Why no follow-up on the "insurance issue involving Danny Gans and his deal with Encore at Wynn Las Vegas"?

The day after this news organization revealed that editors and reporters at the Las Vegas Review-Journal were deliberately holding back information about what may have caused the death of local superstar Danny Gans at the age of 52, the paper responded with three Gans news items after days without any coverage of the city's biggest mystery in years.

One of the items published Thursday, a one-liner in Norm Clarke's entertainment column, was a teaser that in any other major city with competing newspapers and several local television newsrooms would lead to front page news:

"No one's willing to discuss it, but there's an insurance issue involving Danny Gans and his deal with Encore at Wynn Las Vegas that suggests Gans had concerns about his health."

So why has no one at the Las Vegas Review-Journal or any other Las Vegas media outlet followed up on this bombshell?

Under scrutiny, Las Vegas Review-Journal publishes a third story on the Danny Gans case

After two weeks of patient waiting in the case of the unexplained premature death of Strip superstar Danny Gans, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has gone into Danny Gans overdrive this morning, adding a third story to today's online edition.

The deluge of Gans stories follows two weeks of scrutiny by TabloidBaby.com and our exclusive story posted last night that Review-Journal editors and reporters had good leads and opinions as to what killed Danny Gans at 52, but have failed to pursue or publish.

Now, along with a column addressing suicide rumors and another revealing an "insurance issue... that suggests Gans had concerns about his health," the Review-Journal site features "Coroner awaits facts to reveal cause of Gans' death":

"The mystery of Danny Gans' death remains almost two weeks after he died in his home, leaving rumors to fill the information void.

"Clark County Coroner Mike Murphy has heard the rumors, but doesn't care about rumors.

"He cares about facts, specifically those that are uncovered by the investigators and doctors in his office who are charged with determining the causes of death for the 52-year-old impressionist and thousands of others who die in the county each year.

"'It's kind of a total picture, and that's what we're trying to do, is put all the pieces of the puzzle together,' Murphy said.

"Gans died May 1 at his Henderson home... The coroner's office performed an autopsy the day he died but has not determined his cause of death. The office was awaiting the results of toxicology tests that were sent to an independent lab after the autopsy.

"Murphy wouldn't offer more details about the Gans case...

"The samples are sent to an independent lab for testing, which can take an estimated two to four weeks.

"Once the coroner's office receives the test results, at least two and as many as four forensic pathologists will review them along with the autopsy results and come up with a cause of death, he said.

"That process could take as little as a day, but it could take weeks, especially if more tests are required, he said.

"'The reality is we don't do it within 60 minutes with commercials,' Murphy said."

Results could come this week.

Mike Murphy is not a doctor. According to Steve Miller of Inside Vegas, "In 2003, before the Clark County Commission appointed him coroner, Michael Murphy was a police officer in Kansas City, Missouri and Boulder City, Nevada. He was also the Chief of Police in tiny Mesquite, Nevada, and once worked for the City of Las Vegas Enforcement Division."

Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke revealed last week that his paper had made a deal with Gans' family and manager to publish the Danny Gans autobiography.

Did we force their hand? Las Vegas Review-Journal goes with two Danny Gans items

Hours after we reported exclusively that The Las Vegas Review-Journal is holding back from publishing what its reporters and editors know about the mysterious death of Strip headliner Danny Gans, the paper has run items in two columns addressing at least some of the speculation:

Columnist Mike Weatherford writes that "Gans was 'down in the dumps' before his death";

and

Columnist Norm Clarke writes: "No one's willing to discuss it, but there's an insurance issue involving Danny Gans and his deal with Encore at Wynn Las Vegas that suggests Gans had concerns about his health."

At least one observer finds it intriguing that paper, which has done no reporting on the Gans story, would publish one column, and add a newsy item in another column, two weeks after Gans' death. The observer? Us.

Weatherford's column, which appears to have been sitting in some editor's "in" basket waiting to be plugged into an edition, takes direct aim at the speculation that Gans' death may have been connected in some way to his boss Steve Wynn's decision to book new acts into Gans' theatre only three months into a long term contract.

In fact, it seems to be trying to refute the notion-- in print for the first time-- that Gans committed suicide:

"...David Graham, a personal pastor and golf buddy to the late impressionist, said his friend was 'unusually low in spirits' when they golfed on the day he died.

"But Graham said 'heavens no' to the idea that it had anything to do with the coincidental on-sale announcement for Beyoncé doing four shows at Encore in late July.

"'Gans liked Steve (Wynn) a lot' and Wynn was 'very happy with him,' Graham said.

"Besides, Gans had plenty of time to get used to the notion of big names crowding in. The impressionist's move from The Mirage to Encore was announced on April 17 of last year, and the story in the next day's Review-Journal included this quote from the Wynn Resorts chairman:

"'I'm going to have another four shows at least in that theater,' Wynn said. 'It will take me a while to get up to speed booking them, but that's the goal.'

"Graham, a former golf pro who founded Christian City Church on Las Vegas Boulevard, said he 'doesn't have a clue' about why his friend was so 'down in the dumps.'

But he dismissed published reports of Gans having premonitions about his death, saying the two parted with the usual reminder of their next tee time and that Gans asked his friend to pray for guidance'"about what he wanted to do in the future' beyond the live show...

"'Hotel spokeswoman Jennifer Dunne said... Gans manager Chip Lightman might continue to be involved with the theater..."

Clarke, the main outlet for the Gans camp as it has spun and controlled the story since the the Las Vegas superstar was fond dead in his bed at the age of 52, slipped his item toward the end of this morning's column.


We reported exclusively yesterday that editors and reporters at the Review-Journal believe painkillers may have been involved in Gans' untimely passing, but have held back on reporting or investigating the story.

The autopsy was "inconclusive" and the Las Vegas news media has been content to wait patiently for the weeksit takes for the official toxicology report from the Clark County Coroner.

Until now.

Developing...

Norm Clarke with his girlfriend Cara Roberts, public relations director for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

EXCLUSIVE: Las Vegas Review-Journal won't publish what it knows about the death of Danny Gans

LAS VEGAS -- Call it "The Danny Gans death coverup."

Sources close to the newsroom of the Las Vegas Review-Journal tell TabloidBaby.com tonight that editors and reporters at the newspaper have information that leads them to believe they know what killed the superstar headliner at 52, but they refuse to report or investigate the case-- or even address the speculation and rumors that have spread through this city like bad luck since Gans's manager acknowledged them over the weekend.

"The scuttlebutt in the Review-Journal newsroom is that Danny Gans was addicted to painkillers. The editors and writers all know about it," says one source who has impeccable credentials in the Las Vegas media. "Why aren't they reporting it or investigating it? You know this town."


Gans, a former athlete who once seemed headed to a Major League Baseball career before injury cut it short, underwent shoulder surgery in 2006 and again in November 2008 after he closed his show at the Mirage Hotel and before he opened across the Strip at Steve Wynn's Wynn Las Vegas Hotel and Casino three months ago.

"He had the shoulder operation and they gave him painkillers," says the source. "That's what they're talking about in the Review-Journal newsroom. Did that kill him? Who knows? His heart stopped. He could have had a heart condition he didn't know about."

"PRESCRIPTION BOTTLES"

A separate source tells TabloidBaby.com that paramedics who arrived to find Gans dead in his bedroom in the early hours of May 1st also "found numerous prescription bottles around the bed."

An autopsy did not nail down the cause of Gans' death. Results of toxicology testing by the Clark County Coroner's Office are expected as early as this week.


The speculation and rumors about why the apparently healthy, vital and clean-living musical impressionist died so young and unexpectedly began within hours of the announcement of his death. The Las Vegas news media, however, did not go beyond tributes and spiritual anecdotes about the Born Again Christian entertainer. There was no effort to interview paramedics or go beyond the "official" statements of Gans' boss Steve Wynn, his manager Chip Lightman and longtime friend, KVBC-TV gossip reporter Alicia Jacobs.

None offered any clue as to what could have led to Gans' death.

"ALL THE RUMORS"

It was only after Tabloid Baby interviewed Jacobs on Friday about the speculation that she and Lightman went to Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke to tell him that they knew Gans had been dealing for years with high blood pressure and a family history of heart disease.

It was another line in Saturday's Internet exclusive that resonated most through Las Vegas:

"Lightman acknowledged he has heard 'all the rumors,' but said he is not concerned about what might surface in toxicology tests that could take several weeks before the Clark County Coroner's office releases the results..."

Norm Clarke did not identify "all the rumors."

"It was the dumbest thing," says the source. "No one in this town mentioned the rumors about Danny's death, and it would have stayed quiet if it wasn't for Chip Lightman. He told Norm Clarke he'd 'heard all the rumors.' Next thing the whole town is talking and looking at Danny in a different way."

CLICK HERE TO READ RAY RICHMOND'S COLUMN
ON TABLOIDBABY.COM'S COVERAGE OF THE
DANNY GANS DEATH MYSTERY