorized full payment for my trip from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to meet with them and talk about the future in New York City just before the event in November of 2007. 

During that fateful sit-down, Sanford consistently maintained that the plan for Xyience was to go "scorched earth" on the investors. He also indicated this was the direction the Fertittas wanted to go with the situation. Throughout the holiday season that year, the supplement company that helped put the UFC on the map laid off multiple employees on the way to a particularly ugly bankruptcy, which was purposely orchestrated by the principals at Fertitta Enterprises. 

THE STATION CASINOS AND UFC UNION FIGHT

The Culinary Union in Las Vegas managed to emerge in recent years as particularly sharp thorns in the side of the Fertittas, thanks in part to their wing of researchers and writers outlining the shady history and strange bedfellows associated with Station Casinos. The union also famously contacted performers scheduled to come to Red Rock Casinos and discouraged them from doing so, among many other public protests and stunts. Now, the union is even trying to shut down the latest Station Casinos IPO attempt.

Their tactics of relentless and expensive campaigns to degrade the opposition begs the question: why would you want to work--even under favorable union conditions--for such underhanded individuals and their manipulative, wheel-greasing friends? I imagine the answer is the same one given by Willie Sutton when someone asked him why he robbed banks: "Because that's where the money is." UFC President Dana White responded to union attacks once by claiming the Station Casinos union deal would represent a $10 million per-year benefit for the culinary union itself.

I even wrote an article myself at one point wondering aloud why the union would squawk so much about the rights of UFC fighters if they weren't doing anything to actually create a fighters' union. Though some recent anti-trust suits against the UFC are working their way through the courts, these are being brought by fighters on the roster. The Culinary attacks on the UFC came out of left field in the context of what they were trying to do with organizing Station Casinos. My article basically asked the union bosses to put up or shut up in a little more nuanced terms. Much to my surprise, the union did make a play to attract interest in the fighter union concept last year, but not much has been done since then to make the dream a reality beyond a Web-site with no recent updates:

The way the UFC brass treats some fighters and the poor pay rate prospects earn leaves too many competitors paying out of their own pockets to compete as professionals. Bills and expenses can bleed a fighter dry of any potential profits, and the lifelong negative effects of the injuries and stress of intense training and physical combat can be debilitating after retirement. The message sent by the UFC to many of their most hard-working young fighters is callous: working hard at your craft is worthless to your bosses if you can't entertain the fans when you step into the cage at an official UFC event. In the old school days of the Wild West, this mentality is the equivalent of the villain making his victim dance by shooting bullets at his feet. It was put on a show or die back then, and it's put on a show or forget about making a decent living now.

DON'T BUY IT!

The Fertittas have become exceedingly talented when it comes to putting on a "show" of their own. They pretend to be honest, upstanding citizens in the public eye while behind the scenes they keep ruining lives as a means of lining their own pockets. The Red Rock Resorts IPO is yet another example of the Fertitta family making it look like they want to help other people make money when it's really their own bottom line they are ultimately and primarily concerned about.

As long as this family is involved as managing partners of this proposed RRR stock, they are free to execute the same scams and schemes they've used in the past to unjustly enrich themselves. My guess, based on years of investigation into Fertitta dealings, is that this family will make sure in the end that they will collect the highest dividends, even if the stock itself ends up being worth less than the paper it's printed on. That's how they roll, and the evidence and history doesn't lie.

Convenient Accident or Cold-Blooded Murder?

"You wanna pull off a brilliant murder, you gotta act like it's an accident. If you do it right, you ain't even gotta be there when it goes down." Jamie Foxx as Dean Jones in Horrible Bosses (2011)

EDITOR'S NOTE: It may be helpful for readers to review a few of our prior reports here, here, and here in order to better understand the history leading up to the events described in this article. 

By: Rich Bergeron

      More than 20 years ago, on the afternoon of November 4th, 1993, Carl Wesley Thomas died after his 1992 Suburban crashed on a gravel-lined stretch of Plush road in Frenchglen, Oregon. According to the official police report (for the full document click on these links to pages 1, 2, and 3), the investigation of the scene indicated the vehicle swerved to the left first, with the two left-side tires leaving the road briefly. 

     Upon swerving back onto the road, Thomas apparently paid dearly for not wearing his seat belt. He was ejected from the vehicle as it rolled over, crushing him underneath it. The report goes on to state that the vehicle rolled again and wound up in a ditch at the side of the road. Thomas was discovered face-down on the road, some 36 feet from where the Suburban ultimately came to rest. 

     The Harney County Sherriff's Office dispatched Officer F.H. Hickey, Jr. to the scene. His report of the accident explained, "The victim received multiple fractures of the right leg, a flailed chest, and head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:15 PM." 

     Whatever Hickey observed that did not end up in the report may forever remain a mystery, because the officer died of a heart attack in 1995. 

      The Sheriff at the time was Dave Glerup, who still holds the position today. I spoke to Glerup last October, just a few weeks shy of the 20th anniversary of the fateful crash. He explained that the scene of the rollover was a rural, remote road which experienced "lots of accidents of this type." He added that the conditions were "kind of treacherous," especially for anyone who was driving while intoxicated. 

     Officer Hickey's report also indicated that a half-ounce of cocaine was found on Thomas along with an empty baggie and a short straw, discovered in his pocket only after the body went to a local funeral home. The records Sheriff Glerup sent me included a Blood Alcohol Report on Thomas from the State Medical Examiner, which came back negative for alcohol. To the sheriff's knowledge, there was never any testing done to determine whether Thomas had any other drugs in his system at the time of the crash.  

    Despite inferences of foul play suggested to him over the years, Sheriff Glerup remains convinced that the cause of death should be classified as accidental. "It's hard to believe this could be anything but an accident," he explained. "I can't picture a homicide where the vehicle actually rolls over him like that." 

   Throughout the decades since the incident, rampant speculation still points to the case as a possible homicide. Adding to the suspicious circumstances involved in the crash is the fact that, just prior to his death, Thomas agreed to provide testimony at a very important meeting with Missouri Gaming officials regarding their inquiry into whether or not they should grant a gaming license to Station Casinos. Just before his death Thomas also reportedly met with Station Casinos officials to discuss his summons to Missouri, and that meeting most likely included Frank Fertitta, Jr. offering counsel to his longtime friend and associate. The crash happened on his trip back to Oregon from the Vegas sitdown, and it guaranteed Thomas would never testify in Missouri. The Fertittas were able to get their Station Casinos license after all with the dead man telling no tales. 

     There was only one condition put on the final approval: Frank Junior could not be part of the Missouri operations of the company. Frank's eldest son Frank Fertitta III, AKA "Frankie Three Sticks," ended up having to hold the reins there in Missouri until the state implicated the company in multiple scandalous incidents detailed further here. Missouri revoked their license and forced Station Casinos to sell their Missouri properties and go back to Vegas where Frank III also eventually had to take over due to his father's questionable past.  

    It's a long story, but it's safe to say Station Casinos would benefit tremendously from the death of Carl Thomas. Though that doesn't make it a sure thing that the crash was somehow orchestrated or caused by an unknown suspect connected to the Fertittas, the family collected a unique type of figurative "insurance" after the "accident."  

     To put things in perspective, Thomas earned a permanent ban from all Nevada casinos in 1990 after being implicated in the massive skimming operation popularized in the 1995 movie Casino, starring Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci. Frank Junior himself was on the fringe of that scandal, and the prevailing Las Vegas legend has Frank taking over Thomas' co-ownership of what later became the first Station Casino property for a lump sum of one single dollar. The forfeiture of his ownership interest reportedly came just before Thomas went to prison for what was supposed to be a 15-year stretch. Thomas served only two of those years according to a report of his death published in the Orlando Sentinel, thanks only to his willingness to cooperate with authorities.

     Frank Junior had connections to multiple casinos in Las Vegas during the heydey of Mafia skimming there. Between his departure from Texas in 1960 and his purchase of "The Casino" with Carl Thomas in 1976, Fertitta went from bellboy to dealer to pit boss to Baccarat manager to general manager at properties including: The Stardust, The Tropicana, The Sahara, Circus Circus, and ultimately The Fremont. "The Casino" later became "The Bingo Palace" which would morph further into Palace Station in 1983, launching what would become a vast "locals casino" empire rivaled only by the Boyd Corporation founded by Sam Boyd. To this day, Station Casinos and Boyd compete as the leaders of this market catering to local Las Vegas residents and casino workers.  

     The jury is still out on how Frank Junior avoided prosecution in the skimming investigations, especially since FBI wiretaps caught him on tape talking about "excess cash" and other veiled references to the skimming repeatedly. A security agent named Harry McBride, who worked under Thomas at the time, also told authorities that there was a "Frank" involved in perpetrating the skimming operation at the Fremont Hotel and Casino. McBride also cooperated with investigators who ultimately turned Thomas as well. McBride testified in a U.S. District Court Case against five members of the skimming ring in 1985. 

      There are no official records I know of regarding any testimony or cooperation on the case offered by Fertitta himself, but I did find one court document in which a name of a witness was redacted, and the person described sounded like Fertitta. My personal theory is that Frank was a secret witness in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Rather than testify in open court, he could have provided background information that helped further the investigation. After all, that might explain why David Helfrey, the chief prosecutor in the 1985 trial cited above, later went to work for Station Casinos in Missouri. If Frank Junior being a snitch sounds too far fetched, consider the fact that Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (played by Robert DeNiro in Casino) died before the fact that he was a government informant leaked out. 

      Another possibility is that Carl Thomas himself could have requested Fertitta be left alone in exchange for his cooperation. Thomas switched sides during the same 1985 trial in which McBride testified. He obviously had some very incriminating and useful evidence for federal prosecutors about all the players, but he certainly could have left Fertitta out of any information he volunteered. The only other alternative explanation for Fertitta avoiding jail time is that he was an extremely lucky man. 

     For more on the investigations into Mob-influenced Vegas skimming at the time, check out this Dennis Griffin blog, which is the first of three chapters on the whole operation. Like most organized crime schemes, the whole enterprise turned out to be very sophisticated. The movie based on the true events is a bit loose with the facts, and it's really only half the story. 

    Harry McBride would later resurface during a 4-year probe of Frank Junior by the Nevada State Gaming Control Board in the lat 80s. If McBride agreed to testify before the Control Board, it could prove that Fertitta lied about his role in the Argent skimming operation when he applied for his gaming license. Thanks in part to McBride's outright animosity toward a commission member, the vast political connections cultivated by Frank Junior, and also possibly the lack of any criminal penalty for not taking the stand, McBride declined to cooperate with the board. He reportedly also did not think any good would come of him testifying. 

     The final decision on the matter came down to a 2-1 vote to take no action against Frank Junior. Just a few years later, in 1993 (the same year Carl Thomas died), Frank Junior passed the empire to his sons Frank III and Lorenzo. Despite Frank Junior giving up official control of Station Casinos, he spent a great deal of time at the very same property he named "The Casino" when he bought it with Carl Thomas in 1976. Though he was no longer officially in charge, workers at Palace Station would often run into Frank Junior making his rounds or eating lunch there right up until his tragic death on the operating table during a heart procedure in late August of 2009.

      Carl Thomas died a tragic, yet convenient death for a Las Vegas family that later saw their power and influence grow exponentially. Even a pre-planned bankruptcy of the whole Station Casinos chain didn't stop the Fertittas from reigning supreme in the locals market and taking a once little known fight league from barbaric side-show to mainstream attraction. Through it all, Lorenzo and Frank III heeded the example of their dearly departed father. Like Frank Junior--who was a prolific political donor in his day--they always grease the wheels whenever and wherever possible. Both Democrats and Republicans benefit from that family tradition, and if paying off the politicos isn't enough to keep their corrupt actions from being shut down, they also continue to keep up their father's habit of buying a ton of advertising in the local papers to keep mainstream reporters from writing too much about their worst transgressions.       

     Beyond Las Vegas, the Fertittas also have contracts with various Indian-run casinos to manage casino complexes across the country. The Fertittas also do consulting work for casinos and stand at the forefront of the online gaming movement. This quiet expansion is nothing new, which is likely why the Harney County Sheriff's Office received requests for the records of the Carl Thomas crash from the Missouri Gaming Commission and the Indiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Section in 1994. Oddly enough, Nevada gaming officials have never requested accident report copies according to Sheriff Glerup.  

    My own investigation of the records leaves more questions than answers. The first question, and perhaps the most important one is: what caused Thomas to swerve when the crash initiated? Even the most comprehensive forensic examination with all the technology we have even today might run into a dead end trying to answer that one. The fact that the crash happened on a gravel road might mean that any tracks of another vehicle that was possibly involved might not be detected by investigators. Another unanswered question is why was there no testing for drugs when Thomas had cocaine in his pocket at the time of his death? Also, how often are passengers ejected from a vehicle that then rolls over them? Though Sheriff Glerup concludes the ejection and rollover makes it most likely the cause of death was accidental, I really don't understand that reasoning. 

     If the straw and the cocaine were both in his pocket at the time of the crash, it seems obvious to me that Thomas wasn't doing the cocaine at the moment of the initial swerve. So, that can't be the cause. If there was any amount of cocaine in his system, it also seems highly unlikely he fell asleep at the wheel. The only valid explanation in my humble opinion is that he was trying not to hit an animal crossing the road (accident), or another person and/or vehicle was responsible (murder or vehicular manslaughter). Since the area was so remote, there would be no witnesses, and law enforcement would take considerable time to arrive on the scene. 

     Rather than pin this down as an accident, I consider this a cold case that should be classified as unsolved with the official cause of death deemed undetermined. Unfortunately for all who wish to know the full truth, this is one case that will never be re-opened. There's absolutely no possible way of finding out exactly what happened, which makes Jamie Foxx's line at the top of this story so relevant to the situation. If it was murder, it was executed flawlessly. If it was actually an accident, there's still not enough evidence to conclude what really caused the rollover. It's a perfect storm of suspicious, but easily explained away facts that could support either side of the debate. Regardless of how he died, though, without Carl Thomas helping Frank Junior get his start, the Fertitta empire might not exist today. In the same breath, it must be said the death of Thomas also helped guarantee the continuation of that empire that might have been stopped in its tracks if Thomas told the truth in front of those Missouri gaming officials. 

      Those who dismiss the conspiracy theories would point to Thomas not implicating Fertitta when it counted back in 1985. Why would he bother to throw Frank Junior under the bus in front of a gaming commission that didn't have the power to throw him in jail for a long time if he didn't cooperate? Doubters would also point out that Fertitta wouldn't have a formal meeting with Thomas if he knew he was going to have him killed on the trip home. The very fact that at least two gaming authorities wanted to see the crash report proves that even the slightest possible inference of a criminal deed sheds a bad light on any gaming license candidate. Why would Frank Junior risk the suspicion that would surely fall on him? I can only surmise that if it was murder, Frank Junior might not be the one who ordered it. If he was running the Fremont skim for the Kansas City mob as the evidence shows, he could have also expanded to Missouri to appease the next generation of the same Kansas City outfit after the original skim bosses went down. 

      A murder for hire operation of this scope and magnitude, leaving no trace of evidence of a homicide, seems more like the work of a trained and experienced killer used to working in the shadows of the underworld. The hit could have been ordered by someone else deep within the organization who stood to benefit from Station Casinos getting a Missouri license, if indeed it was a sophisticated hit. Then again, who had more to gain than Frank and his family? Therefore, you can't forget the words of another "Lefty" from another movie based on a true story. I'm talking about Al Pacino's character in Donnie Brasco. "When they send for you," Lefty said, "You go in alive, you come out dead, and it's your best friend that does it."

     Regardless of the true circumstances surrounding the Carl Thomas crash, it is a mystery that will follow the Fertitta family for eternity. The ghost of Carl Thomas will haunt the family legacy as long as the facts as we know them are passed down from one generation to the next. The cloud of suspicion will never go away even if speculation of any current mob connections to the Fertittas is unfounded. The fact is, the physical Mafia ties may be long gone, but the organized crime mentality still exists thanks to what Frank Junior passed down to his sons. Everything they do may technically be "legal," but there's a good chunk of activity that could be labeled very close to crossing the line into criminal behavior. Even if you can't call it criminal, you can certainly call it corrupt and underhanded. Go back through their history, and you will find one deftly avoided major scandal after another. From Argent to USA Capital to the orchestrated Station Casinos and Xyience bankruptcies to the dirty dealings of Zuffa over the years, it's all a matter of complicating and obfuscating things just enough to avoid serious lawsuits and/or criminal prosecution. It may not be the textbook definition of "crime," but it's definitely organized. 

UFC and Station Casinos Facing New Battles

By: Rich Bergeron

The UFC and Station Casinos have both been making headline news over the past few weeks. The two entities typically keep their operations wholly unique without any major overlap. Yet, in many ways these two companies with brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III at the helm have been suffering from some of the same woes. While the brass at Station Casinos grapple with local Culinary Union workers and a massive National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Complaint against the casino chain, the UFC recently held a fighter summit at Red Rock Casino (A Station Casino property) and announced measures that appear designed to make sure a fighter's union never materializes. The unspoken message to the MMA practitioners in attendance seemed to say to all of them that the one thing UFC definitely doesn't stand for is Union Friendly Company.

As far as Station Casinos and their union troubles, it seems that they literally have no defense in the NLRB case. Casino brass recently brought back two employees fired for union organization efforts in what looks like a clear surrender, potentially opening the door to further appeasement efforts. Culinary Workers Union President Geoconda Arguello-Kline pointed out recently that the "We love Locals" motto of Station Casinos comes across as slick and disingenuous due to how the company's been treating their union-friendly staff over the years. Arguello-Kline explained, “It is truly alarming that a company which claims to love locals has had the federal government step in to ensure that workers are not retaliated against for exercising their rights under federal labor laws.”

Culinary Local 226 has been anything but quiet about their concerns, and their president seems to have a point about the casino chain's company slogan hiding the real issues related to attempts to unionize. After all, the most recent union protest on March 24, 2011 inspired a response from the company that included rolling out a chain of three "We Love Locals" billboard trucks to mask a 1,000-member, two-mile march from union headquarters to Palace Station. 100 of those 1,000 "Locals" were arrested for trying to block the entrance of the casino during the protest.





Whatever happens with the NLRB complaint, it seems highly unlikely that any company executives responsible for the anti-labor climate at Stations will leave their offices in handcuffs. Like the fat cats on Wall Street who saw their companies pay fines their personal, irresponsible behavior inspired, the most culpable company employees at Station Casinos will probably get off with no real punishment at all. Ths is despite the fact that the original 166-count complaint featured charges of threats, intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, bribery, discouragement, discrimination, discipline and even physical assault to thwart workers efforts to form a union. Yet, any resolution of these disturbing issues is most likely to involve the company being forced to pay fines and institute changes that will make it easier for workers to organize without repurcussions and retaliation.

Station Casinos was once labeled as one of the 100 best companies to work for by Fortune Magazine. Yet, despite the union issues and a highly contentious bankruptcy process, the Fertitta brothers remain high on another important list. Both Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta III had no trouble making the Forbes list again this year with both said to be worth around a cool billion. Though they slipped a few spots in the heirarchy of that rich list, the favorable outcome to the bankruptcy put nearly all of their financially-stressed properties back under their control. They even went on a hiring spree and launched a huge giveaway of cars and cash before instituting reorganization plans revealing they might not even end up paying for most of what they gave away to generate business.

It's hard to believe this is the same company that at one point planned to build a $10 billion development featuring three hotels and casinos at the site of the Wild Wild West motel and casino on Tropicana Avenue and Interstate 15. (concept photo at left)

The project also reportedly included a possible plan to place an arena on site. The concept was even championed by a Deutsche Bank official, which is ironic considering that's one of the same institutions now left holding the bag for a great deal of the casino chain's massive debt load. That huge amount of Station Casinos debt that led to the company's bankruptcy was racked up and steadily growing out of control long before the "Viva" resort plans hit the presses. Just acquiring the target land area for the proposed--and now likely doomed--development cost the Fertittas $335 million over a ten-year span.

Considering the completely irresponsible handling of the company's business by the Fertitta Brothers, it's no surprise that their lenders are now challenging the family's buyback of Green Valley Ranch for $500 million, which would eliminate $378 million in debt. It seems to be perfect timing considering the UFC, owned by the same Fertitta brothers, is flying high enough to help out with some of the big ticket buybacks of these highly-distressed properties. The UFC's success has been so pronounced that there was even enough cash flow to buy the next best fight league on the market. To keep the UFC gravy train flowing, though, it's going to take more than the acquisition of a major competitor like Strikeforce.

To really take heed of the lessons learned by Station Casinos' union struggles and bankruptcy, the Fertittas will have to focus more on saving money than spending it when it comes to operating the UFC. Though there is no current fighter union taking shape at this point, some recent decisions made by UFC brass indicate that it's something the organization seems concerned about. It can't help that one of their Strikeforce stars, Nick Diaz, is working on scheduling a boxing match with Jeff Lacy this fall. So, fighter payment is sure to take center stage as a contentious issue that must be dealt with soon if the Fertittas and Dana White intend to avoid the formation of any union.

The UFC took the first step in the union-prevention direction by announcing a new accident insurance offering designed to assist fighters who suffer injuries during training. The news came at a time when the injury bug hit the league square in the face after two marquee fighters (Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard) wound up having to pull out of their main event fight scheduled for UFC 130. Frankie Edgar's broken ribs and Gray Maynard's busted knee will be taken care of under the new plan. Prior to the additional coverage being offered, fighters were only insured by the league for actual fight injuries. Outside of training injuries, fighters will also enjoy benefits if they are involved in non-training accidents that require medical treatment.

Still, other developments in the sport recently seem to point to a potential need for even more coverage for unforseen health circumstances fighters may face. Bryan Baker's proposal to his girlfriend at a Bellator event recently paled in comparison to the news of what he had to fight through to get to that point. A Dave Meltzer report in the wake of the engagement story sweeping the Internet also revealed Baker's battle with Leukemia and how he concealed the cancer diagnosis through three competitive fights. Brock Lesnar's bouts with Diverticulitis are also making waves lately, and the condition led Lesnar to back out of a planned match-up with Junior Dos Santos. Though many reports since the latest TUF coach fight was called off speculate on whether this could lead to Brock's retirement, nobody seems to be asking whether or not the UFC should be helping him with his medical bills. If they expect him to toe the company line in his post-fight speeches and keep him from making any return appearances with the WWE, what's so outrageous about expecting the league to step up and take care of his health woes? Of course, Lesnar might not be the best example since he is such a huge draw and one of the most well-paid fighters in the UFC. He's not likely struggling to pay his outside health insurance premiums, and it's not as if he's forced to turn to Obamacare to get by. Still, if it can happen to a guy like him who's been an athlete nearly all his life and is the picture of fitness, it can really happen to anyone. If the new plan doesn't cover these types of unforseen circumstances, it is probably only a matter of time before that type of insurance will prove essential.

Providing all fighters comprehensive health and dental benefits is just one way to stave off the formultion of any fighter's union. Another method utilized recently by Dana White involves demonizing union efforts and painting the Culinary Union's parent company (UNITE HERE) as the enemy to furthering the acceptance of the sport in a key state. White made headlines recently after calling attention to "union idiots" in New York spending money to oppose MMA's regulation there. UNITE HERE is lobbying against the sport in New York state due to multiple issues unions typically work to address on behalf of their members. A memo, put out by UNITE HERE members and mentioned in the above-linked story, points to problems specifically caused by the "near monopoly" the UFC created by purchasing Strikeforce.

Fighter pay and contract issues do seem to be legitimate reasons for UNITE HERE's opposition to MMA, though the Station Casinos case against the Culinary Union is also clearly an indirect contributor. The UFC and Station Casinos often neglect to keep their businesses from overlapping, so it's no coincidence Red Rock Casino hosted the most recent fighter summit that sought to quell many of the issues calling attention to the potential need for a fighters' union. It's also no coincidence that the same Fertitta brothers who don't seem to want their casinos to become union shops are also concerned enough to make moves that give the impression that they care about their UFC fighters as much as any fighters' union would.

The official UFC response to UNITE HERE's opposition (see above-linked article) cites the many union-friendly companies who are both employed by and benefit from UFC events and business practices. This is the "ultimate" height of hypocrisy that seems to be saying on one hand it's OK to support unions under certain circumstances while on the other hand the UFC brass makes every effort to avoid a fighters' union penetrating the organization and the UFC's majority owners don't even mount a defense to a sweeping civil indictment of their union-busting tactics at Station Casinos.

New York Assemblyman Bob Reilly was already a staunch opponent of MMA's regulation in New York state before hearing Dana White's "union idiots" chatter after UFC 129. Since Reilly admittedly received many donations over the years from various unions, he was obviously offended by White's union bashing and attempts to link the Culinary Union issue to the regulation debate. The fact is, since White's tirade against the Culinary Union the UFC brass seem much more concerned than they ever were before about unions, their power to negotiate, and the concept of losing the battle against union related issues plaguing their organization to the point where a fighters' union becomes inevitable.

One issue also plaguing the UFC of late has nothing to do with unions, but it could prove to be more damaging to the league than contract or insurance issues could ever be. Chael Sonnen's recent indefinite suspension by the California State Athletic Commission calls attention once again to the Steroids issue that cast a pall over other sports like Baseball in recent years. The prosecution of Barry Bonds illustrated that the government takes the issue of lying about steroid use seriously enough to spend more on that case than it has in pursuing many perpetrators of massive fraud on Wall Street. A recent report citing the United States Anti-Doping Agency's criticism of the UFC's drug testing policies raises some serious questions. Situations like Chael Sonnen's pathetic "hyper Gonadism" excuse for injecting 4 times the legal limit of Testosterone before his fight with Anderson Silva would have and should have encouraged a more involved investigation by the UFC itself if they indeed were intent on keeping Steroids out of the league. Instead, it appears that the UFC's casual attitude toward Sonnen's attempt to find a loophole to break the rules forced the CSAC to attempt to right that wrong for them.

Tyler Tygart, chief of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, advocates more stringent testing for steroids, and he points out that the UFC brass is engaging high-powered lawyers to argue against blood testing. The different regulatory bodies in the many locales the UFC travels to often have exclusive rules when it comes to testing for performance enhancing drugs. Some venues allow the UFC to do their own testing, which could create a look-the-other way climate for certain cards. Essentially, the UFC brass could decide to accept or act indifferently to PED use in the name of getting more exciting performances out of their fighters. There are already accusations that cards in Nevada (Where the UFC's parent company Zuffa and Station Casinos are both based) offer far less stringent testing than states like California. It seems that far more fighters who are caught in positive drug tests after fights are nabbed outside of Nevada even though the UFC has gone to great lengths to promote a high number of cards in their home state. Former Nevada State Athletic Commission officials are entrenched in the UFC, including Lorenzo Fertitta, who is one of the company's majority owners and also a former commissioner.

If any major government investigation on PEDs infiltrates UFC fighter circles and takes aim at Nevada in particular, the results could be extremely damaging. Union concerns and fighters like Nick Diaz turning to boxing for a better payday could wind up being small potatoes if that happens. The sad fact is the UFC brass, particularly the Fertittas, are used to both getting their way in their home state and throwing money around to get their way when they need to solve problems away from home. Once a major investigatory agency decides to dig deeper and refuses to allow money to trump justice, all the corrupt and subversive tactics the league's bigwigs have been getting away with could all come crashing down on their heads.

Don't forget the recent busts involving online casino giants like PokerStars.Com, which the UFC's majority owners just made a huge deal with not long after taking over Strikeforce. Strikeforce once counted PokerStars as a major sponsor, and that relationship opened the door for Station Casinos to negotiate an agreement to work together with PokerStars in lobbying efforts to legalize online gambling in Nevada. When government agencies stepped in and took over the online gambling entities, the Fertittas backed off their deal. The fact that the Fertittas didn't get deeply involved enough to be embroiled in the money-laundering and other accusations facing the online casinos was perhaps their first close call in what could be more major legal issues in the future if the next time they don't happen to be so lucky.

Dispatch From The Desert: Xyience Scandal Widens, Prospect of Questions Scrambles Security

Las Vegas and all the grand glory it presents to the world never seem to be enough to impress me. The glitz and glamour, the lights and the noise, all of it is just one giant, monstrous, intricately choreographed sideshow. It's designed at the end of the day to take your hard earned money out of your pocket and hope you waste it on a chance of luck, a chance to spin the wheel and watch it all go bye bye.

There are more than a few people out here on the fringe of the desert who take advantage of that risk taking gene all of us have but so few cultivate and sharpen to a razor point.

I was called a "purported" investigative reporter by a lawyer at my last formal hearing in the case. I decided to show him recently how professional I can really be. I'm digging up more and more dirt as I move along, and it's getting better with each day.

"We love locals" is the motto of the Station Casinos chain just coming through bankruptcy smashingly. The Fertitta family along with the Sartini family own this entity with a company called Colony Capital providing a chunk of huge capital as well.

Colony, owned by Thomas Barrack (at left), and the Ferttittas were the stalking horse bidder in the recent Station Casinos collapse, and for $772 million plus they got their own casinos back with far less debt. The original standpoint had them around $6 billion in debt. The bankrupt it and buy it back strategy worked for Xyience, and bankrupting Station Casinos in the same manner must have felt safe. They had practice.

The fact of the matter is that Xyience is a hole in the desert, and all the old junk of the Fertittas and the UFC is buried down there. I consider this company to have a red-headed step child syndrome, and the culture is to beat that child every time someone isn't looking. The bosses do it, the employees do it, and the owners do it. It happens all the time, so who cares? The shareholders were wiped clean, the creditors are begging for pennies on the dollar, and there's settlement after settlement on the official side of the bankruptcy. The lawyer fees are still likely pretty minimal compared to what they would normally face with more fierce resistance. It's all private as well, so they don't worry about the government butting in.

They TAKE AND THEY TAKE AND THEY TAKE





Now, they're giving away a car a day as part of a Station Casinos promo. I was at a Station casino not long after I arrived in Las Vegas. I was there looking to speak with the President of Xyience, as I heard he was staying there. There was no sign of him, and he wasn't listed under his real name. I did see something interesting while I was there, though. An older gentleman got in a serious argument about charges with the hotel front desk clerk. I was there no longer than 10 minutes when all that happened. I told him to mention the attorney general, and that's when the next front desk lady called me up.

I started to pick apart Xyience and find their flaws from day one, right off the airplane. First there was a cruise around their offices and warehouse facility. Then I arrived in person. Dispatches from within told me what I was doing was working wonders. The staff was meeting about me daily, sometimes having the lawyer down there to discuss it all. The "distraction" I posed was now real, as I was in their backyard suddenly. The judge's stern order in my case that I would have to appear in person for future hearings troubled me. I decided to stay in town and start doing some digging. I wanted to find out what was buried in that Xyience hole in the desert.

When an infected wound starts to get all filled with puss and blood, as disgusting as the act may be you sometimes have to just squeeze the mess out of it. You've got to get the gunk to explode out on the floor, on the wall, all over the damn place. That's what it takes. Fraud is messy, too. You have to squeeze the main players so they will force out the root of the problem. Once you get that nugget of truth and start to run with it, they will start to figure out they are in trouble. Pressing the action and seeking out answers will either result in silence, denial, or lies to cover the tracks. I got silence out of one of the main players I went after.

IS HE IN "THE CLEAR" OR NOT?


Though it seems it is legal to sell some forms of steroids and fighters don't get arrested for testing positive, the legal steroid business still seems pretty shady.

Steroids is a serious issue in fighting. MMA is seemingly sinking to the depths of the WWE with certain leagues allowing steroids to become a major contributing factor to some fighters putting on a good show in the cage. Chael Sonnen's slap on the wrist suspension for testing more than 4 times over the legal limit for testosterone is just the latest in a long line of questionable treatment for athletes who fail their drug tests.

Baseball had Barry Bonds, and he was villified, but MMA athletes don't face the same standard in the eyes of many fans. Sonnen, and others like him, are just expected to serve out their suspensions and come back. Boo birds aside, their returns are nearly certain. Why such a different view for juicers in other sports who are left with albatrosses around their necks for life?

Just don't get caught seems to be the mentality that works in MMA. Even if you do get caught, it's a formality in this day and age. The fight happening in Nevada is also reportedly an incentive to juice since the stringent testing standards in other states have been increasing while Nevada has recently been behind on initiating more involved testing. Still, the Fertittas have not yet been linked to any formal investigation regarding providing or selling steroids. The story unfolding now does link the Fertittas to looking the other way when it comes to such behavior, though.

Balco and Bonds were able to sneak under the radar with so-called "designer" steroids. It's tough to tell if that's what is at play in my own investigation. The subject of the inquiry is a Xyience employee we shall call JV, and it fits because he may not be a varsity player at this point. There's no information he's working with the knowledge of the Fertitta family or with the sanctioning of the Xyience top brass, but there is a ton of information pointing to him being involved in steroid sales.

Still, I know the Fertittas and Xyience brass know at this point that they have a person suspected of steroid sales in their employ. This individual has been reportedly banned from going to Wanderlei Silva's gym here in Vegas. While training there, JV was reportedly speaking to a strength and conditioning coach who was "fired" a couple months ago. I am seeking to speak with that individual before publishing his name, but I know who he is and where he trains now. The investigation will continue so I can figure out whether or not this is any bigger than a couple small town Vegas guys peddling roids at a low level. I'll work in the days ahead to establish what type of steroids are involved, who ese might be involved in the purchase of these steroids, and how resistant they may be to testing.

BONUS AUDIO:

http://bit.ly/gmBUwE

http://bit.ly/gZUMTZ



THE LAWYER AND THE GENERAL MANAGER

The Walrus and The Carpenter Are in Panic Mode.

It's funny how one guy can generate so much buzz. While in Las Vegas I thought it to be pretty important to go after the attorney on the case and the general manager for the Fertitta entity that ran Xyience into the ground to promote the bankruptcy. Gregory Eugene Garman seemed on the very verge of shitting his pants when I emailed the lawyer his home address in a gated community out here. He alerted his local law enforcement and his security in the community thinking I was going to show up at his doorstep. I did the same thing to General Manager of Fertitta Enterprises and Zyen, LLC "Dollar" Bill Bullard. The actual emails confirming this are as follows:


Bill Bullard
to me



show details Feb 15 (5 days ago)

Mr Bergeron,

Be advised as a result of your continued threatening and harassing phone calls to my family I have given your picture and name to security at my residence as well as local authorities. Any attempt to approach my residence or make contact with my family will be met with your arrest.

Sent from my iPhone


===========================





Greg Garman (above) to me:

show details Feb 15 (5 days ago)

Mr. Bergeron, security at my residence and the police department have already been alerted to the threat you pose. Be advised you will be arrested should you attempt to obtain access to my neighborhood.

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 15, 2011, at 3:54 PM, "Rich Bergeron" wrote:

> OK, so you're saying now I have to find out where you live to talk to you? Can't be that hard. I found out where Bill Bullard lives.
>
> I'm not intimidated.
>
> Why is it that all you guys are afraid to answer questions? I think it's classic that ONE GUY can cause this kind of panic when I've made no threats. I'm just talking about questions. Obviously you all have something to hide.
>
> Rich


=========================

Questions put real fear in people trying to hide the truth. As much as people will hide the truth, they hate being asked about it constantly. They're always afraid one mistake will topple the whole operation. One way or another, they think they can make sure all the oysters will be eaten by cabbages and kings:

Follow The Money: The Power & Politics Behind The UFC-Owning Fertitta Family

By: Rich Bergeron

Follow the money. It's a piece of advice many criminal and private investigators are taught as trainees. Once they graduate and get out into the field, they're reminded of the importance of that lesson nearly every day.

Money is the root of all evil to some people, but seemingly not enough when you look at the sad state of affairs in our materialistic world. Greed is a curse on society, and those overcome and driven by it will often take all they can any way they can get it. Corruption and conspiracy couldn't thrive without huge pools of unaccounted-for currency getting lost in the mix. It doesn't matter if it's your money or the next guy's, someone's always getting screwed because the worst scams are kept secret so the right people can profit while the little people always seem to lose the most. From Charles Ponzi to Bernie Madoff, the sophistication levels may have changed, but the core principles of the schemes never have and never will.

Consider the international financial picture. Forget Swiss banks. The Cayman Islands are small potatoes in the global banking power structure. The banking institutions where criminals exclusively keep and/or launder their money are only part of the problem. A worse disaster is wrapped up in the banks and businesses the "black-ops" and "spook" funds are kept for countries all over the world. Hiding money becomes a matter of national security and discretionary spending goes out the window in pursuit of global domination. HERE'S PROOF.

Each time a small scam artist pulls off a minor success, the chances of that criminal's operation growing larger increase exponentially. Scammers grow like weeds in the garden of capitalism. They sprout and grow incessantly, and there isn't enough Round-Up in the universe to exterminate them all. Too many of these small time scammers slip through the cracks. In time, these once tiny weeds become towering trees.

The size of the previous scam must always be much smaller than the latest one in the mind of an ego-driven mastermind of sweeping financial crime. Bent on the same pursuit of power and accumulation of excessive wealth, these type of criminals always crack in the long run, or they just simply piss too many people off. One way or another, justice finds them, or Karma miraculously kicks in. Yet, every now and then these type of masterminds conglomerate, and it takes longer for them to be revealed to the general public for what they really are. They make powerful friends, they contribute to the right political campaigns, they donate to charity, and they pay lots and lots of taxes to keep the government out of their affairs.

The Fertitta Family's money is not so hard to follow. Much of it is now re-invested in their own casino chain that they bought out of bankruptcy. Station Casinos is really only the tip of the iceberg, though. It's what's visible to the naked eye, but it's not the only major family asset.



Anyone remember that Casino that caught on fire a few years ago? The Monte Carlo was all over the news on January 25, 2008 as the facade began smoldering and black smoke poured into the Vegas atmosphere. Lots of YouTube Videos caught the action live.

At the time of the fire the Xyience bankruptcy had just been triggered by Fertitta Enterprises with their chief lien position over the company. I was talking with a Vegas-based investor on the phone that same day, not knowing what I know now about Victoria Partners and the Fertitta investment in MGM.

A Nevada Business Entity Search reveals seven active business entities operating in Nevada bearing the Fertitta name:

1. Fertitta Capital, LLC
2. Fertitta Capital II, LLC
3. Fertitta Colony Partners, LLC
4. Fertitta Enterprises, Inc.
5. Fertitta Gaming, LLC
6. Fertitta Partners, LLC
7. The Frank and Victoria Fertitta Foundation, LTD

There's also one revoked entity: Fertitta Management, LLC.

There's even a trademark out on the name Fertitta in Nevada.

There are additionally so many spin-offs and subsidiaries not under the Fertitta name that the full scale of Fertitta controlled and/or connected assets is virtually impossible to fully quantify. One company not often mentioned or thrown around in the mix is Victoria Partners Limited Partnership. William J. Bullard is the company's registered agent and the officers are listed as Fertitta Enterprises. This is the same family company the Fertittas used to bankrupt Xyience through Zyen, LLC. It's also the same company Frank Fertitta, Jr. served as Chairman of the Board for, even while he was "retired" from Station Casinos and making campaign contributions through Fertitta Enterprises.

MGM filed official SEC paperwork in February, 2010 that clearly lists Victoria Partners as a subsidiary of that massive gaming company. The listing reads: Victoria Partners, dba Monte Carlo Resort and Casino. So, at least on paper it looks like the Fertittas also have a controlling interest in the Monte Carlo. Ironically, just a few days after the ultimate decision by Fertitta Enterprises brass to burn Xyience investors in a figurative sense back in 2008, their other investment was burning for real.

Following the family money further, dating back as far as the late 90s, reveals a number of family trusts in different names, such as the ones listed HERE. The Centris Group paperwork also confirms Frank Junior was at the helm of Fertitta Enterprises for more than a decade with this passage: "Frank J. Fertitta, Jr. serves as chairman of the board of Fertitta Enterprises, Inc., an investment company."

For an investment company, Fertitta Enterprises is a very low profile operation. There's no company internet site, very little news about what the business actually does, and at least a few surreptitiously named and situated entities that fall under the company banner.

Of course the Fertitta ownership of Zuffa, LLC and Gordon Biersch Brewery are also significant. Zuffa, LLC has 13 separate registered Zuffa entities bearing the company label in Nevada alone. A broader national or international search would likely show many more companies owned and/or controlled by the Fertittas or their close associates. A recent re-broadcast of an old UFC card featured the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company all over the UFC mat. Looking up Gordon Biersch in a Nevada Business Entity search also produced interesting results, showing a default status for the company and William J. Bullard as the registered agent.

Further cross-referencing the other companies Bullard is a registered agent for gives you the following businesses:

1. Campione, LLC (Lorenzo Fertitta is a managing member)
2. Export Limited Partnership (Fertitta Enterprises listed as General Partner)
3. Gordon Biersch Brewing Company
4. KB Enterprises (Victoria K. Fertitta is President and Director)
5. Victoria Partners Limited Partnership
6. Zyen, LLC (parent company of Xyience, Inc. and subsidiary of Fertitta Enterprises)

So many companies linked to the Fertittas are mired in scandal, fraud, and/or lawsuits. Station Casinos alone is dealing with a labor union debacle in the midst of their bankruptcy and just settled a huge wage dispute with employees who filed suit against the company. Station Casinos executives basically put the whole casino chain around 6 billion dollars in debt to cause the bankruptcy, blaming the tough economy the whole way through. Now they just happen to be hiring again just a few months after they bought most of the company back in the bankruptcy courts for a song. Why didn't the Fertittas take any flack for tanking and then banking back into their own chain of casinos? Why do these billionaires keep getting bailed out of big trouble?

Even the Gordon Biersch takeover by the Fertittas became hostile when they ran into an executive with some ability to fight back against their fraudulent actions.

William J. Bullard was reported to be one of the central figures in attempts to defraud a former executive of McDonald's named Thomas B. Allin who had invested in the brewing company:

"On Dec. 13, 1997, Allin alleges, he was informed by Bullard that the company's board of directors had determined that the fair-market value of the company was about $12.3 million and that the value of Allin's stock was now $40 a share, or worth $2.2 million less than he paid for it 18 months earlier."

Bullard was also implicated in shady dealings at USA Capital, another company mired in a long bankruptcy process. One of our previous articles here outlines Bullard's alleged involvement in some of the massive fraud perpetrated at the company that at the time of the bankruptcy held over $950 million in "assets." Bullard had the opportunity to speak to an unruly crowd of USA Capital principals according to a piece in the Las Vegas Review Journal, which quoted him:

"The longer this thing goes on (in bankruptcy court), the more the attorneys are going to get paid," Bullard said.

As if all of the above isn't enough to question and investigate further how and why the Fertittas make their money, there's deeper questions that need to be asked. Where do they keep all that money, how do they spend it, and who have they made friends with that keeps them from getting caught in their past swindles?

Meadows Bank is a great place to start. The records for Fertitta Enterprises and the Fertitta family's political donations over the past decade are also worth a look. The Board of Directors at Meadows Bank includes Lorenzo Fertitta, Andre Agassi, Key Reid (Son of Harry Reid), and Las Vegas Media Magnate Brian Greenspun. Timothy Poster is also on the same board and happens to be the same guy who sold The Golden Nugget to another Fertitta (Tillman Fertitta)in 2005. The bank was too late on the scene to be damaged by the housing crisis and just in time to benefit from a new season of bailouts and big spending in Washington. The current Community Bank Legislation funnels billions to institutions including Meadows Bank via the SBA 504 Loan Pool also known as First Mortgage Loan Program or FMLP.

Here are a few interesting articles and links on the Meadows Bank players and their games:

Meadows Bank and the TARP Tax A question of Ethics for Senator Harry Reid

Book excerpts describing Harry Reid's days as Gaming Commissioner.

KEY REID GETS SWEETHEART JOB AFTER REPORT REVEALS RELATIVES OF POLITICIANS WORKING FOR LOBBYING FIRMS

THE REID CONNECTION

With political D-day today: November 2, 2010, it's also no surprise that so many UFC personalities are stumping for Harry Reid to stay in power. It's no surprise the above article also quotes Ross Miller, the guy who oversees all those business entity registrations for the Fertittas and their associates and friends:

"The UFC is one of the most powerful brands in the world for reaching 18- to 30-year-olds," Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller said. "Anytime a candidate gets their endorsement, it sends a powerful message to that demographic."


Follow the money, see who greases what wheels and how, and you begin to realize how corrupt these financial masterminds really are. Though they've left a trail of broken lives and burned investors in the wakes of all their financial scheming, the Fertittas still look slick and smart somehow. They get away with fraud after fraud, one bankruptcy after another only they benefit from, and they just keep patting the politicians who help them on the back and putting money in their campaign coffers.

No matter what your political allegiance may be or where your sympathies lie as far as the big ticket issues go, far too many elected officials abuse their power and influence to serve themselves, their associates, their friends, and/or the people who helped pay for them to get elected. Nobody's keeping an eye out for the average everyday person anymore struggling to pay rent and put food on the table for his family. Politicians are far too busy feeding billionaires more benefits they don't need for kickbacks and consideration or campaign contribution payback.

It really is time for Americans to get more educated and follow the money in their own states and locales to see where it leads. I doubt the Tea Party or any new party of any kind is really the answer. It doesn't really matter who leads us if not enough of us are intelligent and active enough in society to hold our leaders accountable for their actions. Rather than rock the vote, it's time to truly rock the system and radically alter the status quo as far as what we accept from our leaders and our society's systems as a people. Get educated on what the real facts are and don't listen to the repetitive 24-hour news cycle. Dig deeper. Explore and expose what you can in your own neck of the woods. Be conscious of the real everyday problems that surround you, not just the ones CNN or Fox News tells you about.