The Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1991-12-04

              Man with White Earth ties admits to gambling charge
By Susan Stanich
A man who had business dealings
with Minnesota's White Earth
Reservation has pleaded guilty in a
New Jersey court to promoting
illegal gambling.
Carmen Ricci, owner of
Greyhound Electronics of Toms
River, N.J., will not be tried on
more serious charges of
racketeering and conspiracy, which
were brought after a two-year
investigation and extensive grand
jury deliberations.
Ricci's attorneys and state
prosecutors reached the plea
agreement last week after spending
five weeks selecting a jury. Ricci
and two other Greyhound corporate
officials were to go on trial this
week on the more serious charges.
The other corporate officials -
Ricci's son-in-law Brian Petaccio
and Alan Cifelli - pleaded guilty to
maintaining a gambling resort Ricci
also pleaded guilty to that additional
charge.
"Resort" refers to the premises
where gambling operations are
carried out and illegal money
delivered - in this case, the premises
of Greyhound Electronics, which
manufactures video gambling
machines. All three men admitted
last week they had allowed the
premises to be used to service illegal
machines and had accepted money
for illegal gambling.
Under the plea agreement, the
three must sever all connections to
Greyhound, including forfeiting
stock, and pay the state $500,000 in
forfeitures.
Ricci faces a sentence of up to 6 1/2
years; Cifelli and Petaccio face 18
months each. All three are first
offenders and likely will not serve
jail time. Assistant Attorney General
Richard Carley said Tuesday.
Sentencing will be scheduled at a
later date.
The plea bargain is "good, because
it accomplishes a couple of things,"
Carley said. "It got the offenders out
of the corporation and it captured
$500,000 for the state; and if this
went to its logical prosecutorial
conclusion we would have had to
(shut down) the company. Instead,
we have a company that still has the
potential to stay in business and
remain an employer."
Greyhound also manufactures
legal machines - those used for
amusement, which pay out tokens,
and those used in legal casinos,
which pay out coins. Its illegal
machines, which give credits later
converted to cash by the bartender or
storekeeper, are equipped with
"knock-down switch" that change
odds and track money.
Ricci's attorney, Jack Arseneault
of Chatham, N.J., could not be
reached for comment.
In the late 1980's, Ricci met with
White Earth/Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe Chairman Darrell "Chip"
Wadena, Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
attorney Kent Tupper, White Earth
Councilman Steve McArthur and
two tribal planners.
McArthur and the planners said
Ricci wanted to build a casino on the
reservation. Wadena confirmed last
summer that the offer had been
made but later denied it; Tupper
wouldn't comment. Both confirmed
that a meeting with Ricci had taken
place in Toms River.
Neither Tupper nor Wadena could
be reached for comment Tuesday.
Earlier this year, Wadena
announced that a casino would be
built on White Earth. He has not
released details of funding, despite
current construction and the
continuing demands for information
by irate White Earth members. Their
attorney, former federal Judge Miles
Lord, has requested a state judge to
order full disclosure of casino
details.
Minnesota Attorney General Skip
Humphrey recently said he is
concerned about the potential for
Gaming commission
regs await comments
The first of at least three sets of
proposed regulations that will
impact heavily on gaming on Indian
reservations have been published
and will get their first public airing
on Dec. 2 in St. Paul. Four other
hearings are scheduled Dec. 4
through 13. Comments on the
proposed regulations must be
submitted by Dec. 31.
There will be a lot for Indian tribes
to comment on, especially those
tribes involved in gaming that
involves more than regular bingo.
The proposed regulations published
Nov. 1 in the Federal Register are
the definitions part of the Indian
Gaming Regulatory Act signed into
law in 1988 by President Reagan.
The regulations spell out the
definitions part of the law and
categorize what the national Indian
Gaming Commission classifies as
Class I, II and Ill-type gaming. It is
the Class III games definitions as
opposed to Class II recommended
by the Commission that will give a
major headache to many tribes
which have electronic games of
chance or slot-type gaming
machines in operation.
Class II games which have a
lengthy definition spelled out by the
Commission are primarily limited to
bingo, lotto (whether or not
electronic, computer, or other
technologic aids are used), pull-tabs,
punch boards, tip jars, instant bingo
and those games grandfathered in
under the law, which means card
games played in Michigan, North
Dakota, South Dakota or
Washington as of May 1, 1988.
Games other than bingo or lotto can
only be played at locations where
bingo or lotto are offered. That
leaves all other "house banking
games" (defined by the Commission
as any game of chance that is played
with the house as a participant in the
game, where the house takes on all
players, collects from all losers, and
pays all winners) classified as Class
III which means the tribes must have
tribal-state compacts approved by
the secretary of the Interior in order
to operate them legally.
The proposed rules by the
commission make it clear that slot
machines and electronic or
electromechanical facsimiles of any
game of chance are class III,
Comments/ see page 2
National Indian gaming panel
is accused of over-regulating
Minneapolis, Minn. (AP) - The
chairman of the Minnesota Indian
Gaming Association said Monday
the National Indian Gaming
Commission hasn't done enough to
promote and protect Indian gaming.
Speaking for Minnesota's 11
Indian tribes, Myron Ellis of Walker
said the national commission is
doing too much to regulate
reservation gambling and not
enough to encourage it as a way to
raise money for the tribes.
The federal Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act of 1988. gives the
commission regulatory powers over
reservation gambling, Ellis said in
testimony submitted to the
commission.
"But that is not the primary
purpose of the act," he said.
The law also instructs the
commission "to protect such gaming
as a means of generating tribal
revenue," Ellis said.
"I respectfully submit that the
commission has unfortunately
ignored or downplayed this
congressional mandate to promote
and protect Indian gaming and has,
instead, emphasized its role as a
regulatory agency," he said.
Ellis was among several witnesses
who testified Monday at the opening
hearing on proposed regulations that
are designed to implement the 1988
legislation.
The second hearing will be held
Wednesday in Phoenix, followed by
a hearing next Monday in Seattle.
The public hearings wind up Dec. 10
in Oklahoma City, and Dec. 13 in
Washington, D.C.
Commission Chairman Anthony J.
organized crime in tribal gambling
operations and wants more state
oversight regarding financing of
tribal casinos.
Ricci had done business on White
Earth earlier, when he sold the
reservation about 30 of his video
gambling machines.
The strongest evidence against
Ricci and the other corporate
officials was provided to state
investigators by George Freselone, a
10-year member of the Bruno-Scarfo
crime family. During 1989 and
1990, Fresolone secretly recorded
almost 400 conversations with
various reputed organized crime
figures. He agreed to make
recordings because he was facing 20
years in prison on racketeering
charges, according to New Jersey
officials. He and his family are now
in the Witness Protection Program.
Among the recordings were
several conversations between Ricci
and Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr., son of
Bruno-Scarfo crime boss Nicodemo
Scarfo, Sr. The elder Scarfo is
serving a 69-year term in a
maximum security prison for murder
and extortion and allegedly runs the
family business through his son. The
younger Scarfo has been indicted for
controlling Greyhound Electronics
for illegal purposes; his trial is
pending, Carley said.
State officials charge that the
Bruno-Scarfo family controls most
of the Philadelphia and Atlantic City
area, as well as other areas in New
Jersey.
According to the recordings, Ricci
made many payments of $1,500
each to the younger Scarfo in return
for the family's protection and
guarantees against competitors in
placing illegal video gambling
machines. Fresolone said Scarfo had
complained that Ricci "wasn't living
up to his obligations" - paying the
family enough of the profits on
some machines he'd placed in
Philadelphia.
Ricci, Petaccio, and Cifelli are free
on bail pending sentencing.
[Reprinted with permission from
the Duluth-News Tribune.]
Founded in 1988
Volume 4 Issue 11
December 4,1991
1
1 Copyright, the Ojibwe News, 1991i
A Bi-Monthly Publication
Bemidji, Minnesota 56601
Spring multicultural festival needs community support
By Bonnie Wentzel
Whole-hearted participation by
the entire community will result in
a successful multicultural festival
in Bemdiji this May, according to
organizers who are making plans
for the first-time event.
After only two planning
meetings, an interest has been
expressed by a large number of
enthusiastic participants, according
to Betty Christ and Tom
Goldtooth, co-chairs of the Circle
of Many Cultures, the group
launching the celebration.
The Circle of Many Cultures, a
grass roots community-based
group, came up with the festival
idea, according to Goldtooth.
"We don't want it to be a Circle
project, but a community-wide
celebration," Goldtooth said. The
focus of the group, formed about
two years ago, is to celebrate. *nd
promote cultural diversity^
harmony, respect and justice
among all people. The festival, he
said, will emphasize ideas shared
by the group.
Speakers at Circle gatherings
have discussed everything from
racism, to employment
discrimination, to growing up
black. Many of the meetings are
centered around potluck dinners.
"We decided early on that
celebration, food and music
bring people together," Christ
said. "That was one of the
reasons that the muticultural idea
was formed.
"Actually, we've had the idea for
a community-wide multicultural
celebration for a couple of years,"
she said," but we didn't have
enough people power to pull it
together." Now, with the formation
of a Bemidji Area Relations Task
Force and a mulitcultural
awareness group at Bemidji High
School, interest in the community
is there, she said.
We've seen we have something
in common as cultures - that being
music," Goldtooth said. "We've
seen racial barriers broken when
people have come together in
celebration."
About 45 people attended the
first planning meeting for the
festival; more than 50 the second.
Members of the Publicity Committee are discussing plans for the Circle of Many Cultures
Festival planned for next spring at a recent planning meeting held in Bemidji. The group,
organized about two years ago plans to celebrate and promote cultural diversity.
At the last meeting, committees
were formed and the theme,
"Honoring the Human Family and
the Environment," was selected.
The May 9 festival, titled
"Celebration!" will include a parade,
music, food, dancing, craft exhibits,
workshops, theater and puppetry.
Although designed to include
activites for people of all ages, an
emphasis will be placed on youth
and elder participation, according to
Goldtooth.
Life-size puppets are to be a
portion of the celebration and plans
are to seek assistance from a group
of puppeteers from Minneapolis to
organize a performance.
"We want to focus on youth -
young children all the way through
high school," Christ said, "because
we believe they're the hope for the
future."
A similar celebration has been
held annually in Minneapolis for
more than 10 years and organizers
for that festival have agreed to assist
in Bemidji's event.
Many local cultural organizations
are being contacted by members of
the Circle to encourage participation
in planning the event. Churches,
local tribal governments, as well as
city and county governments, are
also being asked to participate.
"We (Circle of Many Cultures)
launched the idea; now it's the
community's," Christ said. "We are
going to need a lot of people
working on this to make it happen.
The festival is for everyone."
The next general planning meeting
of all committees has been
scheduled for Dec. 14 from 10
a.m. to noon in the Crying Wolf
Lounge on the BSU campus.
Anyone interested is invited to
attend any of the meetings.
The next Circle of Many
Cultures potluck has been
scheduled for Dec. 7 at the
Newman Center at noon. The
event is open to the public. Bring a
dish to share with others and your
own beverage. Following the
Potluck the program will consist of
a discussion entitled "The Vision
For Race Unity."
For additional information on the
festival or upcoming meetings,
please call Goldtooth at 751-5508;
Christ at 751-5996 or 679-3959; or
Bona-Carol Enstrom, publicity, at
751-3963 or 751-8814.
[Reprinted with permission from
By-Line, Bemidji, Minn.]
Panel/see Page 2 Suit filed against Red Lake tribal officers for accounting of funds
The buffalo roam again
Washington, D.C. (AP) -
Yellowstone National Park's
buffalo herds are on the roam
again, kicking off another round of
controversy over federal and state
efforts to keep them from
threatening Montana's cattle
industry.
Recently, several hundred of
Yellowstone's 3,000 bison, the
largest free-roaming herds in the
country, have migrated close to
and, in some cases, across, the
park's northern and western
boundaries.
Operating under an interim
bison-management plan, state game
wardens already have shot and
killed four wandering buffalo and
many more could face a similar fate
because of fears that they could
infect Montana cattle with
brucellosis, a disease that makes
pregnant animals abort
spontaneously.
Yellowstone officials, who say
the bison are migrating unusually
early this year even though forage
still is plentiful within the park,
fear a repeat of the winter of
1988-89, when 569 bison were
killed by hunters after leaving the
park.
That sparked a huge outcry from
animal-rights activists and the
Montana legislature has since
outlawed public hunting of
buffalo.
Under the temporary
management plan now in effect,
state game wardens and National
Park personnel are supposed to
work together in killing any bison
that leave the park and threaten
livestock or property.
"They are not welcome in the
state of Montana," Yellowstone
superintendent Robert Barbee said
of his park's bison, about half of
which are estimated to be infected
with brucellosis.
Barbee said that killing his
park's bison, while no threat to the
herds that have been growing
steadily, "is not a great solution,"
but one that is the only legal
course until park officials
complete   a   long-range
Buffalo/ see page 2
Three elected officials of the Red
Lake Tribal Council were named as
defendants in a law suit filed in the
Red Lake Tribal Court demanding
that full disclosure of tribal funds be
made public immediately. The suit
was filed by William J. Lawrence,
publisher of the Ofibwe News and a
Red Lake tribal member.
Lawrence contends that Gerald
Brun, Red Lake tribal chairman,
Bobby Whitefeather Jr., tribal
secretary, and Gus Strong, tribal
treasurer, have violated the terms of
Article 7, Section 1A of the tribes
written constitution, which
stipulates, "The amounts so
expended shall be a matter of public
record to the members of the Band
at all reasonable times."
Lawrence states he previously and
officially requested that the
accounting be made in a letter dated
September 8, 1991, in which he had
written to Brun reminding the
chairman of a campaign pledge to
"conduct Red Lake tribal
government with accountability,
openness, and in compliance with
the tribal constitution," specifically
Article 7, Section 1A.
The letter requested an accounting
of the Red Lake tribal General Fund,
the Red Lake bingo operations, and
the Red Lake builder's enterprise
and stipulated that, in the event the
funds have not been in existence for
10 years, Brun furnish an accounting
only for the number of years that
are applicable.
"It's been over 30 years since
members of the Red Lake Band of
Chippewa Indians have had an
accounting of their own funds,"
Lawrence said. "I'm hoping that this
law suit will provide the impetus to
bring openness to our government,
and I'm merely reminding Chairman
Brun of his 1990 campaign
promise."
Lawrence said that if the financial
information is released, he would
publish it in the Ojibwe News and
the Native American Press. He went
on to say, "The enrolled members of
the Red Lake Band have a right to
know how their money is being
spent, and the mass media is the best
way to inform the people. We plan
on treating the information as news,
and it won't cost the tribe one cent."
The suit was filed in the Red Lake
Tribal Court system, but Lawrence
also stated he may consider entering
the suit in U.S. District Court as
well. Lawrence charges the plaintiffs
in the matter with refusing repeated
requests to allow him the
opportunity to examine the records.
If the court finds on behalf of
Lawrence, the records will be
ordered open to him.
Minnesota Chippewa Indians awarded grants
The following grants have been
awarded to the Minnesota Chippewa
Indians.
• The Leech Lake Council in Cass
Lake has been awarded a $297,450
grant from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development
for a Public Housing Head Start
Program. The grant is designed to
provide day care for an additional
110 children. Two new child care
sites in the Cass Lake area would
provide the space for 60 children.
and an additional 10 family day care
providers throughout the reservation
would each provide space for five
children. A portion of the funds will
be used to renovate the Cass Lake
child care facility.
• The Leech Lake Council in Cass
Lake has been awarded a $170,600
grant from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development
for drug elimination activities for the
entire community. The project
includes youth activities outside the
village, community empowerment
training to combat drugs and
drug-related crime and the
establishment of a small culturally-
based library and resource center.
• The Minnesota Chippewa
Resource Development Corp. in
Cass Lake has been awarded a
$98,267 grant from the U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services for the Tribal State
Agreement project
, • The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe
Education Division in Cass Lake has
been awarded a $250,000 grant from
the U.S. Department of Education
for a talent search program for
first-generation college students.
The program is for students in
grades 7-12 and provides career
awareness information, as well as
financial aid information and
counseling.
• The Red Lake Band of Chippewa
Grants/see page 2
fe