Witness in Edwards trial says he was held in Russia for eight days

Natalie Gott

Thursday, Feb. 24, 2000 | 10:14 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Some of the evidence in former Gov. Edwin Edwards' racketeering trial consists of tape recordings that figure in a harrowing subplot, set in Moscow and featuring star witness John Brotherton.

Brotherton, a former Players casino executive who testified under a promise of immunity, said he became a manager of actor Chuck Norris' Beverly Hills Casino in Moscow after leaving Players' Lake Charles casino in 1997.

Brotherton said the Moscow casino was in such financial trouble that he had not been paid and had even lent the casino $17,000.

Several Russian managers were not paying their employees, and employees were angry, he testified.

He said that when the bookkeeper went to get money from a safe one morning, it was gone. Brotherton said he then discovered that his assistant manager was missing.

Brotherton said he was ready to leave Russia at that point but he and his wife were taken by casino managers to a hotel and told not to leave.

He explained that if the Russian managers could say that Americans had stolen their money, they might be able to get out of their payment to the Russian Mafia.

"It's a well-known fact that the owners of the casinos have to pay the Russian Mafia," Brotherton said.

After seven days in the hotel, Brotherton said he ran out of money and called his mother-in-law. She got in touch with Sen. John Breaux's office, which apparently called the U.S. embassy, Brotherton said.

The next day, someone appeared at Brotherton's hotel door with two tickets back to the United States.

Brotherton said he later learned that the assistant manager had robbed both the casino and Brotherton's apartment, where he took recordings Brotherton had made of conversations with Players executives.

Brotherton had testified earlier that he made the recordings because he feared his job was in jeopardy and wanted some evidence of wrongdoing on Players' part.

The assistant manager eventually was located in the United States. He gave those tapes to Players, who turned them over to FBI officials, Brotherton testified.

Under questioning by defense attorneys, Brotherton said he never called Russian police to report the incident. "There's no such thing as Russian police who are not connected to the Russian Mafia," he said.