KVBC-TV (Las Vegas) has updated their original news story that I posted here a few days ago. While much of the beginning of this report duplicates the original report, there are some new facts starting about halfway through this post. Therefore, I have italicized the original report, and left the new stuff in a regular font.
The original story can be found here: #reply-12162052
msnbc.com
[PHOTO CAPTION] For eight-years the El Rancho has been shrouded in mystery, but an exclusive News 3 investigation could help remove that cloak of darkness.
The last Las Vegas mystery
Darcy Spears
LAS VEGAS, Dec. 3– To most Las Vegans, the old El Rancho is the eyesore of the strip. Since its doors closed in 1991, the western-themed hotel-casino sits idle, despite the biggest construction boom the city has ever seen.
MANY PEOPLE WONDER why it's empty, who owns it and where's the “Countryland USA” gambling mecca the marquee's been promising for years?
In an exclusive investigation, Darcy Spears has spent four-months digging deeper into those questions.
For eight-years the El Rancho has been shrouded in mystery, but an exclusive News 3 investigation could help remove that cloak of darkness.
For the very first time, News 3 reveals the real story behind the ghostly exterior since the doors closed at El Rancho, the last Las Vegas mystery.
The booming Las Vegas strip has glitz, glamour and of course gambling. But in the midst of it all is a ghost town and many skeletons in the El Rancho's closet.
“It is a shuttered, kind of mysterious operation at a time in which the rest of the strip appears to be prospering and growing and expanding,” says newspaper columnist John L. Smith. “Everyone who passes by, the first thing they think of is, what's that all about?”
NEWS 3'S EXCLUSIVE TOUR
We all know what El Rancho looks like on the outside. But inside, you'll discover cobwebs in every corner, fungus eating up the walls, wallpaper peeling off all over the place and mold eating away the carpet.
“You've got to remember you're the first people seeing this,” says a worker who requested to remain anonymous. “In how long?” asks Darcy Spears. “In eight years that I know of.”
No one's been legally inside the El Rancho since its doors closed in 1991.
We're giving you the first look as we tour the property with workers who've asked us to conceal their identities.
The workers patrol the El Rancho, encountering danger and health hazards around every corner. They invited us inside because of concerns for their health and safety, as well as potential danger to the surrounding area.
“This is where I almost got killed. This here's the keno room and if you look up, you'll see the ceiling tiles are falling down,” says a worker.
The tiles are crashing onto the floor with employees in the line of fire.
“Be careful of this register, that's about 75 pounds and one of them came down and missed me by about two inches.”
Ceilings are caving in, exposing piping with asbestos.
Floors are coming apart. That's not all. There are loose wires.
“They're live. Don't touch them! Don't touch them, please. They will fry you,” says a worker.
The hazards grow even greater as the workers lead the News 3 Investigators deeper into the forsaken building.
The kitchen area is filled with rats and roaches.
Things attracted to ovens and other surfaces are dripping with decay.
“Pick up your shirt and put it over your face if you don't want to breathe the chemicals,” warns a guide.
The fumes were so noxious, they overwhelmed both News 3 photographers.
“Which way is back up to the casino? I just can't handle it anymore,” said News 3 photographer Justin Rush.
After discovering so much danger behind the doors of El Rancho, News 3 showed its video to county officials and it didn't take long before someone came knocking.
WHY DIDN'T ANYONE KNOW?
If you let your house and yard deteriorate into a big cluttered mess, the county would make you clean it up. So why has the old eyesore been sitting on the strip for so long in such crummy shape?
There's stagnant water, deadly spiders and strangers who attack workers.
“A man hit him from over here with a bat... kept pummeling him, knocked his teeth out, split his head wide open,” says a worker.
Could county leaders know what's going on inside the El Rancho? We got a group together including representatives from the county commission, fire department, building and safety, public response and the health district.
It's their job to oversee conditions like the ones we just showed you. We show them our video and ask if they see anything wrong.
“Clearly, things were going on there that nobody was aware of,” said Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams.
“What I saw in some of those rooms, that wouldn't pass,” said Lonnie Empey of the Clark County Environmental Health Department.
“I assure you that we're gonna take action,” said one official.
Some agencies say they keep an eye on El Rancho, but not to the extent we have. The fire department sent an inspector when we first told them we'd been inside. What did he find?
“Could I please ask you to turn the camera off because I cannot answer that question,” said Clark County Fire Inspector Royce Leonard.
[SIDEBAR] ‘We will check out all of these concerns.' —Kathy Zegorske Fire Department
Perhaps he couldn't answer the question because he told his chief nothing was wrong except for a few burned out bulbs in exit signs.
After seeing our video, the fire department agreed they should take a closer look.
“We will check out all of these concerns and get into those areas that he wasn't into and make sure that if there are any hazards that they'll be required to have them cleaned up,” said Kathy Zegorske of the fire department.
Brian Woodward of Schirmer Engineering also saw the video. He's an independent fire safety expert who has his own concerns.
“Common sense dictates it should not be like that,” he said.
OFFICIALS TAKE ACTION
The morning after watching our tape, county cars clogged the El Rancho entrance. Even OSHA sent two inspectors, after refusing to join the group watching our tape.
“OSHA should've been involved a long time ago,” said Lonnie Empey.
The county officials indeed found electrical and chemical hazards, blocked exits and building flaws.
Now they may take steps to shut down the El Rancho. Yes, shut down. Believe it or not, El Rancho is operational. New slot machines and refurbished rooms are inside the dark hotel-casino. So what's going on?
“My gut feeling is, looking at this, somebody's making some money and it's not the Clark County Health District or Clark County,” said a county official.
Some of the county's inspection reports now show nearly four dozen fire and safety violations they found inside El Rancho. They warn the owners in writing that any repair or construction activity will be under scrutiny.
WHO'S MAKING MONEY?
It's the 64-thousand-dollar question– a question locals and tourists have been asking for eight long years– what's going on with the El Rancho? Why hasn't it been sold or imploded? The News 3 investigators spent the last four months finding answers.
Darcy Spears explains those answers may lie with the property's controversial owners.
Everyone who walks by El Rancho wonders who's holding on to it and why?
Sources inside the El Rancho who News 3 spoke with exclusively claim questionable characters and investment techniques are the reasons why nothing's been done with the place.
Federal agents are now investigating some Las Vegans who are closely tied to El Rancho's tangled web of ownership.
EL RANCHO PAST AND PRESENT
When it comes to progress on the Vegas strip, what goes up, must come down.
We've seen the Dunes turn to dust, the Sands go up in smoke and the Landmark get leveled.
Many locals, including Review-Journal Columnist John L. Smith wonder why this place hasn't met the same fate.
“This is strictly opinion, obviously,” he says, “But I mean, it's an eyesore. I don't know whether it violates codes of any kind, but it certainly has the look of an abandoned building.”
But in fact, El Rancho is anything but empty.
We know, because we walked through the front doors of the old hotel-casino in August at the invitation of some workers who asked us to conceal their identities. Inside, we saw two different worlds: One, a property falling apart. The other, a seeming renaissance, with renovated rooms, new poker tables, and shiny slots on loan from Bally Gaming.
“And that also creates speculation that there's something else going on at the El Rancho,” says Smith.
One of those speculating is our anonymous source, who claims he's seen plenty of potential investors inside.
“I think the property's being sold over and over,” he says.
John L. Smith points out, “Let's face it, on Wall Street, one of the biggest stories of the last five years was casino stock. So you would think that there would be ample speculators out there who would be interested in investing in a casino.
So why hasn't the El Rancho been developed in the last eight years? Like the spiders we saw spinning traps for unwary prey, the answer may lie in its tangled web of ownership.
It starts with Ed Torres, the original owner and close friend of noted mob boss Meyer Lansky.
“It was one of those places that opened and seemed under-capitalized and never really, really got off the ground and ran into financial problems,” says Smith.
So in 1991, Torres sold the property to Las Vegas Entertainment Network, or LVEN, a company currently being investigated by the securities and exchange commission and NASDAQ for a possible stock scam.
LVEN teamed up with a New Jersey racetrack operation called ITB, International Thoroughbred Breeders, itself also currently under the SEC's microscope.
Together they created “Countryland, USA,” a western-themed resort casino “coming soon” to the strip.
“Anytime that you've got a property that's closed and a group comes up with an idea to create two huge cowboy boots that are hotel towers, then you certainly have a place that's going to be full of character,” says Smith.
Perhaps a place full of characters with shady pasts, like Robert Brennan, who was once a major shareholder in ITB busted by the feds in a major investment scam.
That forced Brennan to turn over ITB's reigns to Nunzio Desantis, a controversial self-made millionaire from New Mexico, and his partner, Tony Coelho, a former U.S. representative who resigned from Congress during an investigation into questionable campaign finances. Coelho is the same man now running Al Gore's campaign for president.
Coelho and Desantis recently resigned from ITB in the wake of a lawsuit by company shareholders who alleged both were secretly lining their pockets with company assets.
“It's clear that from the history of the thoroughbred breeders that some of the officers of that corporation have been white-collar criminals of huge repute,” says Smith.
Then there's Las Vegas doctor Fred Cruz, a podiatrist apparently trying to get his foot in the door of the El Rancho.
In June, he filed this document with the SEC, claiming his company, Countryland Wellness Resorts, is “in the process of concluding the purchase of the El Rancho Hotel and Casino.”
ITB, which still owns the property, says that's not true, denying any dealings with Cruz.
Ad there may be good reason. Cruz lost his license to practice medicine after being convicted of four counts of grand theft.
On top of that, the SEC is also looking into Cruz for potentially making false statements to the federal government.
We went to El Rancho looking for answers from property manager ken school.
“What do you want?” asked a woman at the door.
“We want to talk to you or Ken Scholl for a story we're doing on what's going on inside the El Rancho,” replied Darcy Spears.
“No.”
“No? Why not? Where's Ken Scholl?” asked Darcy.
“When you have mystery owners or owners who appear to be the owner on paper but they're not so proud to be the owner that they want to give interviews, it tells you something, it raises suspicion,” says Smith.
It didn't raise suspicions with the Clark County Planning Commission.
A few months ago, it granted El Rancho a three-year extension on their use permit because the owners say they need more time to raise money to finance construction of Countryland U.S.A.
“Where's the proof they're actually trying to get it financed at all?” Darcy asked the Planning Commission Chairman Kirby Trumbo at a recent group interview with county leaders.
“I don't believe we're obligated to investigate whether they're a viable operation or not,” he answered.
“What would stimulate somebody to start asking questions?” asked Darcy.
“This!” he said.
And while Las Vegas waits for the county to investigate, many wonder whether anything will ever be done with the El Rancho, but they aren't holding their breath.
“I haven't purchased my tickets to the show yet. I'm deciding to withhold judgment but I'm not purchasing my tickets to the Countryland show,” says Smith.
There is one man who says the show may go on– a wealthy businessman who says he plans to make a genuine offer to purchase this place in the next few months. He wouldn't go on camera for fear that potential partners or investors would associate him with El Rancho's shady ownership. But the El Rancho story doesn't end here.
Our News 3 investigation is expanding as national television and print news magazines are planning stories surrounding two of El Rancho's past owners, particularly Tony Coelho, Al Gore's campaign manager.
News 3's investigation will also continue.
KJC |
