TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

Byline: Elizabeth Snead and Jenny Peters

NOTHING BUT NET: There was something for everyone on Thursday night at the second annual Los Angeles Lakers Las Vegas Casino Night at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. Oodles of really tall men and go-go dancers in combat boots mingled around gaming tables of every sort, and just in case the spending urge really struck, diamonds and Rolls-Royces were available for sale.

It was all for the cause of the Lakers Youth Foundation, so generous fans of the team opened their wallets and gambled for a good cause. Lakers owner Jerry Buss was joined by past and present team members Vlade Divac, Luke Walton, Brian Grant and Kurt Rambis, along with perennial fans Dyan Cannon and Penny Marshall. Buss crowned Marge Hearn (Chick's widow) Queen of the Casino, then went on to host a high-stakes Celebrity Poker shootout that drew big names from every corner of the entertainment world.

Regina King, Mimi Rogers, Elisha Cuthbert and Jeremy Piven represented the film world, while television stars Christine Lahti, Donald Faison, Camryn Manheim, David James Elliot and Josh Duhamel were joined by music talents Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas (and Josh's girlfriend) and longtime record producer Lou Adler.

Adler came to the party for a different reason than just gambling and having a good time - a very good reason, as his wife, Page, explained.

``We started the Painted Turtle Camp, with Paul Newman, about a year ago. We are a free-of-charge camp for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses,'' she said in between avidly playing a handful of bingo cards. ``The Lakers have been huge supporters of our camp. They are really a wonderful organization.''

That camp and more than 30 other children's charities will receive all the proceeds from the evening; now that's what we call a winning gamble.

LESS INK: Taryn Manning is taking it off. Her five tattoos, that is.

At the Sundance Hustle & Flow party, Manning (``8 Mile,'' ``Cold Mountain'') announced: ``I want all of my tattoos removed. I've grown out of it. Now when I put on an elegant gown, I just don't want to look at them. They bug me.''

Manning visited the Blue Spa in Sherman Oaks to get the first of her five tats lasered off. And she found out that getting inked is the easy part. Even though she had lidocaine injections, the removal process was incredibly painful.

``It felt like when you're cooking bacon and the grease comes out of the pan and stings you, but a bunch of little times,'' Manning explains. ``It was pretty intense.''

So intense that Manning postponed her second session. And she even sounds nostalgic about that old ink.

``I'm pretty sure I'm going to go through with it, I'm just kinda feeling sentimental. I mean, I've had them for so long, and they all represent a significant part of my life.''

Even the ``I (Heart) Boys'' inked across her left forearm?

``There was a boy that I was really in love with. We kinda broke up for a little short time, and I was devastated and missing him. Then I found out that he was already seeing someone else and I got really upset. To make myself feel better, I went and got that (tattooed) on my arm.''

Sentiment aside, Manning's second session will have to wait. She's shooting ``The Breed,'' a ``Cujo''-like horror film on an undisclosed tropical island. And, as she mindfully notes, ``When you're in the process of tattoo removal, you can't go out in the sun.''

Excuses, excuses!

FOR A CAUSE: Kiefer Sutherland crawled out of his sickbed to be there, the Rev. Jesse Jackson made a surprise visit, and Jane Kaczmarek was brought to tears talking about it.

What brought out these liberal heavy hitters, along with Kaczmarek's husband, Bradley Whitford; Mike Farrell; Hector Elizondo and James Cromwell? The 14th annual Death Penalty Focus Dinner did, as anti- death-penalty forces amassed at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica on Wednesday night.

Quoting anti-death activists Pope John Paul II, Gandhi and Henry David Thoreau, the passionate speakers and award recipients, including Bill Curtis, Sister Helen Prejean, Roscoe Lee Browne and Bishop Henry Williamson, were buoyed by constant cheering affirmations from the audience, who only lost focus when the awesome chocolate truffle box dessert hit the tables. But even that didn't take away from the most emotional moment of the night, when real-life people who had been unjustly imprisoned on Death Row stood to prove that sometimes the innocent are in jeopardy.

Others in the strident crowd who are putting their wallets where their hearts are included Gary Cole, Peter MacNicol, Loretta Swit, Amy Aquino and Shelley Fabares, whose multicolored punk hairdo was the only other thing that distracted from the group's strong anti-death-penalty message.

ALL OVER ITALY: Octopus Salad from Venice, Saffron Risotto from Milan, Crudo With Garlic Oil Linguine from Sardinia: Hollywood celebrated the wonder that is Italy on Tuesday night at Campanile by sampling dishes from all over that beautiful country, with Florence, Naples and Rome represented as well. Complete with opera singers, Pucci prints and Bellini cocktails, the only thing missing was Italian resident George Clooney, who was probably hanging out at his Lake Como villa instead.

But plenty of well-known faces dotted the packed restaurant, including Francesco Quinn, the extraordinarily handsome (and spitting) image of his late father Anthony. He took over a back table with his wife, June, and friends Julie Benz (``Angel'') and her hubby, comic actor John Kassir, one of the cast members of ``Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical,'' which premiered Saturday on Showtime.

Stella Stevens was part of the huge crowd that gathered around ``Spanglish'' actress Wendy Braun as she reached into a huge fishbowl and picked the lucky winners of a free stay at one of the Starwood Hotels Luxury Collection Italy properties. Stevens and the others that didn't win had to settle for divine tiramisu and zabaglione-doused ricotta for dessert as they plotted their next Italian vacation; not a bad fate for a Tuesday night in Hollywood.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1) BUSS: Does he know when to hold 'em?

(2 -- 3) MANNING: Goodbye, tattoos.

Vince Bucci/Getty Images

(4) SWIT and ELIZONDO: Just how hot are those lips, anyway?

(5) FABARES: Forget the death penalty, look at her hair!

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

(6) HEARN: Lady of the hour.