AG probe of Frontier sought

Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Nevada's top labor leader has asked the attorney general's office to investigate "far-reaching" allegations of spying and secret eavesdropping on striking Frontier hotel-casino workers.

Blackie Evans, executive secretary-treasurer of the Nevada AFL-CIO, sent a letter to Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa on Tuesday requesting the probe.

Evans, who last week asked the State Gaming Control Board to conduct a separate investigation, suggested the Frontier violated criminal laws prohibiting "surreptitious intrusion" on the privacy of the strikers.

"These allegations should be investigated immediately by your office to ascertain if the Frontier ... has violated the public policy of our state or committed, attempted or conspired to commit any crime which is inimical to the declared policy of the state of Nevada," Evans wrote.

"Nevada has prided itself for being at the forefront of maintaining gaming operations which are aboveboard. I don't need to tell you the extent which our state's budget depends on gaming taxes and revenues generated because of gaming.

"With the proliferation of gaming throughout the United States, Nevada must maintain its vigilance in regulating gaming licensees."

Evans made his request before the SUN reported new allegations Tuesday that the Frontier secretly wiretapped its own phone lines amid the five-year Culinary Union strike that began Sept. 21, 1991.

"That just shows again they're an outlaw outfit," Evans said after reading the story. "The laws don't mean anything to them."

Del Papa said she had received the labor leader's letter and was crafting a response.

On Monday, Del Papa said she was reluctant to discuss the Frontier allegations because of the Control Board's possible probe. The attorney general serves as the board's legal adviser.

Frontier officials did not return phone calls.

Last week, after the former head of a Frontier spy squad stepped forward to allege dirty tricks were played on the strikers, Tom Elardi, the hotel's general manager, denied the resort engaged in wrongdoing.

Resort officials have kept silent since then.