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"I remember the glory days of the Palomino. This was once not only the premier strip club in Las Vegas but in the country," says attorney Dominic Gentile, the current landlord of the Palomino. Despite the valet service, especially looking at the banged-up outside of the building, it is hard to believe that now. Though cleaned up and in much better repair on the inside than it has been in decades, the Palomino still has the look of a strip club from another era: old bordello-style nudes on red walls.
Usually calling a place legendary in Las Vegas means it has imploded or been replaced a long time ago. But in the case of the Palomino, along with the wrinkles comes a very special monopoly that Gentile hopes with buzz and marketing can restore the old raunchy club to its former place at the top of the list of tourist destinations, even if it is in a rundown section of North Las Vegas.
"I got into the strip club business by being a landlord, and I got to be the landlord by being a criminal lawyer and I got [the Palomino as well as the land it sits on] as a fee," he explains.
Gentile is one of the best-known lawyers in this city. There are few high-profile cases -- including murder and political corruption - - that happen here in which Gentile's name does not surface. And as a criminal attorney with a serious interest in the 1st Amendment he is a natural choice for clients in the Las Vegas adult entertainment business. "I've been around the adult entertainment industry for 35 years as a lawyer, my entire legal career," Gentile...