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I remember Petrifaso's name, though I believe it was actually Pietrafeso. Police Chief Dill might have given the okay to Pietrafeso's relationship with Elvis, but Pietrafeso got in hot water for his relationship with Rocky Mountain News publisher Michael Balfe Howard. Pietrafeso was the chief drug investigator for the state's crime strike force. Howard hired Pietrafeso as his personal bodyguard, allegedly as a way to shield himself from police scrutiny of his $6000/week cocaine habit. Pietrafeso said that during the two years he acted as bodyguard, he saw no evidence of cocaine use by Howard, and when he finally did, he cut off all relations.

Hi Jude - Thanks for the insights and the spelling advice (which is correct). It was certainly an interesting era for the Denver Police Department. 

The Pietrafeso family had a restaurant in Arvada where the Goodwill is now at 80th & Wadsworth... When Elvis was in town the restaurant would re-open after hours for a private Elvis dinner...It is even rumored that Elvis rented a home in Arvada when the visited here...

Elvis in Arvada?!? It sounds too good to be true, but so does "Elvis just bought me a Cadillac." Stranger things have definitely happened in Arvada, it's known that Morrissey from the Smiths once applied for a job at the Target at 80th and Wadsworth.

Brian, the idea of Morrissey at Target sounded really bizarre--what was he doing, playing a practical joke to allay some of the boredom of being on tour--but I looked it up and it turns out he had an aunt who lived in Arvada and he lived with her for a while when he was a teenager. He applied for work at Target when he couldn't get a band together in Denver. So it was all sort of before Morrissey became Morrissey. Interesting anecdote, though. I can't imagine him in Arvada, even as a teenager.

I thought the exact same thing when I first heard that story!

Morrissey in Arvada. I just can't wrap my mind around that. Imagine if he found a band to put together an Arvada band. Would he have still been ill?

This is not correct. The restaurant was not open when Elvis was alive.

Actually it is correct. We went to the restaurant several times in 1976 after hearing that Elvis had eaten there. They even let me sit in the chair Elvis sat in!

It’s true. Barb and the late Bill Pietrefaso are close friends. I heard all the stories!

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