1 00:00:08,091 --> 00:00:09,801 [announcer on TV] From Las Vegas, Nevada. 2 00:00:09,884 --> 00:00:12,429 It's the Buffalo Jim Buffalo Wrestling Show. 3 00:00:12,512 --> 00:00:14,889 [rock music playing on TV] 4 00:00:14,973 --> 00:00:19,144 He was Buffalo Jim, and he was a light of joy and life. 5 00:00:19,227 --> 00:00:21,396 No matter where you go, "Buffalo Jim!" 6 00:00:21,479 --> 00:00:23,815 [Jennifer Barrier] The Las Vegas Review-Journal voted him 7 00:00:23,898 --> 00:00:26,818 Las Vegas's Most Colorful Character in 2005. 8 00:00:26,901 --> 00:00:29,070 He even beat out the current mayor. 9 00:00:29,154 --> 00:00:30,864 -Peace and love. -[customer] We can do that. 10 00:00:30,947 --> 00:00:32,449 -From the heart. -[customer] Thank you. 11 00:00:32,532 --> 00:00:34,534 [Buffalo Jim Barrier] From the heart, my friends. 12 00:00:35,035 --> 00:00:38,329 This weekend, outspoken enemy of the mob Buffalo Jim Barrier, 13 00:00:38,413 --> 00:00:40,498 was found dead in a local motel room. 14 00:00:40,582 --> 00:00:43,543 There were no obvious signs of foul play, but, tonight, 15 00:00:43,626 --> 00:00:47,047 Barrier's friends and relatives are voicing their strong suspicions. 16 00:00:47,130 --> 00:00:49,340 My family, we all believe he was murdered. 17 00:00:49,424 --> 00:00:53,178 [reporter on TV] Despite what he thought were ongoing threats to his safety, 18 00:00:53,261 --> 00:00:55,889 Jim Barrier refused to back down. 19 00:00:55,972 --> 00:00:58,016 [Jerica Barrier] We thought it was, like, a setup. 20 00:00:59,642 --> 00:01:01,061 It didn't feel right. 21 00:01:03,563 --> 00:01:05,648 [Jennifer Barrier] I know that there's people out there 22 00:01:05,732 --> 00:01:07,567 that want the truth as bad as I do. 23 00:01:08,068 --> 00:01:10,403 We deserve justice for our father. 24 00:01:10,487 --> 00:01:12,489 [mysterious music playing] 25 00:01:52,195 --> 00:01:54,447 [tense music playing] 26 00:01:58,118 --> 00:02:01,329 [Lewis A. Roberts] On April 6th, 2008, at 11:30 a.m. 27 00:02:01,913 --> 00:02:03,957 at a Motel 6 on Boulder Highway, 28 00:02:05,500 --> 00:02:08,294 housekeeper knocks on the door to room 105 29 00:02:09,045 --> 00:02:11,381 to check to see if it's okay to clean the room. 30 00:02:14,676 --> 00:02:16,886 When she opens the door, 31 00:02:16,970 --> 00:02:20,682 she notices a gentleman asleep on the bed. 32 00:02:23,434 --> 00:02:27,522 She comes back at 12:30 and notices that he's still asleep. 33 00:02:30,650 --> 00:02:35,572 At 1:10 p.m., the housekeeper returns and finds him in the same position. 34 00:02:36,573 --> 00:02:40,326 Another housekeeper shakes him to see if he's awake, 35 00:02:40,410 --> 00:02:42,620 at which time they believe he's dead. 36 00:02:45,123 --> 00:02:49,502 The violent crimes detectives responded out to the scene in the early afternoon. 37 00:02:50,795 --> 00:02:55,425 The body was found lying face up on the bed with his shirt open, 38 00:02:56,384 --> 00:02:58,261 with a pillow behind his head, 39 00:02:58,344 --> 00:03:00,680 and his pants down around his ankles. 40 00:03:01,556 --> 00:03:06,144 There was a white powdery substance found on his beard and on his shirt. 41 00:03:07,187 --> 00:03:12,317 The nature in which the body was found was a little suspicious 42 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,029 because there wasn't a clear sign as to why he was deceased. 43 00:03:17,906 --> 00:03:22,744 At some point, they identified him as being James Barrier. 44 00:03:22,827 --> 00:03:24,913 Went by the name of Buffalo Jim. 45 00:03:24,996 --> 00:03:28,875 I'm Buffalo Jim, and it's another Friday night, brother, 46 00:03:28,958 --> 00:03:30,543 here in Vegas Town! 47 00:03:30,627 --> 00:03:32,921 [reporter on TV] Barrier was a true Las Vegas character, 48 00:03:33,004 --> 00:03:36,090 a pro-wrestler, auto mechanic, political candidate… 49 00:03:36,174 --> 00:03:38,426 Here you go, sir. Buffalo Jim Barrier. 50 00:03:38,509 --> 00:03:40,845 [reporter on TV] Barrier built a gigantic, 51 00:03:40,929 --> 00:03:43,223 animated, smoke-belching papier-mâché buffalo. 52 00:03:43,306 --> 00:03:45,642 I thought the people of Las Vegas would like it, brother. 53 00:03:45,725 --> 00:03:49,854 [Jennifer] My father, Buffalo Jim Barrier, loved Las Vegas. 54 00:03:50,605 --> 00:03:51,814 The bright lights 55 00:03:52,523 --> 00:03:54,901 and the excitement, the shows, the restaurants. 56 00:03:58,071 --> 00:04:01,699 [Jerica] And he was someone who was larger than life. 57 00:04:02,825 --> 00:04:06,204 He was someone who just lit up a room when he walked in. 58 00:04:07,163 --> 00:04:08,539 Just a character. 59 00:04:10,792 --> 00:04:12,377 His dad was a Cherokee Indian. 60 00:04:13,628 --> 00:04:17,423 [Jerica] He would educate us on our background 61 00:04:17,507 --> 00:04:21,135 and always would remind us, you know, 62 00:04:21,219 --> 00:04:25,181 that remember your ancestors and remember your bloodline lineage. 63 00:04:25,265 --> 00:04:26,641 It's important. 64 00:04:28,851 --> 00:04:30,937 His childhood wasn't very easy. 65 00:04:31,020 --> 00:04:33,022 [wistful music playing] 66 00:04:33,106 --> 00:04:37,360 [Jerica] He began working at a gas station at the age of 15 67 00:04:37,443 --> 00:04:40,405 with his older brother doing oil changes. 68 00:04:41,406 --> 00:04:43,366 He slept on the gas station floors, 69 00:04:43,449 --> 00:04:46,536 you know, and his older brother was teaching him the ropes. 70 00:04:48,288 --> 00:04:51,582 [Jennifer] He started off doing mechanics out of his van. 71 00:04:56,546 --> 00:05:00,341 And eventually made his way up to the level he was at 72 00:05:00,425 --> 00:05:04,053 with owning his own auto repair shop that he started in the late '70s. 73 00:05:04,137 --> 00:05:05,471 [phone ringing] 74 00:05:05,555 --> 00:05:07,473 Auto & Marine, can I help you? 75 00:05:07,974 --> 00:05:10,101 He fixed a lot of incredible cars. 76 00:05:10,184 --> 00:05:14,314 I know that he fixed a car once for Wayne Newton and Robert Goulet. 77 00:05:15,356 --> 00:05:17,567 I know there are celebrities even in other states 78 00:05:17,650 --> 00:05:19,777 that would bring their cars to his shop as well. 79 00:05:22,947 --> 00:05:26,326 He was a very caring and hardworking person. 80 00:05:26,409 --> 00:05:28,619 He always made sure to provide for our family. 81 00:05:29,579 --> 00:05:32,165 There were four of us growing up. 82 00:05:33,041 --> 00:05:35,501 I have an older sister named Jessica. 83 00:05:36,210 --> 00:05:38,087 Then I have a sister named Elise. 84 00:05:38,838 --> 00:05:40,798 And then our baby sister Jerica. 85 00:05:42,717 --> 00:05:46,095 My mother was in love with my father. She still loves him. 86 00:05:47,972 --> 00:05:52,310 But in the year 2000, my mother left my father, 87 00:05:52,393 --> 00:05:56,064 and we moved to Seattle, Washington, because my mom has a sister up there. 88 00:05:57,565 --> 00:06:00,234 But, eventually, Jerica went to live with my father, 89 00:06:00,318 --> 00:06:02,403 and he treated Jerica like a queen. 90 00:06:02,987 --> 00:06:04,614 They went everywhere together. 91 00:06:04,697 --> 00:06:07,533 They were just inseparable. 92 00:06:08,701 --> 00:06:11,079 Every day was an exciting day. Something new. 93 00:06:11,913 --> 00:06:13,456 [all exclaiming] 94 00:06:13,539 --> 00:06:17,460 He was so much fun. He would always bring the excitement. 95 00:06:17,543 --> 00:06:19,545 [all laughing] 96 00:06:21,422 --> 00:06:23,049 [all] Yay! 97 00:06:24,717 --> 00:06:26,803 And he always loved wrestling. 98 00:06:27,929 --> 00:06:29,430 [commentator] Fireman's carry! 99 00:06:30,348 --> 00:06:31,766 Oh, man! 100 00:06:31,849 --> 00:06:35,353 New Heavyweight Champion of the World, 101 00:06:35,436 --> 00:06:39,565 Johny "Psycho" Paine! 102 00:06:40,274 --> 00:06:43,945 [Johny] Buffalo wanted to run his own school and wrestling company. 103 00:06:44,028 --> 00:06:48,991 I'm here tonight at the Buffalo Jim's Pro Wrestling School, brother. 104 00:06:49,075 --> 00:06:51,661 So he called it Buffalo Wrestling Federation. 105 00:06:52,995 --> 00:06:54,080 [commentator 1] Whoa! 106 00:06:54,163 --> 00:06:56,624 [commentator 2] There goes out the Tall, the Twin! 107 00:06:56,707 --> 00:06:59,252 His style was badass! 108 00:07:01,212 --> 00:07:03,089 A ring on every finger. 109 00:07:03,172 --> 00:07:04,298 It's Friday night! 110 00:07:04,382 --> 00:07:08,302 He would wear this bulletproof vest that was literally made with bullets. 111 00:07:08,386 --> 00:07:10,430 It's Buffalo Jim! 112 00:07:10,513 --> 00:07:12,849 [Johny] Everybody wanted to be up around Buffalo. 113 00:07:12,932 --> 00:07:15,101 We're going to the top, Buffalo! 114 00:07:15,184 --> 00:07:18,396 [Johny] Buffalo, he was just cool to be with, and we clicked. 115 00:07:18,479 --> 00:07:20,440 Became very good friends right off the bat. 116 00:07:20,523 --> 00:07:23,276 [commentator] He's got him up! Body slam! 117 00:07:23,359 --> 00:07:26,821 [Steve Miller] His television show was on late-night cable TV. 118 00:07:26,904 --> 00:07:29,949 And he had a tremendous following. It was so camp. 119 00:07:30,032 --> 00:07:33,119 It's another Friday night. Buffalo Jim's Wrestling Show! 120 00:07:33,202 --> 00:07:34,745 I'm here with Little Buffalo! 121 00:07:34,829 --> 00:07:39,750 I decided that I'd participate in his wrestling show for an episode. 122 00:07:39,834 --> 00:07:41,002 [Buffalo Jim] Get him, Buff! 123 00:07:42,795 --> 00:07:46,841 The name Little Buff came about because I was like his sidekick. 124 00:07:46,924 --> 00:07:48,384 [Buffalo Jim] I like it! I like it! 125 00:07:48,468 --> 00:07:49,594 [Jerica] It was fun. 126 00:07:50,178 --> 00:07:51,971 I mean, he knew how to put on a show. 127 00:07:52,054 --> 00:07:54,223 You never know what's gonna happen. 128 00:07:58,728 --> 00:08:01,772 [Jerica] It was for about six years. 129 00:08:01,856 --> 00:08:03,191 It was just him and I. 130 00:08:05,526 --> 00:08:08,654 So we're standing in front of my family's home. 131 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:12,992 Um, this is the home that we lived at. This was my father's dream home. 132 00:08:17,788 --> 00:08:19,457 He loved it up here. 133 00:08:19,540 --> 00:08:22,710 He looked up at the mountain, and to him, 134 00:08:22,793 --> 00:08:26,506 he saw an Indian chief in the mountain, and he was like, 135 00:08:26,589 --> 00:08:28,591 "This is going to be my mountain." 136 00:08:30,968 --> 00:08:34,555 [voice breaking] And being back here now, it just doesn't feel the same. 137 00:08:34,639 --> 00:08:36,182 It's not the same without him. 138 00:08:37,808 --> 00:08:39,810 [somber music playing] 139 00:08:48,736 --> 00:08:51,197 [Jerica] That night, my father mentioned 140 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:53,950 that he was going to go meet with a friend for dinner. 141 00:08:59,747 --> 00:09:02,208 He said, "I'll be home by 12:00." 142 00:09:02,291 --> 00:09:04,627 [suspenseful music playing] 143 00:09:19,350 --> 00:09:22,395 [Jerica] Around 9:30 p.m., I texted him, 144 00:09:23,479 --> 00:09:24,939 but he didn't reply. 145 00:09:26,482 --> 00:09:29,026 I gave him another call later in the evening, 146 00:09:29,110 --> 00:09:30,403 and he didn't answer. 147 00:09:34,824 --> 00:09:37,785 I tried calling my father in the morning again, 148 00:09:37,868 --> 00:09:39,120 and he didn't answer. 149 00:09:39,203 --> 00:09:42,540 And that really was alarming for me. 150 00:09:42,623 --> 00:09:46,377 Like, "Dad's not answering his phone." Like, "What's going on?" 151 00:09:47,336 --> 00:09:48,921 [phone ringing] 152 00:09:49,005 --> 00:09:53,384 [Jerica] So around, like, 2:00 p.m., I was with my sister Elise, 153 00:09:53,467 --> 00:09:56,971 and I get a phone call from a police officer 154 00:09:57,722 --> 00:10:00,266 saying that she's calling about my father. 155 00:10:01,183 --> 00:10:03,436 And she said, "I need to speak to an adult." 156 00:10:04,687 --> 00:10:06,022 I was only 15. 157 00:10:06,105 --> 00:10:08,399 Elise was 20 years old at the time. 158 00:10:10,151 --> 00:10:14,238 So then I frantically went to go get Elise. 159 00:10:14,322 --> 00:10:18,534 Um, I turned the volume of my phone up so I can hear the conversation, 160 00:10:18,618 --> 00:10:21,787 and Elise took the call, and I heard the police officer on the phone say, 161 00:10:21,871 --> 00:10:23,456 "Your father is dead." 162 00:10:24,123 --> 00:10:27,585 "And we need you to come to Motel 6 on Boulder Highway 163 00:10:28,336 --> 00:10:30,254 to come and identify the body." 164 00:10:33,674 --> 00:10:36,385 During the whole car ride there to the Motel 6… 165 00:10:38,429 --> 00:10:40,931 we were just crying uncontrollably, 166 00:10:41,015 --> 00:10:43,392 and Elise was driving, like, 100 on the highway. 167 00:10:43,476 --> 00:10:46,270 And we were trying to make it there as fast as we possibly can. 168 00:10:48,189 --> 00:10:53,027 When we pulled up to the front of the motel, 169 00:10:53,110 --> 00:10:58,574 we both were approached by a police officer from Metro 170 00:10:58,658 --> 00:11:02,078 and invited into the motel room 171 00:11:02,161 --> 00:11:05,790 to identify my father's body. 172 00:11:13,589 --> 00:11:17,635 This is the room that my father was found dead in. 173 00:11:19,762 --> 00:11:24,600 He was right here on the stretcher when we walked in the room. 174 00:11:25,810 --> 00:11:30,731 He was in a body bag and the bag was unzipped. 175 00:11:33,609 --> 00:11:34,694 [Jerica] That moment… 176 00:11:36,696 --> 00:11:39,699 is so painful to… 177 00:11:39,782 --> 00:11:41,867 to remember and think about. 178 00:11:43,577 --> 00:11:45,955 [Jerica] They found him lying on the bed here. 179 00:11:54,171 --> 00:11:57,091 [Jerica] We were in a state of disbelief 180 00:11:57,174 --> 00:12:02,680 that our father was lying dead in front of us at a motel. 181 00:12:03,389 --> 00:12:06,976 [breathes deeply] 182 00:12:07,643 --> 00:12:08,602 [sniffling] It's, um… 183 00:12:08,686 --> 00:12:11,897 It's really difficult to… It's really difficult to see this room. 184 00:12:11,981 --> 00:12:16,068 It was the last place I saw him before the funeral, 185 00:12:17,153 --> 00:12:18,904 and I gave him a hug. 186 00:12:18,988 --> 00:12:21,615 The last time I touched him was in this room. 187 00:12:23,284 --> 00:12:24,994 And he was so cold. 188 00:12:25,077 --> 00:12:27,997 And I just remember that the police actually had to… 189 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,625 to tell me to let go 'cause they needed to take his body away. 190 00:12:32,752 --> 00:12:34,420 I didn't wanna let him go. 191 00:12:34,503 --> 00:12:36,505 [somber music playing] 192 00:12:39,592 --> 00:12:43,763 The police didn't give us any information and details of how he was found 193 00:12:43,846 --> 00:12:45,973 or what happened to my father. 194 00:12:49,685 --> 00:12:52,938 [Jerica] The police handed my sister Elise and I an envelope 195 00:12:53,022 --> 00:12:56,025 with his car keys, his wallet, 196 00:12:56,108 --> 00:13:00,362 his cell phone, and the receipt to the motel. 197 00:13:02,615 --> 00:13:04,700 I immediately took out the phone 198 00:13:04,784 --> 00:13:07,745 and thought that I should look through the call log 199 00:13:07,828 --> 00:13:12,082 to see who the last person was that he had spoken to. 200 00:13:12,166 --> 00:13:14,543 [intriguing music playing] 201 00:13:14,627 --> 00:13:16,128 [Jerica] There was a message. 202 00:13:16,754 --> 00:13:20,174 So I went ahead and I listened to his voicemails 203 00:13:20,257 --> 00:13:23,135 to find out who had left that message. 204 00:13:24,428 --> 00:13:28,808 This person may be the last person, you know, that he spoke to. 205 00:13:29,934 --> 00:13:34,063 In her message, she had said, "Hey, Buffalo, this is Lisa." 206 00:13:34,146 --> 00:13:35,731 "Is everything okay?" 207 00:13:35,815 --> 00:13:39,777 And she had said it with a tone of concern. 208 00:13:40,986 --> 00:13:45,491 And so I called the number, and the woman picked up, and I said, 209 00:13:45,574 --> 00:13:46,992 "Are you Lisa?" 210 00:13:47,743 --> 00:13:49,119 And she didn't reply. 211 00:13:49,662 --> 00:13:51,747 I said, "Do you know Buffalo Jim?" 212 00:13:52,373 --> 00:13:55,793 And she goes, "I don't know Buffalo Jim," and she hung up. 213 00:13:57,711 --> 00:13:59,797 The woman that spoke on the voicemail 214 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:02,049 was the same woman that answered my phone call. 215 00:14:03,217 --> 00:14:07,763 Why would she leave a voicemail voicing concern for my father? 216 00:14:07,847 --> 00:14:11,433 I was telling Elise, like, "No, she knows something!" 217 00:14:11,517 --> 00:14:15,062 "She knows something. She's lying. How could she not know our father?" 218 00:14:15,145 --> 00:14:17,940 "There's call logs here. She left a voicemail." 219 00:14:26,115 --> 00:14:28,158 [Jennifer] I was in California on a vacation, 220 00:14:28,659 --> 00:14:32,037 and I receive a phone call from my sister Elise. 221 00:14:32,121 --> 00:14:35,040 And she said, "Jennifer, Dad was found dead." 222 00:14:35,124 --> 00:14:36,750 "I just signed off on the body." 223 00:14:39,044 --> 00:14:41,338 I was shocked. I just didn't know what to say. 224 00:14:45,050 --> 00:14:47,052 [pensive music playing] 225 00:14:47,887 --> 00:14:52,057 [Johny] It was weird 'cause Buffalo hadn't called me for a couple days. 226 00:14:53,517 --> 00:14:55,311 And then, phone rings. 227 00:14:55,394 --> 00:14:57,021 It says "Buffalo Jim." 228 00:14:57,563 --> 00:14:58,981 And when I picked it up, 229 00:14:59,899 --> 00:15:01,358 it was his daughter. 230 00:15:01,442 --> 00:15:02,443 She goes, 231 00:15:03,694 --> 00:15:06,906 "Johny, Dad's gone." 232 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,913 To go from that presence in your life all the time… 233 00:15:16,874 --> 00:15:19,376 It was different when everything just shut down. 234 00:15:19,460 --> 00:15:20,544 Boom. Right there. 235 00:15:26,175 --> 00:15:30,471 [Dr. Lary Simms] On the morning of April 7th, 2008, 236 00:15:30,554 --> 00:15:32,765 I was assigned Mr. Barrier's autopsy. 237 00:15:34,099 --> 00:15:37,519 Anytime anybody is found dead in a hotel room, 238 00:15:37,603 --> 00:15:39,813 it's out of their normal environment. 239 00:15:39,897 --> 00:15:42,608 If you're gonna be conservative, which I was, 240 00:15:42,691 --> 00:15:45,945 you would want to consider that a homicide until proven otherwise. 241 00:15:47,988 --> 00:15:51,784 Mr. Barrier had no significant external trauma. 242 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:57,539 He wasn't shot. He wasn't stabbed. He wasn't beaten. He wasn't strangled. 243 00:15:58,290 --> 00:16:02,336 He had a white powdery substance on his nose and on his beard. 244 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,714 There was a number of drugs that I tested for 245 00:16:05,798 --> 00:16:07,716 in addition to the standard drugs. 246 00:16:09,093 --> 00:16:11,553 The only positive was cocaine. 247 00:16:12,429 --> 00:16:15,391 The minimum lethal levels for cocaine 248 00:16:15,474 --> 00:16:20,813 is kinda in the 100 to 200 nanograms per milliliter range. 249 00:16:21,522 --> 00:16:24,483 Mr. Barrier's blood level was right around 250. 250 00:16:25,693 --> 00:16:27,820 Mr. Barrier had significant heart disease, 251 00:16:27,903 --> 00:16:32,366 and his cause of death was a combination of the heart disease and the cocaine. 252 00:16:34,576 --> 00:16:38,872 I put his death between 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. on April 5th, 2008. 253 00:16:41,542 --> 00:16:47,256 Once we got the information back from a toxicology report, 254 00:16:48,382 --> 00:16:49,800 I was in so much shock. 255 00:16:49,883 --> 00:16:51,260 And we couldn't believe it 256 00:16:51,844 --> 00:16:55,931 because I never saw him once use any drug 257 00:16:56,932 --> 00:17:01,103 or drink any alcohol or party. 258 00:17:04,148 --> 00:17:08,068 [Johny] Buffalo loved to go out and have a great time. 259 00:17:10,112 --> 00:17:12,948 But he never did any drugs around me. 260 00:17:13,699 --> 00:17:17,036 I have this memory in my mind of Buffalo saying, "I'm eating clean, 261 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:19,663 and I'm in the best shape of my life." 262 00:17:21,582 --> 00:17:24,001 [Jennifer] My dad told me that in the '80s, 263 00:17:24,084 --> 00:17:26,670 he used to take some cocaine every once in a while. 264 00:17:27,755 --> 00:17:29,923 He was not proud of that, 265 00:17:30,591 --> 00:17:34,303 but in my entire 24 years of knowing my father, 266 00:17:34,386 --> 00:17:37,306 I've never seen him ever do any drugs of any kind. 267 00:17:38,724 --> 00:17:43,687 If it was true that he had cocaine in him and that he had done it himself, 268 00:17:43,771 --> 00:17:44,772 I would be shocked. 269 00:17:46,690 --> 00:17:50,152 That would have been completely uncharacteristic 270 00:17:50,235 --> 00:17:51,820 of the Buffalo that I knew 271 00:17:52,696 --> 00:17:56,408 because Buffalo had a cocaine problem in his early years 272 00:17:56,492 --> 00:17:58,452 and was proud of the fact that he had beaten it. 273 00:17:59,411 --> 00:18:01,580 [Jerica] When we went to identify his body, 274 00:18:02,414 --> 00:18:06,877 there was no evidence of cocaine in the motel room at all. 275 00:18:08,837 --> 00:18:12,049 Where did this cocaine come from and why wasn't it at the scene? 276 00:18:13,300 --> 00:18:17,012 The white powder substance that was found on his beard and on his mustache, 277 00:18:17,096 --> 00:18:19,765 we don't even know if it was really cocaine or not. 278 00:18:21,391 --> 00:18:23,477 [Steve] They don't know if it was straight cocaine. 279 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:26,897 They don't know if it was cut cocaine. They don't know what it was. 280 00:18:26,980 --> 00:18:28,732 All they said was it was white powder. 281 00:18:28,816 --> 00:18:31,610 Did anybody ever test the cocaine that was on his nose, 282 00:18:31,693 --> 00:18:34,655 or on his shirt, or on his beard to see what the level of it was? 283 00:18:34,738 --> 00:18:35,989 No. 284 00:18:36,073 --> 00:18:38,700 We're sitting around at the dining room table, 285 00:18:38,784 --> 00:18:42,246 and my sisters looked at me and said, "Jennifer, he was set up." 286 00:18:42,329 --> 00:18:45,124 "What are we gonna do? Is anything going to be done?" 287 00:18:45,207 --> 00:18:46,542 Something was not right. 288 00:18:47,876 --> 00:18:49,253 Foul play was involved. 289 00:18:52,256 --> 00:18:53,632 [Jennifer] The night my dad died, 290 00:18:54,258 --> 00:18:57,761 we know he received a voice message from a woman named Lisa. 291 00:18:59,555 --> 00:19:03,016 And I told the police, I said, "Please look into this woman." 292 00:19:07,020 --> 00:19:09,898 [Lewis] Detectives, at some point, had tracked down 293 00:19:09,982 --> 00:19:14,736 a young lady who was in the room with Mr. Barrier on the night of his passing. 294 00:19:17,156 --> 00:19:18,574 And she had told them that 295 00:19:19,908 --> 00:19:23,871 she had a long relationship with Mr. Barrier. 296 00:19:25,414 --> 00:19:27,624 She stated she called Mr. Barrier 297 00:19:27,708 --> 00:19:31,211 and put a friend on the phone, another male, 298 00:19:31,295 --> 00:19:34,214 who wanted to discuss selling him a motorcycle. 299 00:19:36,133 --> 00:19:38,135 According to her statement, 300 00:19:38,218 --> 00:19:40,971 she said that the reason why she called him 301 00:19:41,054 --> 00:19:44,391 was because she had a friend with her in town from Arizona, 302 00:19:44,474 --> 00:19:47,227 and he needed money and wanted to sell the motorcycle. 303 00:19:47,936 --> 00:19:50,814 However, that person was never brought up ever again. 304 00:19:52,566 --> 00:19:56,570 My dad somehow left the house, decided to leave and go meet her. 305 00:19:57,779 --> 00:20:00,574 [Lewis] Lisa said she and Buffalo Jim 306 00:20:00,657 --> 00:20:03,535 agreed to meet at the gas station on Charleston Boulevard, 307 00:20:04,953 --> 00:20:07,915 and then they drove to the Motel 6 on Boulder Highway. 308 00:20:12,169 --> 00:20:15,005 The young lady said that Mr. Barrier parked a Rolls-Royce 309 00:20:15,088 --> 00:20:17,007 around the back of the Motel 6. 310 00:20:23,805 --> 00:20:28,435 At 8:22, Buffalo Jim is seen in the lobby of Motel 6 311 00:20:28,518 --> 00:20:30,520 getting a key card for room 105. 312 00:20:37,653 --> 00:20:39,071 And about 30 seconds later, 313 00:20:39,154 --> 00:20:43,575 Buffalo comes shuffling in front of the motel office very slowly. 314 00:20:43,659 --> 00:20:48,205 And behind him is a short female in silhouette. 315 00:20:49,373 --> 00:20:51,959 And she's following him three or four steps behind. 316 00:20:52,042 --> 00:20:53,126 That was Lisa. 317 00:20:57,339 --> 00:21:00,592 [Lewis] Lisa says once inside the room 105… 318 00:21:04,096 --> 00:21:06,473 they were playing a sexual fantasy game. 319 00:21:08,058 --> 00:21:11,853 The young lady stated that Mr. Barrier was using a lot of cocaine 320 00:21:11,937 --> 00:21:13,313 and acting paranoid. 321 00:21:14,398 --> 00:21:17,484 She tried to calm him down by telling him he needs to drink some water. 322 00:21:17,567 --> 00:21:20,279 She says that Mr. Barrier lays down on the bed 323 00:21:20,362 --> 00:21:21,863 and he starts convulsing. 324 00:21:23,323 --> 00:21:28,036 He's clutching his chest with both hands, she says, a little like a mild seizure. 325 00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:30,122 [suspenseful music playing] 326 00:21:32,124 --> 00:21:34,960 She leaves Buffalo Jim in the motel room. 327 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,971 Lisa said she took a taxi back to the Chevron, where she left her car. 328 00:21:48,849 --> 00:21:50,392 [phone ringing] 329 00:21:50,475 --> 00:21:54,813 [Lewis] At 9:30, she leaves a message on Buffalo Jim's cell phone 330 00:21:54,896 --> 00:21:58,233 asking if he's okay, but he never answered her back. 331 00:22:00,235 --> 00:22:03,530 She mentioned that she had known him for years. 332 00:22:03,613 --> 00:22:06,950 So if you had known someone for many years, 333 00:22:07,534 --> 00:22:11,288 why wouldn't you call the police if they have a seizure? 334 00:22:13,749 --> 00:22:16,793 [Jennifer] And, also, I still wonder about the guy that she was with 335 00:22:16,877 --> 00:22:18,962 who wanted to sell the motorcycle. 336 00:22:19,671 --> 00:22:20,797 Where was this guy? 337 00:22:22,007 --> 00:22:23,508 He was never interviewed. 338 00:22:24,468 --> 00:22:25,886 Where is the motorcycle? 339 00:22:28,472 --> 00:22:33,477 Another thing, my father checks in at the motel at 8:22 p.m. 340 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:37,397 However, his room was accessed seven minutes before he got there 341 00:22:37,481 --> 00:22:38,732 by a guest room key. 342 00:22:38,815 --> 00:22:41,610 There was a key swipe, meaning the room had been entered 343 00:22:41,693 --> 00:22:44,154 shortly prior to Buffalo going in. 344 00:22:45,864 --> 00:22:48,658 [Jennifer] It was late in the evening. Could it have been a maid? 345 00:22:49,493 --> 00:22:51,036 Highly unlikely. 346 00:22:52,162 --> 00:22:54,289 Maids usually work in the afternoon. 347 00:22:55,707 --> 00:22:59,336 Also, on the key access report, 348 00:22:59,419 --> 00:23:02,798 it identifies which key is being used. 349 00:23:02,881 --> 00:23:05,801 Like, if it's a manager's key, a housekeeping key. 350 00:23:05,884 --> 00:23:08,095 It said it was a guest key. 351 00:23:08,762 --> 00:23:13,558 That tells me that someone was in the room waiting for him to check in. 352 00:23:13,642 --> 00:23:18,855 We just are in shock that that wasn't investigated or looked into 353 00:23:18,939 --> 00:23:23,860 as possible foul play, and that is alarming to us. 354 00:23:28,740 --> 00:23:32,160 [Jennifer] When my father was found dead on the Motel 6 bed, 355 00:23:32,702 --> 00:23:35,372 he had a one-dollar bill in his wallet folded. 356 00:23:35,914 --> 00:23:38,208 He never folded money in his wallet. 357 00:23:39,042 --> 00:23:41,837 My father was known to carry large amounts of cash. 358 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,589 Why was my father left with a one-dollar bill? 359 00:23:45,340 --> 00:23:49,302 I had heard that that's a very notorious mob hit sign. 360 00:23:49,386 --> 00:23:54,224 The message behind having a dollar left in his wallet was a message of, 361 00:23:54,307 --> 00:23:58,186 "Hey, we got you. Hey, this is a hit. Joke's on you." 362 00:23:59,813 --> 00:24:02,983 [reporter] Barrier's longtime friend, former councilman Steve Miller, 363 00:24:03,066 --> 00:24:04,526 suspects foul play 364 00:24:04,609 --> 00:24:07,863 and says Barrier had received death threats in recent days. 365 00:24:10,365 --> 00:24:11,700 [Jennifer] Before he died, 366 00:24:12,617 --> 00:24:15,162 there were numerous death threats my father had received, 367 00:24:15,245 --> 00:24:16,872 and they came in various forms. 368 00:24:19,166 --> 00:24:23,086 [Jerica] The first time I noticed that my father was getting 369 00:24:23,170 --> 00:24:26,131 threat letters and threat calls 370 00:24:26,214 --> 00:24:28,592 was two years before he passed on. 371 00:24:28,675 --> 00:24:30,594 He'd get phone calls… 372 00:24:30,677 --> 00:24:32,637 [phone ringing] 373 00:24:32,721 --> 00:24:36,141 [Jerica] …at his office from unknown numbers, 374 00:24:36,641 --> 00:24:40,061 with a male screaming in the phone, 375 00:24:40,145 --> 00:24:42,481 "I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!" 376 00:24:46,151 --> 00:24:50,155 I used to tell him, "Dad! Oh my gosh! You're getting threats! Are you worried?" 377 00:24:50,238 --> 00:24:53,867 He's like, "No, no, no, I'm just…" You know, "I just laughed it off." 378 00:24:53,950 --> 00:24:55,619 "I just have to be careful." 379 00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:57,412 "Watch my back." 380 00:24:58,330 --> 00:24:59,915 He said, "I will not back down 381 00:24:59,998 --> 00:25:02,501 and let anyone take anything away from me." 382 00:25:03,627 --> 00:25:06,129 The death threats that my father received 383 00:25:06,213 --> 00:25:08,423 were believed to come from the long-standing feud 384 00:25:08,507 --> 00:25:14,095 between a neighboring business, The Crazy Horse Too, and my father. 385 00:25:14,179 --> 00:25:17,140 The Crazy Horse Too was a gentlemen's club. 386 00:25:17,224 --> 00:25:19,351 [sensual club music playing] 387 00:25:19,434 --> 00:25:22,854 [Steve] It was right next door to Buffalo's garage. 388 00:25:25,273 --> 00:25:29,277 And it was ultimately the most successful club the city could ever have imagined. 389 00:25:30,445 --> 00:25:33,573 It was owned by a man named Rick Rizzolo. 390 00:25:36,493 --> 00:25:39,496 [Gus] Rick Rizzolo had a reputation around Las Vegas 391 00:25:39,579 --> 00:25:44,543 as not a nice person to folks that were adverse to him. 392 00:25:45,377 --> 00:25:49,923 There was some rumors of mob involvement with the Crazy Horse. 393 00:25:50,465 --> 00:25:53,051 Some of it been substantiated? Yes. 394 00:25:54,553 --> 00:25:57,097 [Steve] The feud started about maybe 1998 395 00:25:57,180 --> 00:26:01,393 when Buffalo wouldn't relinquish his space 396 00:26:01,476 --> 00:26:03,937 for the expansion of the Crazy Horse Too, 397 00:26:04,020 --> 00:26:05,397 and it just got worse. 398 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:07,065 They wanna move me out, 399 00:26:07,148 --> 00:26:09,693 and I've got four children to feed, and I don't think so. 400 00:26:10,944 --> 00:26:15,615 It was probably worth a million and a half to move him out of there, correctly, 401 00:26:15,699 --> 00:26:17,534 but they were offering him zip. 402 00:26:18,034 --> 00:26:20,036 Buffalo says, "Why should I move?" 403 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:22,247 "If you're not gonna pay me, I'm staying." 404 00:26:22,330 --> 00:26:25,542 And that's when the problems arose, from that moment forward. 405 00:26:29,546 --> 00:26:31,548 [Gus] He's got an Auto Marine store, 406 00:26:31,631 --> 00:26:35,677 and so, like any other mechanic, people leave their car overnight. 407 00:26:39,472 --> 00:26:42,392 [Jennifer] There was a lot of vandalism that occurred at the shop. 408 00:26:44,519 --> 00:26:46,021 My father would leave for the night. 409 00:26:46,104 --> 00:26:48,982 The next day he would come and, you know, show up at the shop, 410 00:26:49,065 --> 00:26:50,775 and cars were damaged… 411 00:26:53,445 --> 00:26:54,821 tires were flattened. 412 00:26:56,156 --> 00:26:57,616 My father would lose business. 413 00:26:58,491 --> 00:27:00,118 It was an ongoing battle. 414 00:27:00,201 --> 00:27:04,956 My father had to come out of his pocket to repair any damages that had been done. 415 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,125 [reporter] Auto mechanic Jim Barrier says 416 00:27:07,208 --> 00:27:10,754 the topless club has brought nothing but trouble to the neighborhood. 417 00:27:10,837 --> 00:27:13,298 [Buffalo Jim] They put in phony fire lanes, 418 00:27:13,381 --> 00:27:16,885 use city parking enforcement to come by and ticket only my customers. 419 00:27:20,180 --> 00:27:21,598 [Steve] Over the years, 420 00:27:21,681 --> 00:27:25,852 the club had begun to really develop this reputation for violence. 421 00:27:27,771 --> 00:27:34,110 There was a lot of talk about bouncers who were beating up some of the patrons. 422 00:27:34,194 --> 00:27:39,366 [reporter] One of the alleged victims is this man, Kirk Henry, a Kansas tourist 423 00:27:39,449 --> 00:27:41,368 who said he had his neck broken 424 00:27:41,451 --> 00:27:45,205 after a night of lap dances and drinking at the Crazy Horse. 425 00:27:46,164 --> 00:27:49,876 [Gus] There was a host of things that were alleged, 426 00:27:49,959 --> 00:27:52,128 a lot of them documented that were occurring. 427 00:27:52,212 --> 00:27:55,006 And it got to the point where now 428 00:27:55,090 --> 00:27:57,884 Buffalo's got a tremendous amount of damage. 429 00:27:57,967 --> 00:27:59,219 And it was getting up there 430 00:27:59,302 --> 00:28:01,763 in the hundreds of thousands of dollars over time here. 431 00:28:02,764 --> 00:28:07,143 And so with all this lost income and the interference with his business, 432 00:28:07,227 --> 00:28:11,981 and intentional infliction of emotional distress on Buffalo, 433 00:28:13,108 --> 00:28:17,654 I did file a lawsuit on Buffalo's behalf for a million dollars on this matter 434 00:28:17,737 --> 00:28:19,531 to try to get him some relief. 435 00:28:21,366 --> 00:28:23,618 While this lawsuit went forward, 436 00:28:24,244 --> 00:28:28,540 it came out that sometime about 1995, 437 00:28:28,623 --> 00:28:33,753 the feds had actually been taking a look at the Crazy Horse 438 00:28:33,837 --> 00:28:37,215 before Buffalo was even having his battle with them. 439 00:28:47,684 --> 00:28:52,772 [Robert Clymer] I was assigned to work the organized crime program with the FBI. 440 00:28:56,609 --> 00:29:00,947 And back in the '80s, and '90s, and 2000s, 441 00:29:01,030 --> 00:29:05,285 the mafia was involved in running these various strip clubs around town. 442 00:29:06,619 --> 00:29:13,084 Strip clubs make more money per square foot than a casino. 443 00:29:15,670 --> 00:29:19,674 For the most part, it's cash. Nobody paid taxes on any of this money. 444 00:29:21,259 --> 00:29:26,347 One of the places in Las Vegas where you could find representation 445 00:29:26,431 --> 00:29:31,144 of every single mafia family in the United States 446 00:29:31,227 --> 00:29:33,688 was in the Crazy Horse Too, 447 00:29:33,772 --> 00:29:38,526 and Buffalo Jim's auto garage was next door. 448 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:46,493 So we had an ongoing investigation because they, at the club, 449 00:29:46,576 --> 00:29:50,747 were involved in tax evasion, extortion, 450 00:29:50,830 --> 00:29:54,876 and various other types of illegal activities. 451 00:29:54,959 --> 00:29:59,339 [reporter] Numerous employees of the Crazy Horse have come under FBI scrutiny. 452 00:29:59,422 --> 00:30:01,466 The club's owner, Rick Rizzolo, 453 00:30:01,549 --> 00:30:05,094 freely admits hiring people with criminal backgrounds, 454 00:30:05,178 --> 00:30:10,225 but he has denied engaging in any criminal wrongdoing at the club. 455 00:30:13,770 --> 00:30:18,900 [Gus] During that timeframe, Buffalo was supplying the FBI information 456 00:30:18,983 --> 00:30:21,402 about what was going on at the Crazy Horse. 457 00:30:21,486 --> 00:30:25,073 Buffalo Jim was sending us boxes of evidence, 458 00:30:25,156 --> 00:30:28,409 usually on a weekly basis, 459 00:30:28,493 --> 00:30:32,038 for I would say approximately two years. 460 00:30:32,539 --> 00:30:36,167 He would write down what people told him and send it in to us. 461 00:30:36,918 --> 00:30:38,461 It was very helpful. 462 00:30:41,422 --> 00:30:44,551 On February 20th, 2003, 463 00:30:45,426 --> 00:30:49,097 we executed the search warrant on the Crazy Horse Too. 464 00:30:52,058 --> 00:30:54,269 We had two SWAT teams 465 00:30:55,728 --> 00:30:59,023 and, like, 80 or 100 agents. 466 00:31:00,233 --> 00:31:01,985 [Buffalo Jim] It's been a long time coming. 467 00:31:02,068 --> 00:31:03,528 There's been a lot of problems here 468 00:31:03,611 --> 00:31:05,572 since the day the Crazy Horse Too moved in. 469 00:31:07,574 --> 00:31:10,910 [Jennifer] After all these years, they're finally getting this guy. 470 00:31:13,580 --> 00:31:16,416 [Gus] Sometime in about 2006, 471 00:31:16,499 --> 00:31:18,167 there was a plea deal reached 472 00:31:18,251 --> 00:31:22,797 where Rick Rizzolo would plead to income tax evasion. 473 00:31:22,881 --> 00:31:26,217 And then in early 2007, 474 00:31:26,301 --> 00:31:29,470 Rick Rizzolo was sentenced to a year and a day. 475 00:31:30,471 --> 00:31:33,933 [Jerica] My father felt relief that Rizzolo had gone to prison, 476 00:31:34,017 --> 00:31:39,355 knowing that Rizzolo had caused him and my family much turmoil. 477 00:31:39,439 --> 00:31:42,066 He always reassured me that everything would be okay, 478 00:31:42,150 --> 00:31:46,237 that I would always be protected, and that I would always be safe. 479 00:31:48,406 --> 00:31:52,827 [Gus] Unfortunately, Rick Rizzolo only served ten months for good behavior. 480 00:31:52,911 --> 00:31:58,750 So he got out in March 2008 481 00:31:59,459 --> 00:32:01,711 and went into house arrest. 482 00:32:03,087 --> 00:32:06,507 [reporter] Days before Buffalo Jim's mysterious death in a motel room, 483 00:32:06,591 --> 00:32:10,178 his longtime nemesis, crooked club owner Rick Rizzolo, 484 00:32:10,261 --> 00:32:11,971 was released from federal prison. 485 00:32:12,055 --> 00:32:17,810 Rick Rizzolo's house arrest only lasted a week, till April 4th, 2008. 486 00:32:18,686 --> 00:32:22,482 Buffalo died on April 5th. 487 00:32:24,233 --> 00:32:28,571 You know, Rizzolo gets out of prison, and Buffalo's dead next day. 488 00:32:29,447 --> 00:32:31,908 You know, "What the eff here?" Something's up. 489 00:32:33,868 --> 00:32:36,454 [Steve] Another really strange coincidence. 490 00:32:37,497 --> 00:32:41,125 I was told that Lisa, the woman in the motel room, 491 00:32:41,209 --> 00:32:44,087 she was a stripper, and she worked at the Crazy Horse Too, 492 00:32:44,170 --> 00:32:45,505 and had for many years. 493 00:32:46,255 --> 00:32:49,801 If she worked at the Crazy Horse, she had to know Rick Rizzolo. 494 00:32:52,261 --> 00:32:57,600 And Buffalo ends up dead that night with Lisa in the motel. 495 00:32:59,060 --> 00:33:01,771 This leads me to believe she was part of the plan 496 00:33:01,854 --> 00:33:03,147 to set my father up. 497 00:33:05,566 --> 00:33:08,277 [Jerica] There was another thing that alarmed me 498 00:33:09,153 --> 00:33:12,657 and made me feel that something was not right. 499 00:33:14,867 --> 00:33:18,705 After we got the call from the police that our father was found dead, 500 00:33:18,788 --> 00:33:21,666 my sister and I drove around this entire building here 501 00:33:21,749 --> 00:33:23,751 looking for our father's vehicle, 502 00:33:23,835 --> 00:33:26,004 and we didn't see it anywhere. 503 00:33:26,587 --> 00:33:30,800 His Rolls-Royce was his favorite prized possession. 504 00:33:32,802 --> 00:33:36,305 And so we asked the police officer, "Where's the car?" 505 00:33:38,182 --> 00:33:42,228 And the police officer said, "Well, we don't know where the car is." 506 00:33:44,647 --> 00:33:47,275 [Jennifer] You can see it's a very small parking lot. 507 00:33:48,317 --> 00:33:51,821 You can't miss a Rolls-Royce anywhere in this parking lot. 508 00:33:51,904 --> 00:33:53,990 There's no hidden spots anywhere. 509 00:33:55,658 --> 00:33:56,784 Where is it? 510 00:33:59,162 --> 00:34:03,124 [Lewis] On April 6th, 2008, the day the body was found, 511 00:34:03,207 --> 00:34:07,754 police released room 105 back to Motel 6 management. 512 00:34:08,921 --> 00:34:10,673 Then at 5:30, 513 00:34:10,757 --> 00:34:15,303 Mr. Barrier's Rolls-Royce is located in the parking lot of Motel 6 514 00:34:15,386 --> 00:34:18,639 after officers previously could not find it. 515 00:34:20,308 --> 00:34:21,934 [Jennifer] Elise received a call 516 00:34:22,018 --> 00:34:24,604 from a sergeant at Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. 517 00:34:24,687 --> 00:34:26,272 And they said the car is there. 518 00:34:26,898 --> 00:34:29,358 She's like, "What do you mean 'the car's there'? It wasn't." 519 00:34:29,442 --> 00:34:30,359 "The car's there." 520 00:34:31,903 --> 00:34:34,739 [Jerica] There was so much confusion about it. 521 00:34:34,822 --> 00:34:37,742 The police have started a missing car report, 522 00:34:38,701 --> 00:34:41,245 and then the car just shows up in a few hours. 523 00:34:42,872 --> 00:34:45,333 [Lewis] I don't know what happened to the vehicle. 524 00:34:45,416 --> 00:34:49,670 Maybe they, you know, didn't see it earlier in the day. 525 00:34:50,463 --> 00:34:53,424 Maybe somebody had access to the vehicle. 526 00:34:56,219 --> 00:34:58,805 [reporter] Barrier's car was searched by Metro. 527 00:34:58,888 --> 00:35:02,391 That search did not turn up any suspicious evidence. 528 00:35:03,601 --> 00:35:06,395 [Gus] No prints, no hairs, nothing. 529 00:35:07,188 --> 00:35:09,190 It's just very strange. 530 00:35:09,273 --> 00:35:12,193 There's quite a few things that just… 531 00:35:13,069 --> 00:35:17,156 I think maybe there should have been a deeper and harder look at this. 532 00:35:19,158 --> 00:35:22,411 [Jennifer] Something else that is a huge inconsistency in the case 533 00:35:22,495 --> 00:35:26,541 is that there are two phones that are listed on the police report, 534 00:35:26,624 --> 00:35:28,751 and they were not my father's phone. 535 00:35:29,961 --> 00:35:31,671 This was my father's phone. 536 00:35:32,213 --> 00:35:35,383 This phone is not listed on the police report at all. 537 00:35:36,134 --> 00:35:40,304 There's a phone that's shown. It's a silver phone. 538 00:35:40,388 --> 00:35:43,599 They have it listed on the report, but we never received it, 539 00:35:43,683 --> 00:35:46,561 nor do we know our dad even having this phone. 540 00:35:46,644 --> 00:35:50,606 So whose phone is this? And why was it in his room? 541 00:35:52,316 --> 00:35:56,237 And this is the front entrance to the infamous Crazy Horse Too nightclub. 542 00:35:56,320 --> 00:36:00,116 Jim Barrier's relatives are convinced that the former club owner here 543 00:36:00,199 --> 00:36:03,953 may have somehow played a role in what happened to Barrier. 544 00:36:05,288 --> 00:36:08,708 [Jennifer] I talked to my father that Thursday before he passed away, 545 00:36:09,375 --> 00:36:12,003 and he goes, "Rick Rizzolo just got out of prison." 546 00:36:13,296 --> 00:36:15,756 My father told me that if they were to get him, 547 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:18,509 specifically the Crazy Horse Too people, 548 00:36:19,468 --> 00:36:22,847 "They would make it look like I died of a drug overdose with women." 549 00:36:23,681 --> 00:36:26,142 That was my last conversation with my father. 550 00:36:29,478 --> 00:36:32,565 And also my father received a letter the day he died. 551 00:36:33,983 --> 00:36:35,484 And it says, "Mr. Barrier, 552 00:36:35,568 --> 00:36:39,030 meetings have been taking place at various locations around town 553 00:36:39,113 --> 00:36:40,406 by Rick Rizzolo." 554 00:36:40,489 --> 00:36:42,867 "Be careful. He's up to no good." 555 00:36:42,950 --> 00:36:45,369 "He's using people to get close to you." 556 00:36:45,453 --> 00:36:49,081 "He discussed using a female to get access to your business." 557 00:36:50,124 --> 00:36:53,085 [reporter] Over the weekend, the body of the 55-year-old Barrier 558 00:36:53,169 --> 00:36:56,172 was found in a motel room on the Boulder Highway. 559 00:36:56,255 --> 00:36:59,217 Metro says there will be no formal investigation. 560 00:37:00,092 --> 00:37:03,179 You're always supposed to look at any possible suspects. 561 00:37:03,262 --> 00:37:05,514 [phone ringing] 562 00:37:05,598 --> 00:37:08,226 [Lary] If it is true that he had anonymous threats 563 00:37:08,309 --> 00:37:12,313 and that there were a number of negative things done to his business, 564 00:37:12,396 --> 00:37:14,273 and then they wind up dead, 565 00:37:15,816 --> 00:37:17,610 there's enough there to investigate. 566 00:37:19,904 --> 00:37:21,656 [Gus] When Buffalo died, 567 00:37:21,739 --> 00:37:25,076 the lawsuit against Rick Rizzolo died with him. 568 00:37:26,118 --> 00:37:28,412 You just can't lose your star witness. 569 00:37:28,996 --> 00:37:31,040 You know, the case was strong with him alive. 570 00:37:31,123 --> 00:37:33,793 With him not alive, it wasn't a very strong case. 571 00:37:35,378 --> 00:37:38,923 [Jennifer] My father made enemies with some very powerful people, 572 00:37:39,006 --> 00:37:41,634 and I do believe he was murdered for that. 573 00:37:46,055 --> 00:37:52,103 My theory would be that they got him into a vulnerable situation. 574 00:37:52,645 --> 00:37:54,689 Maybe they forced cocaine into him. 575 00:37:56,148 --> 00:37:58,192 [Lary] In Mr. Barrier's case, there's no doubt 576 00:37:58,276 --> 00:38:01,237 that there could be something in his system that we didn't detect. 577 00:38:02,822 --> 00:38:07,743 The possibilities would be that somehow he was either forced in some way 578 00:38:07,827 --> 00:38:12,206 to take cocaine at a level that was… that he was not used to, 579 00:38:12,290 --> 00:38:14,500 or he was tricked 580 00:38:14,583 --> 00:38:18,838 because definitely cocaine can come in different concentrations 581 00:38:18,921 --> 00:38:20,715 when you buy it on the street. 582 00:38:20,798 --> 00:38:23,217 [laughs] You don't exactly know how strong it is. 583 00:38:23,884 --> 00:38:27,221 [Jennifer] I think my father did get lured out by that woman, Lisa. 584 00:38:28,431 --> 00:38:29,890 We don't know what really happened. 585 00:38:29,974 --> 00:38:33,060 What was the trajectory of how he ended up at the motel? We don't know. 586 00:38:34,395 --> 00:38:37,773 It wasn't investigated properly for us to be able to tell. 587 00:38:40,651 --> 00:38:44,613 [Steve] So many people tell me that as a get-out-of-jail gift, 588 00:38:45,156 --> 00:38:47,575 somebody's decided to get rid of Buffalo. 589 00:38:47,658 --> 00:38:51,370 That would have been the biggest favor anybody could have done for Rick Rizzolo. 590 00:38:52,246 --> 00:38:53,998 Who knows if it happened? 591 00:38:54,623 --> 00:38:57,793 The whole thing has got a bad smell to it. 592 00:38:59,420 --> 00:39:03,132 He died under highly, highly suspicious circumstances. 593 00:39:04,508 --> 00:39:06,844 This needs to be looked at as a murder. 594 00:39:09,096 --> 00:39:12,224 [Robert] I think that timing is very suspicious. 595 00:39:13,434 --> 00:39:19,940 I don't know if Buffalo Jim ingested that cocaine willingly or not, 596 00:39:20,024 --> 00:39:25,613 but I am left with more questions than answers. 597 00:39:39,627 --> 00:39:43,464 [Steve] In September 2006, the Crazy Horse finally closed 598 00:39:43,547 --> 00:39:46,133 after its liquor license was revoked. 599 00:39:48,177 --> 00:39:50,388 And by August 2019, 600 00:39:50,471 --> 00:39:54,308 the building had fallen into a state of very serious disrepair. 601 00:39:54,392 --> 00:39:57,520 It had been broken into by vagrants and was finally condemned. 602 00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:03,192 [Robert] After Buffalo's death, 603 00:40:03,275 --> 00:40:09,532 Jennifer Barrier took it upon herself to run Buffalo's shop, you know, 604 00:40:09,615 --> 00:40:13,369 to finish those ongoing projects, those vehicles. 605 00:40:15,329 --> 00:40:18,582 Then the auto shop closed eventually. 606 00:40:22,753 --> 00:40:26,340 [Steve] Here in Las Vegas, we lost our most colorful character. 607 00:40:27,508 --> 00:40:30,886 He's just a big lug that everybody loved… 608 00:40:32,430 --> 00:40:33,431 and funny, 609 00:40:33,931 --> 00:40:37,351 and it just made a hole in our city when he died 610 00:40:37,435 --> 00:40:39,603 that we'll never be able to fill. 611 00:40:43,482 --> 00:40:44,483 [Jerica] Hi! 612 00:40:44,567 --> 00:40:47,445 -[Johny] Baby Buff! Good to see you! -[indistinct chatter] 613 00:40:47,528 --> 00:40:49,864 Buffalo had a way about him. 614 00:40:49,947 --> 00:40:53,617 When he was there, people followed him. 615 00:40:53,701 --> 00:40:58,205 He loved to be Buffalo Jim, and that made him happy. 616 00:40:59,748 --> 00:41:01,333 I miss him a lot. 617 00:41:02,918 --> 00:41:08,090 I hope his daughters know that they meant so much to him, 618 00:41:08,174 --> 00:41:10,342 and he would be very proud of them. 619 00:41:11,802 --> 00:41:13,804 He, he really loved the girls. 620 00:41:19,185 --> 00:41:22,521 [Jerica] The past 13 years has been… 621 00:41:23,647 --> 00:41:25,357 very difficult. 622 00:41:26,108 --> 00:41:29,403 I lost my best friend. I lost my father. 623 00:41:29,487 --> 00:41:34,033 I felt alone for many years after he passed. 624 00:41:37,328 --> 00:41:40,789 [Jennifer] In 1999, my father and I drove up to Mount Charleston. 625 00:41:40,873 --> 00:41:43,250 It's a place we went up to every couple of months. 626 00:41:43,334 --> 00:41:46,587 And we were sitting at the lodge drinking hot chocolate together. 627 00:41:48,047 --> 00:41:49,798 And my father said to me, 628 00:41:49,882 --> 00:41:52,551 "If anything were to ever happen to me, would you stand up?" 629 00:41:52,635 --> 00:41:55,137 And I said, "Yeah. Yeah, but what does that mean?" 630 00:41:56,764 --> 00:41:58,641 I now know what that meant. 631 00:42:00,809 --> 00:42:03,312 There are people out there that know the truth. 632 00:42:03,938 --> 00:42:06,315 I hope they come forward and talk to us. 633 00:42:07,816 --> 00:42:10,694 We just wanna know what happened to our father. 634 00:42:15,616 --> 00:42:17,618 [mysterious music playing]