Robert Guidry and the tales of the tapes

Natalie Gott

Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2000 | 5:10 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Jurors in Edwin Edwards' federal racketeering trial Tuesday heard the former governor on tape discussing a plan to rent a tugboat to casino owner Robert Guidry at inflated prices so nobody would wonder why Guidry was paying out large sums of money.

"I'm worried about him every month, taking that out of some bank. If he ever gets checked, he's going to have a hard time explaining," Edwards said on Feb. 27, 1997, unaware that his office was bugged and his words were being recorded.

"Instead of paying us $2,400 a day for a boat, he could pay us $3,000 or $3,300 a day."

In a later conversation, Edwards says: "The boat rents for $600 an hour. If we say its used 80 hours a week instead of 40, who's going to know?"

Also on the tape are Edwards' former aide Andrew Martin and Edwards' son Stephen, both co-defendants along with Edwards and three others in what prosecutors say was a scheme to profit from the state's awarding of lucrative riverboat licenses.

Guidry, former owner of the Treasure Chest riverboat casino in Kenner, remained on the witness stand to help guide jurors through the snippets of taped conversation that prosecutors are using to prove their case. Guidry is testifying under a plea agreement.

Guidry testified Tuesday that he paid the Edwardses and Martin up to $1.5 million in monthly installments of about $100,000 in return for Edwards' help in getting a license to run the Treasure Chest. The help came while Edwards was governor. The payoffs allegedly began after he left office in January 1996.

Guidry said last week that he sealed the deal with Edwards in a Baton Rouge hotel conference room in 1994, in the middle of Edwards' last term. On Tuesday, Guidry testified that he went to Edwards' residence on Dec. 8, 1996, with one of the payments, and put it in the back of a sport utility vehicle parked at the house.

"I went to his house, and that's when I left the money in a carryall for him," Guidry said.

A tape made that same day was later played for the jury. Guidry is heard telling Stephen Edwards: "Your dad is going to see you."

That, Guidry testified, meant that Edwards would give Stephen Edwards his share of the money Guidry had just delivered to Edwards' house.

Guidry also testified that he had dropped off another payment by throwing a bag of $65,000 in cash through his car window into Stephen Edwards' car window after a lunch meeting with the Edwardses.

That payment, made April 8, 1997, was the last payment he made, Guidry said. FBI agents raided Edwards' office and home later that month, and after that "everything was shut down," Guidry testified.

Guidry said it would not have been possible for him to have gone along with the Edwards' tugboat plan because his employees, especially bookkeepers and accountants, would have questioned why Guidry was spending so much money on the boat.

Guidry said neither of the Edwardses or Martin ever discussed the tugboat plan with him and that he learned about it when he listened to the taped conversations.

Other taped conversations apparently deal with Martin's alleged attempt to shake down Guidry when the Treasure Chest was having trouble with the state fire marshal's office.

Inspectors wanted to replace a barge used as a bridge at the Treasure Chest. Guidry said he could not meet a March 1995 deadline to replace it and was at risk of having to shut down the casino because of pressure from the fire marshals.

In return for help with the fire marshal, Martin demanded 2 percent of the Treasure Chest's proceeds and a job with the casino, Guidry testified.

The deadline to replace the barge eventually was extended until November, when the new barge was completed.

When Edwards left office, Guidry said he met with Martin to try and get out of the deal to pay 2 percent.

Guidry said Martin replied: "Just like we can help you, we can hurt you. Just because we are out of office doesn't mean that we can't help or hurt you."

Guidry testified that he did not want anything in writing with Martin because he was trying to sell the Treasure Chest and was afraid it would gain the attention of state police during the required investigations.

In the taped conversations, it becomes clear that Martin wanted some type of contract with Guidry or the Treasure Chest and was upset about not being paid.

"The son of a bitch owes me a lot of money," Martin is heard telling Edwards in a November 1996 conversation.

In a Jan. 9, 1997, conversation in Edwards' office, Edwards is heard telling Martin: "There ain't nothing we can make him do." He repeats the point, emphasizing it with an obscenity.

Later he says, "We can't sue him."

Guidry pleaded guilty to an extortion charge for paying the Edwardses and Martin a total of $1.5 million to ensure state approval of the Treasure Chest. Guidry was fined $3.5 million and could face five years in prison. He said he made about $34 million with the Treasure Chest between 1994 and 1997. He sold the casino in October 1997 for $72 million to Boyd Gaming.