1999-2010

Friday, June 05, 2009

Down Charleston Blvd: The only Las Vegas journalist doing his job in the Danny Gans case is an anonymous blogger who puts the paid hacks to shame


Living in Las Vegas, it would be nice to open up the morning paper, pull the weekly "alternative" paper out of the box, switch on the TV news or even turn to Twitter to find the latest on the story that everyone in town is interested in, has been affected by and has an opinion about.

Unfortunately, in the case of the mysterious death of entertainer Danny Gans on May 1st, the supposedly competitive members of the news media have circled the wagons, gone to the mattresses and deliberately, offensively ignored the story, avoided investigation, allowed Gans' close friend to whitewash the details and agreed as one to wait patiently as a controversial coroner takes his sweet time coming up with an answer to what killed the supposedly strong performer at 52.

No one in Las Vegas is tackling the biggest story to hit Sin City in this young century (think about the ties to the Las Vegas economy, construction, water supply, tourism and the growing evangelical powerbase).

No one, that is, but a man with a blog called Down Charleston Blvd.

We first got in touch with the mysterious web journo in the early days of our own investigation. Down Charleston Blvd went farther on a limb than any other source, suggesting that Gans may possibly have been murdered.

FindAGrave.com

His recent posting, dated on the one-month anniversary of Gans' untimely death, is the type of story we'd expect to see in a newspaper or alt-weekly-- if today's crop of "alt-weaklies" lived up to the name. Some excerpts from Danny Gans Mystery Runs Deep:

One Month Later…

The mystery continues to grow larger, and as rumors are quashed or lose ground, new ones spawn from this dark uncertainty. Due to the fact that news and details are extremely scarce; Rumors, rumblings, and things that were overheard are sprouting up like weeds...

People want to know what happened, and when there are contradictions, and strange/odd things happening it only makes the mystery grow larger, deeper, and gives it life.

We all know everyone has a side of themselves that most rarely see. Often a darker side.


Gans is well know as a man of unflinching faith and conviction, passionate about performing, and even more passionate about his fans. A charitable celeb that didn’t donate for the publicity, a father, a husband, a friend, and said to be the best at all three.


As much as we want to believe that there were no dark secrets, no drugs, steroids, affairs, and so on; That he (Gans) just died of something unforeseen, something perhaps related to high blood pressure. You’d think we would have found that out by now if that was the case. You’d think….


We have received many requests to address some of the more possible and/or popular rumors that have been circulating. Since Gans had many fans across the world and details are scarce outside of Vegas... heck, they are even scarce here if you read the Las Vegas Review Journal or Las Vegas Sun (both owned by the same company by the way)

Did Danny Gans Kill Himself intentionally, accidentally?

You have a friend/pastor saying he was depressed, down in the dumps the day he died. Yet you have his family saying he wasn’t depressed. Danny’s religious faith was deep, in one way this knocks down the suicide theory but if his image was just a long ongoing front... drastic things can become the result...


Did Danny overdose, have a bad reaction to Drugs and/or Steroids?

...It has been speculated that Gans may have used steroids to help overcome the injuries while playing baseball and may have been using to keep up his act as he got older. Whether it has been all these years, occasionally, or just recently has been debated amongst insiders.

...Last year, The Albany County District attorney David Soares launched a probe that indicated performers Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Timbaland, Wyclef Jean and actor Tyler Perry had allegedly ordered steroids or human growth hormone from doctors and pharmacists targeted in Soares’ investigation.

Was Gans using and did his heart become so weakened that he died or could have their been another similar reaction? or did he perhaps take too much? We contacted the Clark County Coroner’s office about this directly, and asked about rumors that there were marks on Gans’s body possibly indicating ‘track marks’ – or that needles were used by Mr. Gans. The coroner’s office denied these rumors...


Friends and associates have been said to believe that Gans was hiding his usage of steroids, and noted his facial characteristics changing as it took effect on him.


One Friend we spoke with shared an awkward moment he had with Gans when he told Danny that his head was getting big. “He (Gans) took it figuratively he said, but I meant literally." he went on to say “I can’t say for sure if he took any kind of drugs or steroids and I honestly think if he did, very and I mean very few people knew about it; All I noticed was the change in appearance as others have, for me it was the size of his head increasing..."

As more and more rumors point to Gan’s using steroids, at this stage it seems to be the strongest theory as to what may have caused Gans to suddenly die at age 52.

Talks of murder dim, but lingering

The rumors of Gans being murdered haven’t completely diminished here in Sin City. They have only altered and shifted in possible details.


At first people thinking money being the factor, now have gone more towards rumors of Gan’s having an affair. The woman rumored that Gans was possibly having an affair with? Why Alicia Jacobs of course.


...in the exclusive interview with Tabloid Baby (here) Alicia said in response to the rumors of her and Gans having a relationship

“No. Oh my gosh, no,”
“We were just very great friends.”


But you have a few out there saying something was odd about them. Those ‘few’ people have said that when seen together, they looked like a couple, or at least Alicia made it appear that way. “It was obvious how incredibly charmed she was by him” said one source. One source going as far as to call her “Gan’s biggest groupie." The rumor of them having an affair has stuck around especially when Alicia shared her story about Gan’s giving her a bible, inscribing it, and how she cherished it every night. Plus other comments and Television appearances she has made seem to only add fuel to the rumor...


As we reported early on, this appears to be the weaker rumor that still happens to be floating.
Although Metro (LVMPD) has stated that they do not suspect foul play, a Metro source told us that “This early in the game, Metro will say that, even if they do suspect it. I know it’s not ruled out at this point"

So where are the Feds in all this?

...At the time of this posting, the FBI had not gotten back to us.


So we wait… As irritation, and suspicion grow fiercer and it becomes clear that the delay in the Toxicology Results do not fit the time frame of other reports on other cases here in Las Vegas. Fans of Danny Gans along with writers/journalist (who are actually touching the story) share the frustration and anger. I’m sure even Mr. Gans’ family are eager themselves to find out. This mystery begs to be closed but something about it indicates that we may be far from it…

****

And there you have it. Pretty simple, really. A local journalist serves his readers, engages them in a dialogue and responds to their questions, chases down rumours that have swept through the Ls Vegas area like bad luck.

Bravo, Down Charleston Blvd.


Shame on Tom "McCloud" Mitchell (above), Steve "Comp Queen" Friess (left) and every other paid newsman or newswoman who's avoided this case or participated in the coverup, whitewashing and image-burnishing.

NOTE: An FBI source told Tabloid Baby two weeks ago that the FBI is not involved in the Danny Gans case.


Developing...

7 comments:

Your Worst Effing Nightmare said...

wow. you just keep shuffling around the same sand in the same sandbox with the same information and the same results. Why haven't YOU broken into the coroner's office, grabbed a sample and tested it? Cuz all the reckless, baseless speculation in the world isn't going to actually result in learning anything new. But gosh, you don't seem to mind recirculating the same dirty toilet water as if you're advancing something. Then again, if you think this is the most important, biggest story of the young century for Las Vegas, then that kind of shows everyone what you think matters versus what actually matters. The city's economy has collapsed and the water supply is disappearing. These are things that actually impact real people. So what kind of a fucked up wacko thinks that this death is the most important story by any conceivable measure?

Anonymous said...

I don't think you're Tabloid Baby's worst effing nightmare.

I think Tabloid Baby is YOUR worst effing nightmare.

Do your job, suckup.

And sign your name next time!

Your Worst Effing Nightmare said...

see? no real answer to how this is a substantively more important story than ANY OTHER THIS DECADE. just more whining. "Baby" -- that IS appropriate after all!!!

Michael Moore said...

The death of Danny Gans is connected to every one of those stories YWEN mentioned: Gans was crucial to the city's economy. He was attracting and recruiting evangelicals to the South Las Vegas megachurch. He was nailed as one of the region's biggest water wasters. The real question is why the local fourth estate is tiptoeing around the story.

Your Worst Effing Nightmare said...

hey blabby: before you ask others to state their names on your silly site, how 'bout ya stop pretending you're other people on your own comments section? Just a thought, loser.

R-J Guy said...

The contraction "'bout" and the word "loser" reveal Your Worst Effing Nightmare to be the Steve Friess bumchum who was pretending to be me. Got ya!
And go Tabloid Baby.

Great job!

Signed
R-J Guy (NOT anyone from Tabloid Baby)

Anonymous said...

Go TB, show them how it's done