James Barrier

James "Buffalo Jim" Barrier (March 22, 1953 – April 6, 2008), born in Cleveland, Ohio, was a local wrestling promoter in Las Vegas. His legal struggle with business owner and landlord Frederick "Rick" Rizzolo, who owned land occupied by Barrier's auto repair business, was covered by the media during the early 2000s.[1]

For the American Olympic skier, see Jim Barrier.
"Buffalo Jim" Barrier
Born
James Barrier “Buffalo Jim”

(1953-03-22)March 22, 1953
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedApril 6, 2008(2008-04-06) (aged 55)
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
OccupationWrestling Promoter, Television Personality, Entrepreneur

Career

Barrier moved to Las Vegas in 1971 from Cleveland, Ohio.  He later opened an auto repair shop, Allstate Auto & Marine, on Industrial Road, near the Las Vegas Strip.  The business was in operation until his death in 2008.  In the 1980s and 1990s, he opened and operated a wrestling school, the Buffalo Wrestling Federation.  The school was sometimes the site of his popular local TV show, Jim Wars, that aired on Friday nights.  In addition to his auto repair business, wrestling school, and television show, Barrier wrote a weekly column on auto repair for the now defunct Las Vegas Mercury entitled “Nuts and Bold with Buffalo Jim.”

As a wrestling promoter, auto repair specialist, and entrepreneur, Barrier befriended numerous celebrities.  Among them are Hulk Hogan, the Undertaker,[2] boxer Muhammad Ali, and wrestling and film star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.[3] Barrier also possessed a large collection of celebrity memorabilia,[3] from vehicles to a lock of musician Elvis Presley’s hair.  In addition to smaller pieces in his collection, Barrier also sported a car collection that included a Jensen Interceptor once owned by singer Wayne Newton and a pink Cadillac that was later borrowed by musician Kid Rock as part of his proposal to Pamela Anderson in Las Vegas in 2002.[4]

Personal life

In 2005, Barrier was voted “Las Vegas’ Most Colorful Character” by the Las Vegas Review Journal, describing him as “a modern Renaissance man.”[5]  He was also single father of four daughters.

Barrier was known in Las Vegas, because of media coverage, for winning a lengthy court dispute about parking spaces[6][7] with his neighbor and landlord, Rick Rizzolo, former owner of the Crazy Horse Too gentlemen's club, located next door to Barrier's repair shop. Rizzolo was court ordered to sell the nightclub to satisfy debts. When the business did not sell, the U.S. Marshals Service seized the bar in September 2007, forcing its eventual closure.[8] Rizzolo was released in late-March 2008 after serving a year in a federal prison on a racketeering and tax evasion conviction in U.S. Federal court.[9]

Because of the government taking over the property, Barrier was forced to move. He was working with real estate professionals to secure a new location before he died.[10][11][12]

Death

On the morning of April 6, 2008, the body of James Barrier was found in a Motel 6 on Boulder Highway, an older section of Las Vegas near a residential area.  According to police, Barrier was found lying in bed, face up, with an empty prescription bottle of Valium on the nightstand and his pants pulled down around his ankles.[13]  A woman only known as "Lisa"[14] that was in the room with Barrier that night told police that Barrier had a seizure, however she did not report it at the time and left as his seizure occurred.[13][15]  The official cause of death was ruled accidental, citing dilated cardiomyopathy.  Between April 2008 and June 2008, statements by then-Clark County Coroner Michael Murphy, also stated traces of cocaine in Barrier’s toxicology reports as a contributing factor to his death.[16] Additionally, 20 mg of GHB in Barrier’s system, but was not seen as a factor leading to his death.[17]

Suspicion of foul play

While Barrier's death was ruled accidental by officials, friends and family have publicly stated that Barrier's death was a murder and remains unsolved.[5][15][18][19][20] Barrier's supporters and loved ones point to the following as evidence of foul play:

Release of Rick Rizzolo from prison

The Las Vegas Review Journal observed the following: "Barrier assisted the federal government in its investigation into tax evasion at Crazy Horse Too. Rizzolo pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges and spent one year and one day in custody. He was formally released April 4, two days before Barrier was found dead."[21]

With Barrier's death coming so soon after the release of Rizzolo (a man with whom Barrier had numerous battles in court with over parking spaces, the obstacle of his auto shop interrupting Rizzolo's expansion plans, and Barrier's close work with the FBI prior to Rizzolo's trial and imprisonment),[22] family and friends have speculated that Barrier's death is related to the release of the owner of the notorious club.

Death threats

In the weeks and days before his death, Barrier had received death threats via phone and letters addressed to his auto repair shop.[15]  On April 5, 2008, the day before his death, Barrier stated he received a phone call from someone identifying himself as a hitman and threatened to kill him.[15]

In a first-person article for Las Vegas Weekly, journalist and Barrier friend Joshua Longobardy included a conversation he’d had with Barrier before Barrier's death:[15]

[Barrier] had already been on high alert. His concerns for his safety had exacerbated with the knowledge that Rick Rizzolo, the former owner of the Crazy Horse Too gentlemen’s club, who federal authorities allege has ties with organized crime families, and against whom Barrier helped solidify a federal case that resulted in a one-year prison sentence, had been released to the free world the day before. For this reason Barrier had also called me on Friday evening. Earlier in the day he had received a phone call from a self-described hit man, and though Barrier didn’t believe anyone would attack him face to face, he did express concern about an alternative form of attack. Because I spoke to Barrier on a weekly basis, and because I had always known him to be a sensible man, I deemed his worries generally valid, and told him so. “Be aware of ambushes,” I said. He countered by stating his presentiment that his enemies—in name, the Rizzolo family and their associates—would try to get him through a stratagem. “They’re gonna try to do it through a woman,” he said. “Or they’re gonna try to drug me.”

Days after Barrier was found dead, Gus Flangas, an acquaintance and attorney for Barrier, was quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal saying, "All I can say is the circumstances (surrounding Barrier’s death) seem suspicious; obviously it will warrant further investigation."[23]

Auto shop break-in

A break-in occurred at Barrier's auto shop the day Rizzolo was released from prison.  Nothing was taken, but a sheet of paper containing his home address was prominently displayed on his desk, amid the refuse.[24]  Friends and family theorize that this was a statement being made that someone was telling Barrier that they knew where he lived.[24]

Missing vehicle

The keys to Barrier’s Rolls Royce were in the room with him. However, the car was not seen in the parking lot when his two youngest daughters were brought to the room at the Motel 6 to identify his body.  The vehicle, which he had driven from his home to the Motel 6, was originally owned by casino developer Bob Stupak and was seized by Barrier after non-payment by Stupak for repair services.[12]  After the Barrier family questioned police about the whereabouts of the Rolls Royce, it was later found in the Motel 6 parking lot in an area that had been previously searched and did not originally contain his vehicle.  It has also been cleaned.[15]

Independent Autopsy and Coroner Investigation

Despite concerns voiced by the family and friends of James Barrier, the Clark County Coroner and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department investigators did not suspect foul play in the death of Barrier.[22] It was also stated by police officials that fingerprints were never taken at the scene of Barrier's death.[25]

A preliminary report to Barrier's family stated there were no signs of drugs or a heart attack in Barrier's body[21] A later autopsy report later stated that Barrier died of dilated cardiomyopathy (inflamed heart muscles). The Las Vegas Review Journal reported the following from then-Clark County Coroner Michael Murphy, DBA:

"Simms’ preliminary report indicated there were no signs of a heart attack, fueling the family’s belief that Barrier died under suspicious circumstances.

Murphy said that when an individual dies from a heart attack, the heart muscle is dead.

Barrier had no dead muscles but had heart disease. In medical terms, he died from a heart disease combined with cocaine use, Murphy said, clarifying Simms’ findings."[26]

Not satisfied with the findings of the Clark County Coroner, Barrier’s family hired independent pathologist Dr. Rexene Worrell to perform an autopsy.[27]  Barrier’s family was promised photographs, video, audio, and notes documenting the examination upon completion of the autopsy.  Once completed, however, Worrell declined to provide the family with the findings,[15] saying, “I need to hold on to the file in case it goes to court.”  As of 2018, 10 years after the independent autopsy, the information obtained by Worrell concerning Barrier’s body had yet to be released to the family.

In an effort to determine if Barrier had a recent history of drug use, Barrier's family requested that his body be exhumed to test hair samples from his body for drugs. The Clark County Coroner's office stated they had no plans to exhume Barrier's body and that such an action could only be done at the request of law enforcement for a criminal prosecution.[28]

Funeral and burial

Barrier's funeral was on April 12, 2008 at the Palm Downtown Mortuary and Cemetery. The following is a description of the mourners who came to show their respects:

Before he was to be buried, four weeks ago, the great multitudes filed into the Palms Mortuary in the old part of Las Vegas to see Buffalo Jim Barrier one final time. They arrived in endless droves: midgets, wrestlers, Hells Angels, Native American Indians of unadulterated descent, lawyers, journalists, world-renowned neurosurgeons—the lame and the homeless—politicians, bankers, television executives, men who had more money than God, boxers, leviathans, Elvis impersonators, those like Buffalo who fixed cars and who arrived with fresh grease smeared across their jumpsuits, sinners, celebrities, folks as old as Vegas itself and young babes just born into the city this Spring.[15]

Barrier’s grave is located at the Palm Downtown Cemetery at 36.184451, -115.135685.

References
  1. John L. Smith column, 2000, 'Buffalo Jim' even manages to make litigation colorfulArchived June 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Bearer, Percy Pringle Iii-Paul (2008-04-09). "Percy's Posts: "Buffalo Jim" Is Dead..." Percy's Posts. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  3. Dagfinn Røed, In memory of Buffalo Jim, retrieved 2018-12-21
  4. "Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee take Vegas together - Las Vegas Weekly". lasvegasweekly.com. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  5. "'Buffalo' Jim Barrier Found Dead in Motel Room". LASVEGASNOW. 2008-04-07. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  6. "Las Vegas CityLife: Barrier vs. Rizzolo battle continues". Archived from the original on 2013-01-28. Retrieved 2008-05-23.
  7. Rick Porrello's - AmericanMafia.com - Steve Miller - Inside Vegas
  8. Buyers sign $30 million deal for topless club - Las Vegas Sun
  9. SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Nation - Liquor shut off, strip club stays open pending sale in Las Vegas
  10. Las Vegas Citylife, "An unlikely hero, a strange death"
  11. German, Jeff (2008-04-07). ""Buffalo" Jim found dead in hotel room - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper". lasvegassun.com. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  12. "Vegas mags, reminder: don't mess with Italian dudes that own strip clubs". www.tetongravity.com. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
  13. German, Jeff (2008-05-27). "Buffalo Jim death ruled accidental; cocaine contributed to death - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper". lasvegassun.com. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  14. "'BUFFALO JIM' FAMILY MEMBERS UNSATISFIED". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2008-12-31. Retrieved 2018-12-22.
  15. "Larger than life - Las Vegas Weekly". lasvegasweekly.com. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  16. "Cause of James "Buffalo Jim" Barrier's Death Revealed". LASVEGASNOW. 2008-05-27. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  17. German, Jeff (2008-06-26). "Metro has suspect in courthouse graffiti case - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper". lasvegassun.com. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  18. "Larger-than-life character 'Buffalo Jim' Barrier meets untimely end". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  19. "King's Long Time Friend 'Buffalo' Jim Barrier Found Dead in Motel Room". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  20. "Buffalo Jim Won't Come Out Tonight". Living Las Vegas. 2008-04-08. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  21. "Barrier family talks to coroner". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  22. German, Jeff (2008-04-07). ""Buffalo" Jim found dead in hotel room". LasVegasSun.com. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  23. "Family, friends suspect foul play in death of 'Buffalo Jim'". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  24. "Chilling message for 'Buffalo Jim'". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  25. "Family says private investigator needed". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  26. "Cocaine use played role in Barrier death". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2008-05-29. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  27. German, Jeff (2008-04-15). "Police: No evidence 'Buffalo' Jim was killed - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper". lasvegassun.com. Retrieved 2018-12-21.
  28. "Coroner's office has no plans to exhume James 'Buffalo Jim' Barrier's body". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
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