A man known to be a pimp in Las Vegas, has been charged with 20 felonies, including beating and suffocating a prostitute for over an hour because she attempted to quit working for him, as reported by the Huffington Post.
The victim claims that her face was covered with a wet towel when she was suffocated; and that the experience was akin to being "water boarded."
The bail for A.Z., 28, was set at $460,000. His attorney, Ben Nadig, said that his client won't post bail and will be fighting all of the charges. Nadig commented, "There is a wide difference between what has been charged and what is true."
A.Z. is facing kidnapping, pandering, living from the earnings of a prostitute, battery, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, extortion and coercion charges.
A.Z.'s mother attended court, in a motorized wheelchair, watching and listening as Justice of the Peace Cynthia Cruz set the bail amount. Justice Cruz also told A.Z. that if he were to attempt to make bail he would have to prove to the court that the funds came from legitimate sources.
Before he was arrested, A.Z. told the Las Vegas police that he earned a living as a casino host.
On May 15 A.Z. has been ordered to the Clark County District Court – facing separate criminal charges in which he allegedly attacked a man that he had hired to film a music video.
In that case A.Z. pleaded guilty last October to a reduced charge of attempted battery with substantial bodily harm. The plea arrangement would have warranted probation over jail time.
Marc Schifalacqua, the prosecutor in the earlier case, said that he will now seek to withdraw the plea deal. It had been ordered by the state court judge that if A.Z. is freed in the pandering case he is to be held – without bail – pending his sentencing.
Justice Cruz scheduled a preliminary hearing for May 20 in the new case. However, Schifalacqua has served notice that the prosecution may not decide to take the case to a grand jury. The move to the grand jury may make the evidence hearing unlikely.
If convicted on the kidnapping charge A.Z. could be given a lifetime prison sentence. The other charges, if found guilty, could result in a decades-long prison sentence.
Other charges incurred have to do with an allegation of pandering and living off the earnings of three women.
In the attack charge the victim stated that for a full hour A.Z. threatened, choked, beat and cut her. The attack concluded after A.Z. allegedly held the victim under water – both hot and then cold – and then wrapped her face in a towel. According the victim she felt as if she was drowning and A.Z. had to slap her to keep her from fainting.
The victim finally agreed to A.Z.'s demands to get him to stop: she was to tattoo his name onto her her neck. However, once in the tattoo parlor, the victim texted her mother and told her that A.Z. was trying to kill her. The mother alerted the police.
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