Guidry to continue testimony

Natalie Gott

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2000 | 9:21 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - A former casino owner who testified that he finalized an illegal deal with Edwin Edwards during Edwards' final term as governor will be back on the witness stand when a gambling corruption case resumes today.

Former Treasure Chest Casino owner Robert Guidry on Friday admitted to meeting Edwards in a Baton Rouge hotel conference room in 1994 to secure a deal that would force Guidry to pay $100,000 a month to Edwards for the former governor's help in securing a riverboat license.

The alleged deal is part of the government's case against Edwards, his son, Stephen, state Sen. Greg Tarver, Gambling Board member Ecotry Fuller and three others, who are charged with extorting riverboat casino applicants.

Federal prosecutors questioned Guidry for several hours before court was adjourned Friday.

Defense attorneys will get their chance to question Guidry, but not before prosecutors play what they describe as secretly recorded tapes of the Edwardses' telephone conversations with defendant Andrew Martin about Guidry.

The tapes, prosecutors say, will show how Martin and the Edwardses tried to manipulate Guidry into giving them money, when Guidry apparently had stopped paying them.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Harper said the tapes also will show how the Edwardses became upset because they were not getting their money.

"There ain't nothing we can make him do. We can't sue him," Harper quoted Edwards as saying.

Defense attorneys told jurors that the conversations will not prove anything because the tapes are incomplete and the evidence has too many holes.

Guidry pleaded guilty in October 1998 to extortion, for paying the Edwardses and Martin $1.5 million to ensure state approval of his riverboat casino. Guidry was fined $3.5 million and faces up to five years in prison, but could get less because he is cooperating with investigators.