Las Vegas- A ten-year FBI investigation into the Crazy Horse Too adult nightclub is over. A deal was reached Wednesday between the club and federal prosecutors, and it will avoid a lengthy trial for 18 defendants.

Late Tuesday night, a fax was sent to the U.S. Attorney’s office. It was a plea bargain signed by Crazy Horse Too owner Rick Rizzolo [pictured]. Other targets in this decade long investigation signed and faxed their own agreements Wednesday, bringing to an end one of the most intensive federal investigations in Las Vegas history. As in any plea agreement, both sides had to give.

Tony Sgro, Rizzolo’s attorney, said, “There’s a huge benefit that exists when you don’t have to wake up every single day and deal with what does the government want from me today?”

Defense attorney Tony Sgro says he didn’t talk his client Rick Rizzolo into cutting a deal with government prosecutors, but after eight months of intense negotiations, he, his client, and the government believe this agreement is best for everyone involved. It avoids what could be a yearlong trial costing both sides millions of dollars, and it closes the book on a tumultuous era in the local adult nightclub industry.

Rizzolo signed his copy of the agreement Tuesday night. The other defendants sent their copies into the government by Wednesday afternoon. Some will argue the deal is too tough. Others will say it’s not tough enough. Sgro says he did what he felt was in the best interests of his client.

Sgro said, “The government has told us there’s 800 hours of tape, video and audio surveillance, in excess of 1,000 witnesses. The jury trial was going to take between four months and a year. Can you imagine having to go to court everyday for a year and what it does to your life and your business?”

At different stages of the FBI probe, allegations surfaced that Rizzolo had ties to Mafia figures and that a pattern of violence and extortion emerged over the years along with credit card fraud, prostitution, drugs, and more. In the end, the case boiled down to tax charges.

The holding company for the Crazy Horse Too will plead guilty to a racketeering count, which calls for a $500,000 fine, another $4.25 million forfeiture to be paid when the club is sold, restitution of $10 million to tourist Kirk Henry who was paralyzed in a fight at the club, $1.7 million in back taxes, and Rizzolo must sell the club within a year.

Rizzolo agreed to get out of the adult business forever and could serve a maximum of 16 months in prison with half of that as house arrest. Sgro says he will ask for probation. For Rizzolo, the deciding factor might have been the government’s promise that it would not indict his father, sister, and brother.

“He was very reluctant but when he did a cost benefit analysis, especially when you throw in his family, he decided this was the way to go,” Sgro said.

Tony Sgro was the principal negotiator on behalf of all the potential defendants, each of who has reportedly agreed to the terms. Most will face lesser penalties than Rizzolo. Two may face harsher sentences. For Sgro, negotiating this deal probably means he will forego the biggest fee he might ever expect to earn from a client, and the biggest case might ever defend, but as he says, that’s his job.

One other point, although Rizzolo has a year to sell the club, if he doesn’t reach a deal within a year, a management company would come in to run the place while he still looks for buyers.