By Rolando Larraz
Anyone who in all honesty can say that they “never heard of the Raul Moran case” has not been reading the Las Vegas Tribune because this is the only newspaper that has been following the Raul Moran case from the beginning and still brings it up every time the opportunity presents itself because it’s one of the best examples of injustice that ever appeared in the (In)justice Regional Center; we have followed and will continue to follow the Raul Moran case until justice is served in his memory.
The Raul Moran case caused me to shamefully be thrown out of a useless and inept Justice of the Peace (Joseph Sciscento) courtroom for asking the right questions via the Court Marshal because Judge Sciscento refused to speak to the media—the Las Vegas Tribune—because he was afraid to be recognized as an inept and ignorant member of the local court system.
Why I emphasize about the Las Vegas Tribune being a member of the media, one may ask, is because we are members of the media, like it or not; we pay our business license religiously because we are a company proudly doing business in the city of Las Vegas, paying rent and taxes, and until not long ago paid for printing our issues every week.
I mentioned the “useless and inept Justice of the Peace Joseph Sciscento” because he is the one who very ceremoniously ordered Victor
Cruz, the murderer of Raul Moran, to “stay away from your victim” when in reality Raul Moran was already dead and had been buried weeks before.
But what can you expect from a judge who approved the eviction notice of a woman that was up-to-date in her rent? In fact, she was paid up in advance and property management had to return the last two weeks of her rent after a “useless and inept Justice of the Peace, Joseph Sciscento,” needed to please some litigant to approve the eviction.
How can Victor Cruz not stay away from Raul Moran when Raul Moran is already dead?
The more we hear of the Raul Moran murder case, the more questions we have and the more Clark County officials refuse to give any answers, given the possibility that someone is protecting Victor Cruz and others in the murder of Raul Moran and considering that the case was abruptly dismissed. New information obtained by the Las Vegas Tribune shows that before Victor Cruz’s murder of Raul Moran, Cruz had three other criminal felony cases that were also mysteriously dismissed just as the killing of Raul Moran was.
On May 2, 2019, this writer wrote in the Las Vegas Tribune, “Law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, and government officials always
remind victims and their families that ‘criminals have rights too’; it happens most of the time when they are not able or do not want to
solve the crime they have in front of them or when they do not have the knowledge to solve it.
On March 15, 2019, Victor Cruz shot Raul Moran while he was walking to a nearby apartment building alone and unarmed.
Victor Cruz, 25, was arrested by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department on a felony charge of battery with a deadly weapon.
However, two days later Raul Moran died at a local hospital, but those who constantly remind the victims and their families that “criminals have rights too” have yet to upgrade the charges against Cruz to murder with a deadly weapon, according to court and jail records.
It is unknown what happened to the police mentality regarding the concept of “criminals have rights too.” Yes, Raul Moran had a criminal
record; still, he was a member of one of the oldest, most hard-working, and respected Cuban families in gaming and in this community. So he had a criminal past, but the police and the prosecutors should remember that “criminals have rights too,” as they always tell us, but the man who cowardly killed him by shooting him in the back of his head — and while he was unarmed — should have, and needs to have, his charges upgraded to murder.
On June 19, 2019, Perly Viasmensky wrote in the Las Vegas Tribune—the newspaper that useless and inept justice of the peace Joseph Sciscento refused to recognize as a legitimate member of the media—”Raul Moran, a member of a prominent gaming family, was shot in the back [of his head] while walking home unarmed, but lots of questions remained unanswered and many of his family members and friends are questioning the preference given to his assassin.
Victor Cruz was arrested after the shooting and as incredible as it sounds, Victor Cruz was booked at the Clark County Detention Center on a simple charge of assault with a deadly weapon.
Those attending the first court appearance told the Las Vegas Tribune that District Court Judge Richard Scotti presided over the court
appearance, but court papers show Black female Justice of the Peace Karen Bennett-Heron as the presiding judge when neither one of them fit the description of a “White… heavy-set justice of the peace sitting on the bench” and telephone calls to the office of District
Attorney Steve Wolfson and court officials have not been returned in time for this publication.
Another unanswered question is the fact that Victor Cruz shows him to be at the Clark County Detention Center when in reality he is out,
sleeping in his own bed, and four weeks after the cold-blooded assassination of Raul Moran many of his friends were seen at his residence celebrating some type of party for his 6-year-old daughter with a complete disregard for the law and the fact that he has killed another human being.
Many of Moran’s family and friends were shocked to hear the presiding judge instructing defendant Victor Cruz “to stay away from the victim, Raul Moran” when Raul Moran was already dead by the hand of the defendant, Victor Cruz, appearing before him.
Didn’t the judge read the court papers and realize that the defendant was accused of the murder of Raul Moran while he was walking home unarmed?
Didn’t the judge realize that assassinating someone means murdering someone?
My name is Rolando Larraz, and as always, I approved this column.
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Rolando Larraz is Editor in Chief of the Las Vegas Tribune. His column appears weekly in this newspaper. To contact Rolando Larraz, email him at: Rlarraz@lasvegastribune.com or at 702-272-4634.
