A Las Vegas man’s bid to be removed from Nevada’s List of Excluded Persons has been delayed by a month.
Nevada Gaming Commission Chair Jennifer Togliatti on Thursday said Francis Citro’s petition for a hearing for removal from the list, known as the “Black Book,” would be reviewed at a Feb. 26 meeting after commissioners indicated they were reluctant to make a decision on a hearing until after they reviewed the reasons Citro was placed on the list in the first place.
Citro’s attorney, Michael Lasher, submitted his request to be removed from the list in November saying Citro, 80, has changed his life since he was placed on the list Nov. 21, 1991.
Lasher, in his 10-page petition, said, “In the decades that have passed, petitioner’s character and reputation have become stellar. He is a reformed man, doing good for his community by charity fundraising as an entertainer.”
But Commissioner Abbi Silver said she was reluctant to make a decision on conducting a hearing until learning details about why Citro was placed on the list.
Citro is the first person ever to petition the commission for removal from the list and regulators and the attorney general’s office didn’t provide any materials from the 1991 hearing when Citro was listed.
Citro, one of 37 persons on the list of people who are banned from entering any of the state’s largest casinos, was convicted of four felonies and was listed for having an unsavory reputation detrimental to the state’s largest industry.
In the 1991 hearing, commissioners cited a guilty plea Aug. 18, 1980, to extortion in U.S. District Court in Nevada; a guilty plea on July 31, 1987, to conspiracy to use counterfeit credit cards, also in Nevada District Court; and a Feb. 3, 1986, conviction for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in U.S. District Court of the Central District of California. He served a two-year prison sentence and was placed on probation.
Commission staff or attorneys are expected to provide a transcript from the 1991 meeting and commissioners will consider whether he’s still a danger to the gaming industry.
Because a decision on whether to conduct a hearing was required within 90 days of the petition filing, Citro had to consent to waiving the 90-day deadline. Lasher consulted with Citro during a break in the meeting and he agreed to the waiver.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.