"Did Danny get any of his prescriptions from this company?" Alicia Jacobs asks the tough question about Danny Gans' drugstore

Did Danny Gans get his fatal dose of prescription drugs from the pharmaceutical supply company he partly owned? His longtime close personal friend, the beauty queen-turned-television entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs asked the question on Las Vegas television, and the answer was, “I don’t know.”

Jacobs took control of the story last night after it was reported earlier on her KVBC-TV News that Gans, who'd overdosed on a powerful opiate May 1st, was a minority owner of Green Valley Med, a "healthcare and specialty pharmacy" in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, where Gans had lived. She expanded the story to report that in the first week of June, the Nevada Board of Pharmacies had raided the place and seized “all of Danny’s records.

“They have yet to return them.”

Jacobs said that the company’s owner, Scot Silber, told her off-camera (because he “was not comfortable speaking on camera”) that “there are five investors in the company and that Danny is the second largest owner.”

Referring to Gans as “Danny” and in the present tense throughout, Alicia Jacobs said, “It began back in 2003. Silber owned Green Valley Drug, which Danny frequented. Silber was expanding his business and approached Danny about investment opportunity, which included selling medical supplies and pharmaceuticals.”


And though Jacobs pointed out that Green Valley Med “is not a place to fill prescriptions,” she asked Silber’s attorney, Bob Massi, on camera:

“It begs the question. Danny died of a drug toxicity. Now we find out he has ownership in a pharmaceutical company. Do we know? Did Danny get any of his prescriptions from this company?”

Massi replied:

“Well, I have no personal knowledge if he did. But the fact that any pharmacy would dispense medication doesn’t mean that they did anything wrong. I’m sure through the pharmaceutical board, you could find out whatever information that you want. Certainly.”

Besides letting slip that Gans had multiple prescriptions (something the coroner did not address when he said that Gans, a former athlete who’d had his share of injuries, had died from taking hydromorphone, which is sold as Dilaudid and known as “drugstore heroin") Jacobs also concluded that there is indeed a connection between Gans' case and the Michael Jackson death investigation.

Alleges link to Jacko death probe

Silber, Jacobs said, had considered buying Applied Pharmacy Services, the operation that federal agents had raised in their investigation of Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray.

Martin Singer, attorney for the Gans estate and other related interests, informed Tabloid Baby that Danny Gans had never been treated by or prescribed medication by Dr. Murray, and we issued a retraction to our story suggested that a possible connection be investigated by the Las Vegas news media.

As KVBC’s newscast tease of a “Michael Jackson connection” was far more misleading than the questions we raised, we wonder if KVBC will also be asked to issue a clarification.


As for Alicia Jacobs, it appears she may be attempting to salvage the credibility she squandered in trying in the weeks after Danny Gans’ death to help spin it into something other than the tragedy it was. Some say that fellow Born Again Christians and those, who, like Alicia Jacobs, saw Danny Gans as a religious leader, should have been the first to shout that the fact that he was a human being who’d suffered to the point where he needed medication takes nothing away from the philanthropy and honest values he espoused, or from the brilliant, unique, family-friendly talent he displayed onstage.

Gans family leaves Las Vegas

As Massi added somehwat superfluously in Jacob's report: “I don’t think you could classify Michael Jackson’s way of life with the Danny Gans way of life. That would be a real tragedy. That would be Shakespearean tragedy. Danny Gans was the antithesis of a Michael Jackson. From start to finish.”

Alicia Jacobs revealed that Gans’ ownership in the company has shifted to the Gans family trust, where it remains, and added a footnote that any local reporter and McCloud-imitating editor would find newsworthy: Gans’ wife Julie and her three children have moved out of their estate in Henderson, and “left Las Vegas for good.

“They’ve moved back to Los Angeles.”

Alas, the rest of the Las Vegas news media has yet to pick up on this latest twist in the Gans saga. While the story of the swimsuit-model-in-the-suitcase leads the mainstream agenda, one respected reporter told us that there is more concern about Time magazine’s cover story in which Joel Stein paints Las Vegas as a burnt-out shell “in the deepest crater of the recession.”

We’d hoped that there would be one strong truth-seeking reporter amid the beholden pack in Sin City. We did not expect her to be Alicia Jacobs. We’ll watch what happens next.

Exclusive: Alicia Jacobs speaks to Tabloid Baby about the life and death of her close friend Danny Gans

Alicia Jacobs, the beauty queen-turned-Las Vegas TV entertainment reporter who broke the news of the sudden death of her close friend Danny Gans, says she’ll be “shocked” if toxicological reports show that steroids or drug use were involved. And while she acknowledged a close 13-year friendship with the Vegas headliner who died suddenly last week at 52, she denied that she and Gans were ever romantically involved. 

 We spoke to Alicia Jacobs this afternoon. We’d emailed her a few questions about the case and she asked us to call her because she was “confused” about what we’d been reporting about the Gans case. She said she wanted to talk to us, even though friends had warned of our “mean-spirited” coverage. Alicia Jacobs said she was more concerned that we’d portrayed her “wonderful” 13-year friendship with Gans as “inappropriate.” 

 “We had a wonderful friendship outside of professional circles,” she said. “Danny and I gave each other advice. He gave me advice on my career. He’d make a suggestion about my performance on air, and he was always right... Ten years ago, he helped me through a very difficult period when a close friend had died.” 

 When we asked if the relationship had ever been romantic, Alicia Jacobs sounded to be taken aback. “No. Oh my gosh, no,” she said. “We were just very great friends.” 

 Jacobs acknowledged that the friendship caused her to become a central player in the Gans mystery when it was revealed that Gans’ manager informed her of the death around 4 a.m. on May 1st, minutes after paramedics had arrived at Gans’ home. “Yes, I was the first to break the news,” she said. “I got the call around 4 a.m. I don’t know the exact time because I’d been in the ICU with my father (who was seriously ill). I don’t now if I was his best friend in the local media. He was a very good friend.” 

  Insider 

 She said she thought that local coverage of the death was adequate, and that she herself had reported in the timeline of events leading to the tragedy. She said she was surprised to hear that other Las Vegas journalists had upbraided this news organization for asking questions about Gans’ death (one print journalist for a major daily told us we were “tasteless, shameless and/or crazy and just wrong in every way imaginable”), and said she did her best in reporting her own insider’s story. 

 “Tell me how I could have done my job better,” she said, and not in a confrontational way, for although dubbed The Queen of The Celebrity Scoop by Vegas Magazine, Alicia Jacobs exhibited no brashness, anger or attitude, speaking straightforwardly if guardedly.

   The only time she bristled was when asked why she as an insider didn’t report in advance on Gans’ funeral on Tuesday. “With all due respect, there’s a reason for that,” she said. “You can understand how his family feels. His wife is devastated. Julie is a very private woman and those were her wishes. It was his wishes that his funeral be very low key and private. How could you not respect their wishes? I understand that people want to know what happened, but there will be a more public memorial later this month. Danny was a public figure and a very well known person. His wife is not.” 

  Steroids 

Alicia Jacobs expressed surprise when told that that Vegas insiders we’ve spoken to mentioned the word “steroids” in connection with the case. “It’s my opinion and it’s been my experience that whenever you see a man who’s in great shape with a good physique, you say he’s on steroids,” she said. “You’ve seen it. From Carrot Top on, they all get accused of that. 

 "I can’t imagine that he would have done anything that would be unhealthy because the Danny that I knew was a complete health fanatic. He lived on egg whites and spinach and apples—a much cleaner life than I could lead. He rarely drank a glass of wine, for all I know, he never smoked. I would be really shocked.” 

 And drugs? Danny Gans had undergone various sports-related surgeries in recent years. “I would find it hard to believe that he would (be a drug abuser),” she said. “I can’t imagine how he would be taking pain killers or doing any drugs and function the way that he did. I can’t imagine that he would be able to do what he did. He really was an athlete when he was onstage.” 

 Alive 

Alicia Jacobs spoke knowing that the toxicological report from the Clark County Coroner could reveal something that would tarnish Danny Gans’ image. But she said she doesn’t expect that it will. “Danny was extremely religious and extremely spiritual and it meant a lot to me because it meant a lot to him because God was in his life and he tried to bring it into my life.... he was a very alive person and he was really there for me. And yeah, in a lot of ways he was a spiritual leader for a lot of people. Mainly his good friends.”

Locals play catch-up: Las Vegas newspaper slams Alicia Jacobs for her "reverse bias" in reporting the Danny Gans death case

"I've proven I have ethics,
that I'm a solid reporter
and have never misled viewers.
And I have integrity, which is everything.”

--Danny Gans' close friend, TV reporter Alicia Jacobs

Maybe we’re not crazy for covering the Danny Gans death mystery, after all. The day after the New York Times features the story at the top of its National section, the Las Vegas Review-Journal is starting to catch up. Eighteen days after we brought up the questionable relationship and conflicts of interest involving beauty queen-turned-reporter Alicia Jacobs, the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper has sicced a reporter to take a hard look at her questionable actions over the past few weeks.

In the column "Jacobs’ visibility triggers questions of perception," reporter Steve Bornfeld writes that “KVBC-TV, Channel 3 entertainment correspondent Alicia Jacobs has leapt from mere reporter to marquee attraction recently:

“In February, she toted a puppy to Danny Gans' Encore opening, a controversy climaxing when Bonnie Hunt dissed her on her daytime show. Then the Holly Madison Hoo-Ha… L'Affair Prejean… (and) finally, her closeness to Gans drew her into the story of his tragic death as family friend and source speculating on his health.”

Bornfeld quotes an ivory-tower Sig Gissler ethics type who criticize Jacobs’ spotlight-seeking tendencies, and himself mentions her “frequent bold-face mentions in Norm Clarke's R-J column.


Alicia Jacobs, we pointed out on May 3rd, was the first media figure to be informed of Gans’ death. Gans’ manager Chip Lightman phoned her at four a.m. (according to her and Lightman’s accounts), minutes after paramedics pronounced Gans dead in his home in a Las Vegas suburb. Jacobs spoke openly about her long friendship with Gans, but in the days and weeks to follow, began to orchestrate the coverage, generate the mythmaking. And in the case of her executive producer’s “husband,” was connected with an effort to stop this news organization’s investigation.

"There's a difference between
professional relationships
and personal friendships,
especially one as strongly and
publicly evident as Jacobs and Gans.
...It creates an appearance
of potential bias --
viewers/readers wondering if
a reporter-friend would conceal
unflattering or damaging information."

-- Las Vegas Review-Journal

Most disturbing was the fact that hours after she told Tabloid Baby in an exclusive interview that she had no idea what could have caused Gans' untimely death, she and Lightman went to columnist Norm Clarke to claim they knew he had high blood pressure and a family history of heart trouble.

Writes Bornfeld:

“Bias-in-reverse issues do likewise with Gans stories.

“'Don't I have a chance to do that story before I'm judged?’ Jacobs asks about any post-autopsy follow-ups. ‘Don't I deserve that opportunity?’

“Absolutely. But that misses the point. This isn't necessarily about the reality of the coverage by the end, but the skepticism viewers could bring going in.

“Reporters cultivate connections with sources that require a casual cordiality, but there's a difference between professional relationships and personal friendships, especially one as strongly and publicly evident as Jacobs and Gans. Many news outlets discourage it not because it's a guarantee of biased coverage, but because it creates an appearance of potential bias -- viewers/readers wondering if a reporter-friend would conceal unflattering or damaging information. What a shame to sow doubts over reporting that turns out perfectly balanced.

"'I've proven I have ethics, that I'm a solid reporter and have never misled viewers,’ Jacobs says. ‘And I have integrity, which is everything.’

“Jacobs' journalistic ethics and integrity are not questioned here. Her judgment is.”

Perhaps those among the Las Vegas media who called us “insane” or “crazy” for covering the Gans mystery while everyone else waits patiently—for weeks now— for a coroner’s toxicology report that will pass through many hands before reaching the public—will admit that maybe the Tabloid Baby team isn’t insane after all, but perhaps just quicker. Less lazy. With less concern for politesse. And fewer conflicts of interest.

Review-Journal editor Tom Mitchell blogged of his pride in the LVRJ coverage in the 48 hours following Gans’ death. He must have had second thoughts after seeing a comparison of his paper’s own scant bordering-on-coverup coverage with the work of hungry tabloid journos who know a great story when they see one.

The Danny Gans daisy chain: Steve and Chip and Alicia and Norm and Miles and--

To quote Aretha: Who's zoomin' who? With those closest to the late Las Vegas headliner Danny Gans amending their stories of what they knew about the state of his health when he died in bed on May 1st at the age of 52, and with the relationships among the major media players-- the ones who are parceling out the "official" information, reporting it, and protecting it -- coming into a more clear focus, we're not sure what to to believe.

We've been called conspiracy theorists, and much worse, as we look for answers to what killed this supposedly healthy entertainer, but now, who knows? As the Las Vegas media waits patiently for the "official" report from the Clark County Coroner, did Gans manager Chip Lightman and Gans friend Alicia Jacobs toss up the "high blood pressure" story as a way to explain away drugs they know the toxicology report will list in Gans' system? Why is Norm Clarke of the Las Vegas Review-Journal transcribing whatever they say, only to retract it days later when they tell him something else? Are they and supposed freelancer Steve Friess hiding something more sinister? Are they hiding anything? Was Danny Gans just a good guy with a bad ticker?

We're not saying. We're still trying to keep track of the players, and their connections:


Steve Friess is the Las Vegas freelance reporter and writer (for publications including The New York Times and USA) who went ballistic and began posting obscene insults about us after we asked him why local reporters weren't investigating the events leading to, and speculation regarding the possible cause of Gans' death.


Chip Lightman was Danny Gans' manager for most all of 18 years. He phoned a local TV reporter with news of Gans' death in the early morning hours of May 1st. He's been working the media, while working with hotel-casino magnate Steve Wynn to book acts into Gans' showroom, ever since.


Alicia Jacobs is the woman who got the 4 a.m. phone call from Lightman. She's a beauty queen-turned-television entertainment reporter who boasted a close, 13-year friendship with Danny Gans. She broke the Gans death story on KVBC-TV News.


Norm Clarke is the Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist who often quotes Steve Friess and has run several stories about Alicia Jacobs and Chip Lightman since Gans' death, including their claims that they had no idea what caused the former athlete and "health nut" to pass away prematurely.

On Thursday, Norm Clarke wrote that his paper had entered into a deal with Chip Lightman to publish Gans' autobiography. Today, one day after we interviewed Alicia Jacobs about Danny Gans (and the day after Steve Friess increased his attacks on this news organization), Norm Clarke went online with the exclusive story that Chip Lightman and Alicia Jacobs both knew all along that Danny Gans was a ticking time bomb, with high blood pressure and a family history of "heart problems."

Miles Smith is the executive producer of KVBC-TV News. He is Alicia Jacobs' boss. And he brings us full circle to Steve Friess.

How?


Miles Smith, Alicia Jacobs' boss, is Steve Friess' "husband" (in quotes because Smith and Friess were wed by a rabbi at the Palms Hotel in Las Vegas-- same sex marriage is not legal in Nevada).

(UPDATE: We originally ran a great punchline photo of Steve Friess and Miles Smith in bed together. But Steve Friess has claimed ownership of many photos we've run and demanded we remove them. Mr. Friess, a journalist, has also taken action to have TabloidBaby.com shut down... )

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTO OF STEVE FRIESS LITERALLY IN BED-- UNDER THE COVERS-- WITH KVBC TV NEWS EXECUTIVE PRODUCER MILES SMITH.

Developing...

Fit to print? New York Times report on Danny Gans' death by Dilaudid is penned by compromised comp queen and cover-up conspirator Steve Friess

Eerie: Danny Gans with Elvis on his shoulder (and a monkey on his back?)

Despite the current taste for full disclosure of journalistic conflicts of interest, readers of the New York Times received no such disclaimer on page A22 of yesterday's paper when the report on the Clark County Nevada Coroner's controversial findings in the death of Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans came with the byline of Steve Friess.

Friess (right) is the Las Vegas freelance writer, author of the Gay Vegas guide and comp queen whose sexual relationship with a local television news producer led him to dangerous conflict of interest and clear ethical lapses in his attempts to derail the investigative reporting into Gans' unexplained death on May 1st, an untimely passing at age 52 that was revealed this week to be the result of an overdose of Dilaudid, also known as "drug store heroin."

Friess' cover-up attempt began after we wrote him a private email on May 6, asking why Las Vegas journalists were not covering the Gans story, and he responded with a public Internet posting, calling us "a**hole," "Perez Hilton wanna be" and "vermin," and accusing us of "Danny Gans hate," among other things.

Within days, in a post titled "The Danny Gans Daisy Chain: Steve and Chip and Alicia and Norm and Miles and--," we reported on a tangled web of interpersonal dealings among Las Vegas media figures, including the revelation that Friess shares a bed with Miles Smith, executive producer of KVBC TV news, colleague of beauty queen-turned-local TV entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs. Jacobs had gained notoriety as Danny Gans' close and personal friend for more than a dozen years.

She not only broke the story of Gans' death, but worked with Gans' manager to spin and obfsucate the facts in such an obvious manner that the Las Vegas Review-Journal TV columnist lambasted her for her "reverse bias." Steve Bornfeld wrote "there's a difference between professional relationships and personal friendships, especially one as strongly and publicly evident as Jacobs and Gans... it creates an appearance of potential bias -- viewers/readers wondering if a reporter-friend would conceal unflattering or damaging information."

"A.J.'s boundary-breaching closeness"


Today, in his Medialogy column titled "Except for Jacobs, TV stations play Gans news straight," Bornfeld again singles out Jacobs' career-damaging conflict of interest in reporting the coroner's slippery Dilaudid announcement:

"Efficient, yet elusive.

"Such was the level of coverage and nature of the story as the cause of Danny Gans' death was disclosed Tuesday, leaving local media to present question-riddled reports of a 'drug toxicity' reaction from the painkiller Dilaudid, the coroner refraining from terming it 'drug abuse.'

"And -- except for an Alicia Jacobs commentary with an Alice-through-the-looking-glass effect of seeming completely right while being thoroughly wrong -- coverage was responsible...

"Then there was A.J.

"Her statement on the 4 p.m. news, in part: 'I'm sure there will be much focus on the drugs in Danny's system, but it's important to remember that since his baseball days, Danny dealt with endless injuries. ... On a personal note, I hope we can go back to remembering the great man and the amazing entertainer and the wonderful friend that was Danny Gans.'

"That's the response of a personal confidant who should have been a detached observer, the modest leeway of familiarity she's granted as an entertainment reporter abused long ago.

"In case news reporters, unsatisfied with ending the story with this toxicology finding, investigate further, Jacobs nudges us toward Gans' injuries as justification for his use of Dilaudid. While that's a legit element of the story as stated by neutral reporters, from Jacobs it's clearly a request for compassion from a protective pal.

"Then she plants a big wet smooch on his memory that out-Mary Harts Mary Hart. Her 11 p.m. 'Stage 3' was essentially an encore...

"Jacobs' boundary-breaching closeness to Gans oddly inoculates her -- she's so known as his buddy that withholding a heartfelt tribute would flummox fans conditioned to consider the relationship acceptable, seeming like a friend's betrayal when it's actually a professional requirement.

"...Yes, she's on the showbiz beat where sympathy might seem harmless. But when soft features turn into hard news, credibility counts in every corner of this craft."

Jacobs' conflict of interest is taken into account by local viewers.

Tried to shut us down

Friess (left), who writes for a national audience who may not be up on the local towel-snapping scandals of which he's part, should have recused himself from the story as soon as he admitted on May 15th that he was involved in sending us false information about Gans' death in effort to discredit our news team and throw us off the scent. (He also took action to shut down TabloidBaby.com after we posted his photo. We have since been forced to rely on reasonable facsimiles.)

Instead, it's the Steve Friess byline that appears on a story that is given the full authority of the New York Times. The story, of course, does not mention that the coroner refused to address what other drugs Danny Gans may have had in his system, pointedly refused to answer our question of possible steroid abuse, and arranges the words in a way that, like Alicia Jacobs, excuses the use of the powerful opiate in the name of sports injury:

The New York Times
Nevada: Entertainer's Death Is Ruled Accidental

"The Clark County coroner, Mike Murphy, ruled that the death of the popular impressionist Danny Gans, left, on May 1 was an accident brought on by a toxic level of the pain killer hydromorphone, which led to heart failure. Mr. Murphy refused to characterize the death as a drug overdose or disclose the level of hydromorphone, marketed as Dilaudid, in Mr. Gans’s system. Mr. Gans’s manager, Chip Lightman, said that he was unaware Mr. Gans, 52, was taking Dilaudid, but that Mr. Gans had shoulder surgery early this year before opening at the Encore Las Vegas resort and had follow-up surgery in March to remove scar tissue. Mr. Lightman previously told reporters that Mr. Gans had a family history of heart disease and for many years had been on medication for high blood pressure. Mr. Gans became a widely celebrated mimic known for his George Burns impression after his minor-league baseball career was cut short by a foot injury. He was prone to other injuries as well, canceling hundreds of performances over the course of his 13-year headlining career on the Strip because of shoulder, back and knee surgeries."

There have been many reasons suggested for Friess' involvement in the Danny Gans death, from the mundane-- Alicia Jacobs is supporter of same sex marriage and was the "celebrity" guest at his unofficial second marriage to Miles Smith at the Palms Hotel-- to his allegiance to Gans' employer, casino magnate Steve Wynn.

Friess picked up the Gans story on his own Vegas-boosting website on Tuesday and spoke as an authority on at least one radio station without mentioning his embarrassing missteps.

He did not post again until late this afternoon when he wrote about Englebert Humperdinck.

That Darn Norm

Then there's Norm Clarke, the colorful, nationally-known Las Vegas Review-Journal gossip columnist who has printed much of Jacobs' and Friess' planted stories that led the public farther from the truth about the life and death of Danny Gans.


In the days leading up to the coroner's hastily-called and carefully-worded news conference, Norm had been in Washington D.C, merrily Twittering his every move, from meals to exhibits at the Smithsonian.

His pure joy at reporting gossip and his evident innocence in the cover-up planning was exhibited in his Wednesday column about Danny Gans, when, hours after we drew the comparison, he guilelessly put a most sunny, even excited spin on the news that Gans had overdosed on drug store heroin:

NORM: Presley and gans linked by Dilaudid

"Danny Gans and Elvis Presley had something else in common, besides dying young.

"Both entertainers were linked after their deaths with Dilaudid, a highly addictive opiate nicknamed 'drug store heroin.'

"...According to numerous published reports, Dilaudid, said to be two to eight times more potent than morphine, was Elvis' favorite drug.

"Gans, a vocal impressionist, included a karate-kicking overweight Elvis among his spoofs of musical greats.

"Gans, a Las Vegas headliner since 1996, was 52.

"Elvis was 42 when he died Aug. 16, 1977, in Memphis, Tenn."

Viva Las Vegas...

Danny Gans photo: Ralph Fountain/Las Vegas Review-Journal

All of a sudden, friends say Danny Gans had high blood pressure and a history of heart problems in his family

For seven days after the unexplained death of Las Vegas strip headliner Danny Gans, his two closest friends, manager Chip Lightman and beauty queen turned TV entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs, claimed to have no idea what could have killed the 52-year-old former athlete.

A little more than twenty-four hours ago, Alicia Jacobs repeated the claim to us in an exclusive interview:

"I can’t imagine that he would have done anything that would be unhealthy because the Danny that I knew was a complete health fanatic... I can’t imagine how he would be taking pain killers or doing any drugs and function the way that he did. I can’t imagine that he would be able to do what he did. He really was an athlete when he was onstage.”

Today, Lightman and Jacobs say they knew all along that Gans had high blood pressure "for years," as well as a family history of heart problems.

Jacobs told us yesterday she had not heard the rumours that steroids or painkilling drugs were factors. And when we asked if she had any idea of what could have contributed to Gans' death, she did not mention high blood pressure or a family history of heart problems

Today, Norm Clarke of The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports:

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

"I can swear on a Bible I never saw Danny involved with drugs,” said Lightman. “I can’t imagine that being a factor. In my 18 years he’s never done one thing in front of me. Ever. I’d be surprised.”

"...KVBC-TV, Channel 3 entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs, a close friend of Gans, said she was aware of Gans’ high blood pressure.

“'But he took very good care of himself because of it and he certainly had it under control as far as I knew,' said Jacobs...

"He was an athlete in a lot of ways," said Jacobs. "Who amongst us, that work out on regular basis, doesn’t have a constant ache or pain. I’m sure he took Motrin. I think that’s about as adventurous as he ever got.”

In our talk with Alicia Jacobs yesterday, we spoke about the speculation and talk among Las Vegas insiders, and how conspiracy theories were developing because of an information vacuum. Are these sudden revelations a result of our conversation and interview?

Developing...

Alicia Jacobs claims that "certain powers" tried-- and failed-- to stop her interview with Danny Gans' ghostwriter

The controversy surrounding the May 1st death of Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans continues to expand as his close friend, beauty queen turned TV entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs, claims that "certain 'powers'" tried to stop her from taping a TV interview with the co-author of Gans' upcoming autobiography.

Jacobs, who transmits her hourly activities on Twitter, kept a running tab of her journey to visit RG Ryan at the Starbucks where he and Gans met to write the book, "The Voices In My Head," which Ryan claims was completed the day before Gans' died.


She posted yesterday:

Just arrived @ the Starbucks where Danny Gans met weekly w/ the writer of up-coming book, "Voices in my Head." About 2 interview @rgryan.

She followed with:

"Just interviewed co-writer of Danny Gans' book. Very emotional 4 both of us. Many tears.Certain "powers" did not want the int.2 happen."

and

"So sad that certain people didn't want @rgryan 2 do interview..he is lovely & has so many touching stories 2 share re: time w/ Danny Gans"


Gans' book became the topic of journalistic controversy when, days after Gans' death from an overdose of Dilaudid, the Las Vegas Review-Journal made a deal with Gans' family to publish it. The Review-Journal's publisher had planned to rush-release the book in June, but publication was delayed unexpectedly by negotiations between Ryan and Gans' family. Ryan gave a hint of the sticking point when he told Tabloid Baby, "The book will be published, I am still credited as co-author."



Alicia Jacobs has been the target of much criticism ever since, by her own account, Gans' manager Chip Lightman phoned her within minutes of Gans' death to tell her firstof the tragedy and she went on the air waving a Bible she said her dear friend of 13 years had given her. In the weeks to follow, before the official cause of Gans' death was announced, she, Lightman and New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author, Michael Jackson "tribute" concert producer and comp queen Steve Friess waged a campaign to spin coverage of Gans' life and legacy away from the inevitable verdict that he'd died from taking too much of the powerful opiate hydromorphone, also known as Dilaudid or "drugstore heroin."

Even the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which maintained a hands-off approach to the Gans story even before it becmae partners with Gans' family, accused her of "bias-in-reverse" in covering the story and insinuated she had lost all credibility in her Gans reports. (The controversy deepened when it was revealed that her executive producer at KVBC-TV News, Miles Smith, is Friess' unofficial husband.

The identity of the "powers"... the reasons for their objections... and why they were unsuccessful in stopping Alicia Jacobs? We have sent those questions to Alicia Jacobs and RG Ryan, and will let you know the responses.

Las Vegas Weekly celebrates Danny Gans' special friend Alicia Jacobs-- but doesn't get into that 4 a.m. phone call or all those texts he'd sent her

The Las Vegas Weekly and its editor Scott Dickensheets have rolled out another cover story on a major figure in the Danny Gans case. Following up on last week's confessions from Las Vegas blogger, New York Times stringer, Gay Vegas author, concert promoter and comp queen Steve Friess, comes a laudatory profile of controversial beauty queen-turned-television entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs.

Jacobs was a close personal friend of Gans, and on May 1, 2009, the the first member of the media to learn of Gans' death, getting a 4 a.m. phone call from Gans' manager Chip Lightman. The article touches upon the incident without exploring the details of the morning or her relationship with the musical impressionist:

"Jacobs defends her reporting of Gans’ death last year. The two were genuinely close. They dined together and, sharing an interest in physical fitness, worked out together. Jacobs was the first journalist contacted by Gans’ manager, Chip Lightman, after he learned of Gans’ death.

"Danny Gans and Alicia Jacobs became close friends during her career in Vegas. Jacobs sobbed through her segment announcing Gans had died and spoke emotionally of their friendship. It was a unique moment in broadcast news for the emotion displayed on-air by the reporter. Local media critics pounced.

“'I have thought about that and re-lived it many, many times in my head. Honest to God, I would not have done anything differently,' says Jacobs. 'I thought I could get through the story. But I remember seeing b-roll of Danny on one of the monitors, singing and dancing, and losing it. To this day I don’t believe he is gone … So, yes, I got a little emotional on the air. You know what? It was real. We are real. Sometimes it’s okay to be real on the air. People cry, hurt and feel pain. I wouldn’t change it.'”

"But what about--?" No, there is no follow-up.

The profile, From Beauty Queen to Extra: The Journey of LV's Top Celebrity Broadcaster, is written by Las Vegas Sun columnist John Katsilometes, a journalist who touched on Gans' rumoured drug use in his initial story about Gans' sudden passing at 52 (the powerful opiate Dilaudid would be named as a cause), but who backed off immediately along with the rest of the Las Vegas media pack. Perhaps that's why it celebrates Jacobs' role as a correspondent on the syndicated television infotainment show, Extra, and is full of sympathetic, humanizing notes about her adoption, disfiguring car crash and career-threatening love of animals, while not pressing her on the issue for which she's gained the most notoriety.


An accompanying photo of Jacobs as "Mrs. United States," however, does reveal that she is not a natural blonde.

Those texts? Click here to read all about them.

And click here to read Kat's fascinating article. Even with his hands tied, he's a great entertainment writer.

Meanwhile, we look forward to next week's cover story on Chip Lightman.

Alicia Jacobs' poignant farewell to her friend Danny Gans

"With a few exceptions, I am very proud
of the local & national media...
they have given Danny’s family & friends
some time to try & catch our collective breath.
Soon enough, we will have the answers.
Until that time, it seems almost tabloid-like
to make assumptions & entertain rumors."
-- Alicia Jacobs

Alicia Jacobs, Danny Gans' longtime close personal friend and first member of the media to be notified of Gans' sudden, unexpected death at the age of 52, has posted a lengthy, heartfelt and touching farewell to the Las Vegas superstar.

The beauty queen-turned-entertainemtn reporter for KVBC-TV news and quirky Vegas personality writes on her Stage 3 blogsite that "I’ve attempted to write this post often over the past 2 weeks, but each time I became too emotional & realized I was simply not in the right mindset to do justice to someone who meant a great deal to me & who deserves to have me at my best.

"This has been an absolutely horrible time for me. I continue to walk around in complete shock. I vacillate between grief & disbelief & sometimes I experience both at the same time."

Jacobs' post takes pains to explain the platonic nature of her 13-year relationship with the musical impressionist:

"From the day I met Danny 13 years ago, he would constantly & lovingly beam when he spoke of Amy, Andrew, & Emily...& that never changed... He was also so impressed with how strong a woman his wife Julie is. What mattered most to Danny was his family.

"Danny & I hit it off from the moment we met. We had a great deal in common, plus we lived in the same neighborhood. We were both into fitness; he got me hooked on Karate, (he was a big shot Black Belt, while I proudly sported my Green Belt,) we are both a bit on the Type A side, with a tiny bit of OCD...

"...We would often share fitness tips while chowing down on Thai food & we both LOVE Jelly Belly's. He would also offer me advice on my work & career...everything from camera angles I should suggest to our directors, to great editing ideas & suggestions for my own performance...& he was always right!

"Most people know how spiritual Danny was & he was greatly responsible for bringing religion into my life. 10 years ago, I lost a dear friend of mine... From the moment she was diagnosed until months after she was gone, Danny was there for me...

"Danny was there for me again last year when my beloved dog, Cuddles, passed away..."

"It is my feeling that barring
something completely bizarre,
the story of Danny Gans has been told.
His cause of death will be nothing more
than a footnote on his Wikipedia page.
The story of Danny Gans’ unlikely career
& enormous success, against most odds,
is far more interesting & inspiring
than a coroner's report."

Some of what Alicia Jacobs writes she's said before, in much the same words, and in passages like the one in which she repeats the anecdote about her father coming back from the brink of death when Danny Gans passed, serve to bolster the legend of the spiritual, saintly Danny Gans, an image sure to be projected in the autobiography she says Gans completed the day before he died.

"We still don’t know why we lost Danny so soon in life, & it’s human nature to desire those answers. With a few exceptions, I am very proud of the local & national media...they have given Danny’s family & friends some time to try & catch our collective breath. Soon enough, we will have the answers. Until that time, it seems almost tabloid-like to make assumptions & entertain rumors. (believe me, I think I’ve heard just about all of them.) It is my feeling that barring something completely bizarre, the story of Danny Gans has been told. His cause of death will be nothing more than a footnote on his Wikipedia page.

"The story of Danny Gans’ unlikely career & enormous success, against most odds, is far more interesting & inspiring than a coroner's report.

"This Thursday about 1500 of us will gather in Danny’s beautiful theatre at ENCORE. We will arrive, much the same as we did this past February 6th...Danny’s opening night at ENCORE. For the most part, it will be the same people in those seats. But that’s all that will be the same. Instead of the excitement & anticipation we all felt that night awaiting Danny’s thrilling on-stage entrance, I suspect we will have little to say beyond, 'how can this be?' 'how can he really be gone?' We will watch the stage that Danny ran onto & brought to life every night. We will see his image projected onto screens, we will hear his voice, as well as many of the other voices that were always along for the ride. We will hear his music. But, we won’t hear Danny’s inside jokes with his band, the tears we shed won’t be because of his poignant 'ON GOLDEN POND,' bit, and we won’t witness Danny’s customary 3 standing ovations.

'And, this time, when 'The Curtain Falls,' I suppose I’m expected to do the impossible....say goodbye."

Alicia Jacobs photo

Coroner is holding Danny Gans death results; once again, Gans' close friend Alicia Jacobs has the inside track on the information

Six weeks after the mysterious death of Las Vegas superstar Danny Gans, The Clark County Coroner is holding on to the toxicology report that could reveal what killed the musical impressionist-- and once again, the controversial beauty queen-turned-TV entertainment reporter who was Gans'close personal friend has the inside track on the information and how it will be revealed to the public.

Alicia Jacobs of local television station KVBC reported last night that "all of the key information has been compiled by the Coroner's Office.

"The coroner will likely release the manner and the cause of death for the legendary entertainer within a couple of weeks. Experts are currently sifting through the results from the standard scientific tests."


Jacobs broke the news of Danny Gans' sudden death at his home in Henderson, Nevada on May 1st. She also let on that she was informed of the tragedy by Gans' manager Chip Lightman "around 4 a.m.," which would have been within minutes of the time paramedics arrived at the home to declare Gans deceased.

Jacobs thrust herself into the story with her very first report, talking emotionally about a 13-year personal friendship with Gans and showing off a white Bible she said Gans had inscribed for her (in an exclusive interview with TabloidBaby.com, she denied that she and Gans had ever had an affair).

Her close relationship with Gans and his manager Chip Lightman led to criticism here, and later in the Las Vegas media, as it became more and more evident she and Lightman were "spinning" the information and clouding details of the mysterious death in an effort to protect Gans' image and legacy.


While rumours of steroid abuse spun beyond Vegas, the pair insisted that they had no inkling whatsoever of what may have struck down the 52-year-old clean-living, eggwhite-eating, teetotaling Born Again Christian athlete in his prime.

It was only after our interview with Jacobs, in which she repeated the claims and we pressed on the steroids issue, that she and Lightman did an about-face. Within 24 hours, the pair had given an exclusive to Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke, both claiming they'd known that Gans had been treated for high blood pressure and had a family history of heart problems.

The Jacobs-Gans connection got murkier after this site-- the only news organization to provide constant coverage and updates of this major story-- was attacked publicly by Vegas booster, writer, gay activist and comp queen Steve Friess (right) for asking questions or even covering the story. Friess' motivations came into focus when we revealed that he was in an unofficial same sex marriage with Miles Smith-- Jacobs'executive producer.

It should also be mentioned that the rest of the Las Vegas news media failed miserably in their responsibility to cover a story that had great social, spiritual, economic and historic impact on the city. No news organization investigated the circumstances or history of the paramedic responses to Gans mansion, the talk and rumours that have been flying all over town, or the many leads dangled in front of them.

And now, entering the sixth week of the mystery surrounding Gans' death, the information from the coroner's office is apparently again being directed through Alicia Jacobs.

Developing...

Vegas writer Steve Friess pays tribute to Tabloid Baby while disclosing his connection to Danny Gans coverup TV gal

Our dedicated coverage of the overdose death of Danny Gans and the Las Vegas news media's failure to investigate it like a truly responsible, curious, resourceful and independent entity has begun to pay off.

The writer who attacked us publicly for investigating the mysterious passing of the musical impressionist, is not only disclosing his connections to the heart of the Danny Gans death coverup-- he's paying-- perhaps unconsciously-- tribute to Tabloid Baby, by copying our style!

Steve Friess, a local stringer for The New York Times and other national publications, best known as author of the Gay Vegas tourist guide, went on the attack against Tabloid Baby the week after Gans' untimely death, calling us "beneath contempt, vermin and a Perez Hilton wannabe"-- all for trying to get a few answers about why a clean-living, athletic, Christian family man who billed himself as the antithesis of Vegas sin would die in his sleep at 52!


And that was only the start of our troubles with Steve Friess continued. After we ran his photo, he contacted our web host in an attempt to have our site shut down and harassed us to the point that we were forced to use fascimiles!

It didn't take long for tipsters to clue us in as to why he was on the Gans coverup campaign: Steve Friess is in an unofficial marriage with Miles Smith, executive producer of KVBC News, where Danny Gans close friend Alicia Jacobs is employed as an entertainment reporter. While the local media waited for an official toxicology report to confirm hat they knew about Danny Gans' drug use, the former beauty queen was working tirelessly with Gans' manager to cloud the truth, claiming they knew Gans was clean as a whistle.


Steve Friess later wrote a mind-boggling defense of the local news media's failures in the Gans case, yet apparently, or his freelance editors, have decided full disclosure would be most healthy for his future. In one of his latest postings on his Vegas-promoting blogsite, Friess fesses up to his Alicia Jacobs bond:

"Finally, it must be said that my pal (and Miles' KVBC colleague) Alicia Jacobs provided some really cool coverage via Twitter. Say what you want about her as a journalist-- it seems to me she occupies a unique netherland between being a reporter and being a celebrity who uses her connections to take the public into worlds we don't usually get to go..."

Anyone notice the wording of Friess' condemnation of his pal's journalistic credibility?

Here's another clue:

"Another tip of the hat is due to the Review-Journal's Jason Bracelin and Mike Blasky..."

Our readers know that the word "pal"-- as in "Tabloid Baby pal"-- has been part of the Tabloid Baby lexicon for years.

And the phrase "A tip of the Tabloid Baby hat" has become world-renown (click here for the proof!)

Steve Friess might shout that our coverage has had no influence in Las Vegas, but it's evident we've had a major influence on him! And for that, we offer our troubled pal a tip of the Tabloid Baby hat!

Las Vegas Sun finally reports week-old Danny Gans pharmacy story: Reporter claims Alicia Jacobs snatched her scoop!

While the Las Vegas Review-Journal continues to keep a conspicuous distance from covering the drug death of Strip headliner Danny Gans and its aftermath, its putative competitor, the Las Vegas Sun, has finally reported news from early last week that the entertainer who died from an overdose of Dilaudid was a part-owner of a pharmacy.

The coverage however, comes in the blog section of its website.

Dana Gentry, a local television reporter and executive producer local cable television shows Face to Face and In Business Las Vegas, reports the story, this afternoon, as well as posting the 2003 letter confirming Gans' stake in the drug business.

Gentry also claims she had the scoop a week ago, but that it was snatched away the following day by a competitor: Danny Gans close personal friend, the beauty-queen-turned-TV entertainment reporter, Alicia Jacobs, who "reluctantly" asked the tough question.

Gentry reports:

Gans owned pharmacy
By Dana Gentry · August 24, 2009 · 3:46 PM

Danny Gans’ friends and family maintained that the late entertainer had little use personally for prescription drugs, though his death in May was from an overdose of Dilaudid, (the generic is Hydromorphone) a painkiller. The source of the drug that killed Gans has not been identified.

Now the Board of Pharmacy is investigating Gans’ ownership interest in Green Valley Med, a distributor of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies to doctors. Documents we obtained from the state reveal Gans had held a stake in the local pharmacy since 2003. The pharmacy board took Gans’ records from Green Valley Med in June, but will not reveal the nature of the documents seized. Green Valley Med bills itself on its website as the "largest medical supplier in Southern Nevada.'

We wanted to know if it carries Dilaudid. Owner Scot Silber seemed stunned last Monday when I asked about his business relationship with Gans. Silber confirmed the two were partners but wouldn’t say whether Green Valley Med carries Dilaudid. Coincidentally, the very next day Gans’ self-described friend, Channel 3 entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs, detailed Gans’ ownership interest and reluctantly delved into the possibility that Gans obtained the lethal drug through that association.

Attorney Bob Massi, who represents Green Valley Med and doubles as its marketing director, declined to be interviewed but in an e-mail said, "The perception that is being portrayed of Danny Gans is disgusting. He was a great man, an ambassador to Las Vegas, and he is being smeared by an affiliation which was and has been a matter of public record."

You can see the story tonight on In Business Las Vegas, Las Vegas ONE, Cox Cable Channel 19.

(click photo to enlarge it)