When we last left off, the burning question was, would Burgess bite and lead us to Cary?
The answer, in short, is no.
[Read more…] about Cary Sayegh — Part III — Target: Jerald Burgess / Mission: Not Accomplished
Archives for February 2020
Cary Sayegh Part II: Golden or Missed Opportunity?
The Federal Case Is Opened
In mid-2000, FBI agent Henry Schlumpf, with whom I had worked a major case – the Harrah’s casino robbery – came to me with a cold case; an atypical federal matter. Major police departments have squads dedicated to pursuing investigations which remain unsolved years after the crime is committed, but this was new to me.
I never asked whose idea it was, but Henry had spent considerable time going through old files from what he described as the biggest case in Las Vegas history, in terms of resources dedicated to it. He came to me, in my capacity as the Violent Crime Chief, and asked me to approve the use of, and payment to, a confidential informant (“CI”) referred to only by a code name: Baxter.
The AUSA sign off is largely a formality, as long as the prosecutors trust the agent. I trusted Henry. We had worked together on a major case that involved a criminal enterprise by Los Angeles Crips and Bloods. who terrorized casinos and banks for two years before we sent the leaders/organizers away and stopped it cold.
He gave me the rundown. 22 years earlier, when I was still in law school, Sol Sayegh was a Vegas millionaire-businessman. In the fall of 1978, he had also been indicted by Organized Strike Force prosecutor Lawrence Leavitt in a political corruption case. Sayegh had allegedly tried to bribe the head of the Nevada Gaming Commission, future Majority Leader of the U.S Senate Harry Reid.
The case was major news in Las Vegas, and Sayegh had retained mob lawyer and future Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman to represent him.
Enter Jerald Burgess
In 1978, Sol Sayegh had a 6 year old son named Cary.
[Read more…] about Cary Sayegh Part II: Golden or Missed Opportunity?