San Diego- Attorneys for three San Diego city councilmen yesterday accused the government of “outrageous misconduct” in the City Hall corruption case, saying that authorities improperly used an undercover vice detective and an FBI spy to “manufacture” a case against the public officials.
Councilmen Ralph Inzunza, Charles Lewis and Michael Zucchet – charged with accepting money to repeal the no-touch rule at strip clubs – were in favor of abolishing the rule only because they were led to believe vice detectives wanted them to do so, according to a defense motion.

The federal government duped the councilmen by enlisting San Diego vice Detective Russ Bristol and a longtime FBI spy to convince the trio that the vice unit would rather be fighting crime than enforcing no-touch rules at strip clubs, the defense lawyers contend. The councilmen would not have sought the change if they thought the vice unit would object, the motion said.

“The totality of this investigation was an alleged crime created by and catalyzed by the United States government,” according to the motion, written by Michael Pancer, Frank Ragen and Jerry Coughlan on behalf of Inzunza, Lewis and Zucchet, respectively. “In order to assist their investigation, the FBI attempted to manufacture conduct where none otherwise would have existed.”

The motion asks that the government be compelled to turn over additional evidence relating to Bristol and the FBI spy, which would later be used as the basis for another defense motion to dismiss the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat declined to comment, saying he had not seen the motion.

The defense provided the Union-Tribune yesterday with an advance copy of the motion, which has been submitted to but not officially filed with the court. The defense missed the pre-motion filing deadline and is asking the judge for a hearing on the motion.

An Aug. 28 grand jury indictment charges that Las Vegas resident Michael Galardi, owner of the Cheetahs strip clubs, manager John D’Intino and Lance Malone, a Galardi lobbyist, participated in a plan to repeal the no-touch rule at strip clubs by giving thousands of dollars to the three councilmen.

The ordinance the strip-club operators allegedly sought to change was passed by the City Council in October 2000.

It prohibits touching between partially clad dancers and patrons. The rule essentially outlawed table and lap dancing, which are performances that involve touching, and generate more money for clubs and dancers.

The indictment also said that Galardi, D’Intino and Malone paid Bristol, the undercover San Diego vice detective, who they believed was on the take, for advance notice of police inspections at Cheetahs in Kearny Mesa. Bristol was actually working with the FBI.

Lawyers for the councilmen have said that any payments the councilmen received were legally reported as campaign contributions. The councilmen and Malone have pleaded not guilty; Galardi and D’Intino have pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the others.

The FBI’s mole is Tony Montagna, a longtime FBI spy who befriended Galardi, Malone and D’Intino and eventually became director of security for the clubs, sources have said.

Montagna is not named in court documents and is referred to in the indictment as a cooperating witness. He recorded hundreds of hours of conversations by wearing a hidden device known as a body wire.

Montagna has declined to comment; Bristol has ignored repeated calls spanning several months seeking comment on his part in the investigation.

The lawyers’ motion says Inzunza was “philosophically supportive of loosening regulations in San Diego nightclubs.” Zucchet was “working on ridding his district of certain unsightly strip clubs” and was willing to repeal the no-touch rule if he could get support for shutting down them down. And Lewis wanted more officers on the streets because crime was a problem in his district.

The motion said that after Zucchet was told of Bristol’s assertion that vice wanted the no-touching law repealed, the councilman contacted the head of the vice unit, Lt. Bob Kanaski, “to determine vice’s position.” In that meeting, Kanaski told Zucchet that vice would not support the repeal.

But Bristol and Montagna managed to convince the councilman, through Malone, that Bristol spoke for the way officers really felt, and Kanaski did not, the motion said.

A court hearing on other motions, but not this one, is scheduled for Thursday.