Casino operator details alleged kickback scheme in Louisiana trial

Natalie Gott

Monday, Jan. 31, 2000 | 11:43 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Former Gov. Edwin Edwards met with casino owner Robert Guidry in a Baton Rouge hotel room in 1994 and agreed to help Guidry get a state gambling license after Guidry promised an Edwards aide $100,000 monthly, Guidry testified Friday.

He was on the witness stand in the federal racketeering trial of Edwards, Edwards' son Stephen, and his former aide Andrew Martin, all accused in a bribery and extortion plot involving riverboat casino licenses. State Sen. Greg Tarver, state gambling board member Ecotry Fuller, cattleman Cecil Brown and Baton Rouge businessman Bobby Johnson also are defendants.

Guidry, a former owner of the Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner, told jurors that Martin arranged for Edwards' help in obtaining the license.

Martin first demanded 3 percent of the profits of the Treasure Chest to be divided equally with Edwin and Stephen Edwards, claimed Guidry, who testified under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

Guidry said he balked at that figure, estimating it would cost him $120,000 a month. Instead he agreed to a flat $100,000 monthly payment.

Edwards agreed to help Guidry in a 1994 meeting at the Baton Rouge Hilton, Guidry said.

"He said 'You and Andrew got an understanding?' I said, 'That's right,"' Guidry testified.

Guidry said he assured Edwards that he had the finances for his riverboat all worked out. "He (Edwards) said 'Well, fine. I'm going to see about getting you a hearing."'

Guidry said his lawyer had earlier advised him that he would not get a crucial hearing from Louisiana State Police on his license because he had been involved in a video poker business with reputed organized crime figure Frank Caracci.

That, Guidry said, led him to ask for help from Martin, whose boss, Edwards, appointed the head of state police.

"I wanted to ask him as a friend if he could help me. He told me he could help me, but it would cost me," Guidry said.

Under questioning, Guidry acknowleded he knew the scheme would be illegal. He said he did not tell the truth when asked about it by an East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury.

Guidry's testimony was preceded by brief presentations from a prosecutor who outlined the alleged extortion scheme and defense lawyers who said no extortion took place.

Edwin Edwards merely offered advice to Guidry, said Daniel Small, the former governor's defense lawyer. He said Guidry tried to hide the fact he was getting advice from the controversial governor because it might send the wrong signal to his business associates.

Guidry opened his testimony by giving his business and gambling industry background, describing how he became a self-made millionaire by age 27 in the tugboat business and later branched out into video bingo machines.

He became interested in the riverboat casino business, first planning a venture with another Edwards friend, Louis Roussel, but later deciding to strike out on his own. He also detailed more than $90,000 in fees he paid to Stephen Edwards for legal advice and help in filing gambling license applications.

On Oct. 16, 1998, Guidry pleaded guilty to an extortion charge for paying the Edwardses and Martin a total of $1.5 million to ensure state approval of his riverboat casino. Guidry was fined $3.5 million. He faces up to five years in prison but could get less because he is cooperating with investigators.

Guidry's testimony came a day after former Edwards aide Sid Moreland testified that Edwards once privately acknowledged helping Guidry get a license as a favor to Martin.

Moreland also detailed rampant cronyism at the governor's mansion under Edwards, although, in Friday's cross examination, it turned out that Moreland himself made thousands of dollars in legal fees from an Edwards friend.

On Thursday, Moreland described the easy access many politcos and longtime allies had to Edwards. He described Edwards' pal Gus Mijalis' joy at receiving a riverboat casino license. And he said Edwards acknowledged helping Robert Guidry, then and owner of Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner, obtain a casino license, saying it was a favor to Martin.

On Friday, under cross examination from Small, Moreland, an attorney, said he worked for K.C. Marine for about 10 months to a year in 1995, collecting as much as $60,000. About $30,000 of it was earned while he was working for Edwards at the mansion as an appointment maker, mail screener and adviser.

However, Moreland claimed he did not realize at the time that Edwards' friend Bobby Johnson owned the company. He said he never noticed it was Johnson's signature on the checks.

"Nothing K.C. Marine asked me to do was with state government, and that's where I draw the line," Moreland told Small.

He said the work involved personal injury cases and arbitration of business-labor disputes.

"I kept what legal business I had out of the mansion. I knew someday, somebody like you would question me about it," Moreland told Small.

On Thursday, Moreland had recounted the time he was verbally assaulted by Edwards' son Stephen, now a co-defendant with his father in the federal racketeering trial. At issue was Stephen's accusation that Moreland leaked information about Edwards' children's business ventures with state-licensed riverboat casinos.

On Friday, Stephen Edwards' lawyer Jim Cole elicited an admission that Moreland had never gotten along with Stephen. Under cross examination by Cole, Moreland acknowledged that as early as 1992, the year Edwards' fourth term began, Stephen Edwards had urged his father not to hire Moreland.

Cole suggested during questioning that Stephen Edwards had accused Moreland of taking money from people who came to the governor's mansion to see Edwards. Moreland said he did not remember Stephen making such an accusation.

"If he had knowledge that I took money from anyone, he should have turned me in to the authorities," Moreland said.