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Larry Flynt's Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- George Knapp CBS / Magazine publisher Larry Flynt, known for his outrageous antics and courtroom battles, has been a serious Las Vegas gambler for decades. But now he has established a business beachhead in town. Flynt's company opened the Hustler Las Vegas Club, a sprawling adult nightclub said to be the largest in the country. But the boss appears to have even bigger plans for the community.

Flynt has been a part of the gaming industry for a long time as a major player -- a whale -- not as a casino owner. But it sounds like he wants to invest in a casino in Las Vegas when the time is right. In the meantime, he has a lot on his plate, including his standing as a champion of the Bill of Rights, especially the First Amendment, which is why some have labeled him a modern day Thomas Paine. Could there be a more natural fit than Las Vegas and Larry Flynt -- both focused on sex and gambling? For Flynt, sex is how he earned his estimated $400 million fortune and gambling is what he likes to do with his dough. "The only reason I'm there is I love to gamble. I don't do much mountain climbing or water skiing, you know," he said. The joke is a sly reference to his physical state -- paralyzed from the waist down after a sniper shot him outside a courthouse years ago. Flynt has been a Las Vegas regular since the 1970's. His games are poker and blackjack. But in September, he added another reason for coming to town. His Hustler Las Vegas Club, a $30 million testament to sex and decadence might be the largest and most expensive gentleman's club in the world. It is an erotic events center, as he calls it, with room for 600 topless dancers. Attached to the club is a Hustler store, a supermarket of sorts for adult toys and Hustler merchandise. "They are complementary to Las Vegas, and vice versa. I have been wanting to open there for some time," he said. The interview with Flynt took place in his opulent office in Beverly Hills, California. It is hard to miss the sleek black building sitting atop some of the most expensive real estate anywhere. Flynt owns the building. It is the headquarters not only for his flagship magazine, Hustler, but also for his 30 other businesses, including other publications, apparel, a California casino, and the most profitable venture of all, adult videos. "I am the single biggest provider of adult content to satellite, cable TV, in the world. We go in 60 different countries and when you see an adult film on one of those max channels and you order it up, chances are it's one of mine," he said. The huge profits from porn have allowed Flynt to diversify. The Las Vegas Hustler Club is the 25th in his chain, but what he really wants to build in Nevada is a casino, though he says the timing just isn't right. "I thought for now, the club would make the most sense and maybe later we'll see what we can do with it," he said. Flynt believes he would have no trouble getting licensed. His only felony conviction was overturned. It was the case that set him on the path to perhaps becoming the single greatest defender of the First Amendment in all of American history. "I think you have to stand in a courtroom and listen to a judge sentence you to 25 years in prison before you realize that freedom of expression is something that can no longer be taken for granted," he said. "I spent millions, went to prison a number of times, been in and out of so many courtrooms." Ohio prosecutors called it organized crime because Flynt conspired with his staff to produce Hustler, which they considered obscene. Flynt fought back and won, pulling outrageous courtroom stunts along the way, many of which were immortalized in a movie about his life. Although it is unlikely he is what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they crafted the Bill of Rights, Flynt's libel battle with Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell over a satirical cartoon led to the United States Supreme Court's most important First Amendment ruling of the 20th century. It solidified protections for all media. "People must understand what has kept the First Amendment intact for over 200 years -- it's always the fringe cases. It's always the Larry Flynt's of the world that are fighting those battles, you know. Because the fat cats don't fight those battles," he said. "You can't always sue somebody because you hurt their feelings or their dog's feelings (or) the wife's. The case I won provides that protection." Flynt became an authority on the First Amendment by necessity, but he uses it not only as a shield, but as a sword, and has been on a rampage against scandal plagued politicians. "I don't have any problems with moral values. If they work for you and your family, then whatever. I just have a problem when they try and impose them on other people," he said. There's no question Flynt is politically astute. He's bagged more big name politicians than anyone and it sounds like he has no intention of slowing down. Flynt has made it an art form to root out public officials who are fooling around, but not run of the mill adulterers. He primarily goes after the hypocrites -- those who preach about values but practice something else. During the Bill Clinton impeachment push, Flynt first offered $1 million to anyone who had evidence of improprieties by members of Congress, and the floodgates opened. Among the casualties was the newly elected Speaker of the House Bob Livingston. Flynt found evidence of three separate affairs and Livingston resigned, saying he'd been "Flynted," a brand new verb. "He did an interview with the New York Times the day he resigned and they asked him, 'What do you think of Larry Flynt,' and he said, 'He's a bottom feeder.' So the Times called me for a comment and I said, 'Yeah, that's fine. But look what I found when I got down there,'" he said. More Congressmen were embarrassed by Flynt's dirt digging, including Henry Hyde and Bob Barr. Of more recent vintage, Flynt takes credit for breaking the story about Idaho Senator Larry Craig in the airport bathroom and Louisiana Senator David Vitter's fondness for prostitute's. "These wingnuts scare the hell out of me, you know. They got a Bible in one hand and a hooker in the other hand and you never know where they're coming from," he said. Flynt says his investigators had been looking at Nevada's John Ensign and his C Street roommates when the story of Ensign's affair came spilling out. "We don't use anything to expose somebody's sex life just to expose it. If you recall Ensign in Vegas, you have this holier-than-thou attitude -- you are above reproach. But really, you are scum. He was having an affair with his manager's wife? How low can you get," said Flynt. Is it fair that he mostly seems to target Republicans when there are surely Democrats with their own skeletons? "The conventional wisdom in Washington is if there is a scandal, if there's a Republican, it's money and if there's a Democrat, it's sex. But it is the complete opposite. If it's sex it's a Republican, if it's money it's a Democrat," he said. "If I can affect a little political change by getting one of them rotten apples out of there, I just like to do it." And if a mob lawyer named Oscar Goodman can become mayor of Las Vegas, what about a porn publisher? Flynt ran for president as a Republican, and then for California governor as a Democrat. Now that he's built a business here in Las Vegas, might he set his sights on City Hall? The remark about running for mayor came at the end of the interview, and he said it with a twinkle in his eye, implying that if his friend Oscar Goodman could run and win, why not him? Flynt says he acquired the little black book of the infamous D.C. Madam and it is loaded with leads for his investigators to track down. So chances are good we will hear a lot more from him, especially if he ends up moving here, which he would need to do if he ever gets serious about running for mayor. Flynt can be a profane guy, as we know, but also at times, profound. He is a world class character who should be right at home here. KLAS Las Vegas Stephen Jackson | Online News Editor www.8NewsNOW.com | KLAS-TV