Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Water agency’s ad perhaps guilty of typecasting
For the guy who plays a biker in the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s new ad campaign, the role apparently wasn’t much of a stretch.
In January 2015, Joseph Gennuso was found guilty of felony battery and sentenced to three years of probation for his role in a bloody 2008 brawl at a downtown wedding chapel involving members of the Hells Angels.
Now he’s the face of the water authori-
ty’s new conservation campaign. Its slogan: “Be an angel. Don’t water on Sunday.”
Gennuso appears in print ads launched by the authority last month, including some that have appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He stands on a lush green lawn in a black leather vest, his tattooed arms crossed, with a motorcycle and a barbecue grill in the background.
The biker’s real-life backstory came as news to the water authority.
“There’s a level of authenticity we did not expect, I guess,” authority spokesman Scott Huntley said of the advertisements.
Surveillance footage of the Dec. 20, 2008, brawl showed 13 men, at least some of them Hells Angels members, swarming a smaller group of men from the rival Mongols motorcycle gang after the two groups crossed paths while attending separate weddings at a chapel on Fourth Street and Gass Avenue.
The 13 men attacked the Mongols and others with their fists, feet, bottles and trash cans. One person was stabbed, but no one died in the melee.
In September 2010, Gennuso’s lawyer, John Spilotro, wrote in court papers that Gennuso was “not a member, prospect or hang-around of the Hells Angels or any other motorcycle club.”
Gennuso had been invited to attend a wedding at the chapel, and his date was a woman related to “fullpatched” members of the gang.
While Metro later reported that Gennuso was affiliated with the biker gang, Spilotro called that “incorrect.”
At the time of Gennuso’s sentencing last year, relatives and friends wrote letters to District Judge Michael Villani, asking for probation.
Gennuso, referred to as “JR,” had apparently turned his life around since his arrest in the brawl.
He worked with emotionally challenged students at Miley Achievement Center and helped Marines become reacclimated to civilian life. He got married and became a stepfather to three children. He got a job at the Zipline at Rio and a part-time gig as a security guard for a downtown concert venue. He also dabbled in producing various films and television shows.
Gennuso declined an interview request last week. But in a message to the Review-Journal, he wrote: “All I ask is that you please remember while writing this story, I am a good, hardworking man with a family that I love and trying to move on from this in every way possible.”
In a telephone interview Tuesday, Spilotro said Gennuso has been an actor for “years and years,” often cast for his brawny physique and thick, dark beard.
“He’s a teddy bear,” Spilotro said, “but he’s got that look.”
Last Sunday, Gennuso changed his profile picture on Facebook to the image of him from the water authority ad.
The authority’s advertising campaign was designed by R&R Partners, the world-renowned Las Vegas marketing agency that gave us “What Happens Here, Stays Here.” Huntley said R&R made all the decisions about how the ads should look and who should be in them, and the authority reviewed and signed off on the finished product.
He said he and his staff looked over the print ads to make sure the man in the picture didn’t have any gang references or obscenities tattooed on his arms. “We did check that,” Huntley said.
The authority has no plans to pull the advertisements. If anything, Huntley said, this unexpected bit of publicity could wind up helping the conservation campaign.
“I do hope it gets the ads more coverage. That would be a good thing,” he said.
The purpose of the advertising blitz is to get valley residents to save water by not running their sprinklers on Sundays during the summer.
In March, the water authority board approved a ban on Sunday watering in summer. The new rule is voluntary this year but will be mandatory starting next year, pending approval from the authority’s member agencies.
Eliminating sprinkler use on Sundays between May 1 and Aug. 31 is expected to save as much as 900 million gallons of water during the hottest part of the year. That’s enough to supply more than 5,500 average valley homes — or about four average golf courses — for one year.
Sprinkler watering already is prohibited on Sundays in spring and fall, when such irrigation is limited to three assigned days a week, and in winter, when it is restricted to a single assigned day each week.
“He’s a teddy bear, but he’s got that look.’’ JOHN SPILOTRO ATTORNEY REPRESENTED JOSEPH GENNUSO