\nBy JOHN L. SMITH
\n\tLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
\n\tA good crowd of family members and friends turned out Friday morning at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Mustang Avenue for the funeral of former Metro Intelligence Bureau Commander Kent Clifford.<\/p>\n
\tBefore the service, retired officers met, shook hands and renewed their acquaintances in a brief reunion of some of the department\u2019s old war horses. Many of the retired cops present had worked for Clifford on Metro\u2019s narcotics and mob squads at a most dangerous time in Las Vegas history.<\/p>\n
\tA police department honor guard gave respect and gravity to the scene, and two of Clifford\u2019s children offered emotional and moving tributes to their father. He had played an important role in the lives of his family members and fellow officers.<\/p>\n
\tIt was a fitting tribute to a most dedicated and deserving man, who died last week after a difficult battle with Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease. A decorated Vietnam War veteran who was awarded the Silver Star, Clifford was a dedicated family man and devout Mormon.<\/p>\n
\tAs I looked around the solemn room, representatives of every casino in this community were absent. Hundreds of local business owners failed to pay their respects. That\u2019s too bad because Clifford played an important role in their lives, too.<\/p>\n
\tIt was Clifford and his fellow detectives in Metro Intelligence who help build cases against Chicago mob enforcer Tony Spilotro and his Hole in the Wall Gang of burglars, thugs and killers. Working in tandem with the FBI and other law enforcement, Metro hammered away at Spilotro from the street level.<\/p>\n
\tIn an interview with me late last year while his health was failing, the understated Clifford said simply, \u201cThey were difficult times. The other side played rough, so we played rougher. If they pushed people around, we pushed them around. The ACLU wouldn\u2019t have liked it, but the job had to be done. As far as we were concerned, the future of Las Vegas was at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAnd it was. Although we take for granted the new Las Vegas as a place for legitimate corporate investment, it wasn\u2019t a sure bet in the early 1980s. It reeked of corruption in the police department, local government, and the casino industry. Spilotro came to epitomize the shadow of the underworld in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\tClifford\u2019s metro crew put the Chicago contingent on notice. Some rules were bent, broken and disregarded altogether. But the job got done.<\/p>\n
\tIn one case, it was learned a local hoodlum had beaten up a woman Metro\u2019s detectives had spoken with. Clifford didn\u2019t wait for the social workers to arrive. He handled the duty himself.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhen I learned he\u2019d beat up a woman, I found him and kicked the **** out of him,\u201d Clifford said. \u201cHe protested, and I hit him some more. He didn\u2019t like it, but the message was delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAfter two Metro detectives were involved in the shooting death of another Chicago mob associate, an incensed Spilotro responded by arranging to have the detectives murdered. Clifford found out and settled the dispute personally.<\/p>\n
\tHe flew to Chicago with his longtime narcotics partner Galen Kester as backup. Clifford visited the homes of the leadership of the Chicago Outfit and their Teamsters conduit, Alan Dorfman. The message he delivered that day was clear: \u201cIf anything happens to any of my men, I will come back here and kill each one of them and anything that moves, walks or crawls around their house, including their dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe message was understood. The hit was pulled. Clifford met force with force.<\/p>\n
\tWith his wife, Sandra DeeAnn, at his side, he battled his disease like the quiet warrior he was. He earned his rest.<\/p>\n
\tClifford was the sort of cop Las Vegas needed. Every casino boss and business big shot in this town ought to take a moment to thank him and his men for cleaning up the streets and pulling the city\u2019s reputation as a haven for the mob out of the sewer.<\/p>\n
\tOn Friday, Kent Clifford was buried with honors in a Las Vegas he fought to make a better place to live.<\/p>\n
Posted by:<\/strong> TommyC on January 30, 2014, 2:49 pm<\/p>\n Posted by:<\/strong> Chuco on January 31, 2014, 2:41 am<\/p>\n Posted by:<\/strong> TommyC on January 31, 2014, 2:11 pm<\/p>\n By JOHN L. SMITH LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL A good crowd of family members and friends turned out Friday morning at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Mustang Avenue for the funeral of former Metro Intelligence Bureau Commander…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6886\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\tTommyC<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"