Program offers offenders chance to work at upscale casino

Angie Wagner

Sunday, July 2, 2000 | 10:14 a.m.

Darrell Hankins knew he was wasting his life. He was dealing drugs, belonged to a gang and had fathered four children by four different mothers.

He certainly never thought anyone would take a chance on a 10th-grade dropout and a deadbeat dad. But he got his break from an unlikely combination - a burger joint and one of the city's most upscale casinos.

Flipping burgers for eight months changed his life.

"I learned that working is the key," Hankins, 27, said.

Hankins is the first graduate of the Burger King to Bellagio, or Work First, program set up by several local Burger King franchises and the Bellagio hotel-casino on the Strip. It aims to help ease offenders into the community by giving them a chance to work at the resort - if they flip burgers for eight months.

"I'm sure Darrell and others said, 'My chances of working at Bellagio are nil.' You really have to convince a kid like Darrell that this is not a joke," said Arthur Nathan, vice president of human resources for Bellagio.

As one of the top resorts in Las Vegas, Bellagio doesn't need to advertise for workers, much less hire former drug dealers and other offenders. The resort, which employs 9,000 people, receives about 60 applications a day.

But Nathan always has had a soft spot for people who find themselves in bad situations. He's a veteran of finding former gang members, first-time felony offenders and welfare recipients and offering them jobs.

Nathan and his friend John Pucci, who owns several Las Vegas Burger King franchises, came up with the Burger King to Bellagio program in September.

"It's the right thing to do," Nathan said. "If you can be successful with one person, it's worth all the effort."

Potential Bellagio workers are referred to Nathan and Matt Osa, who oversees the program for Bellagio, through several different agencies, including the police gang unit, a prison, the state parole and probation department, a deadbeat dad program and the Ministers Alliance.

Pucci visits the women's prison in North Las Vegas, giving his business cards to inmates who soon will be released and could have a place in the program.

"We kind of tell them that there's life after prison. You don't have to just go back to what you're doing," he said.

Workers can't have been jailed for a violent crime and must be willing to make a new start and pass a drug test.

Hankins was recruited for the program after he failed to pay child support and wasn't showing up for court appearances. He also had faced drug charges.

"We had to explain life to him," Osa said.

That meant telling Hankins that he was headed nowhere and needed to make a change. But Nathan said that wasn't enough. Hankins had to decide to help himself.

"It starts with a change in the mindset. He's got to want to do this," Nathan said.

Hankins began his job at Burger King in September. In eight months, Hankins only missed one work day. He volunteered to staff different shifts and work overtime, qualities Nathan and Osa were looking for in a Bellagio worker.

Hankins went from making $5.25 an hour to $11.47. He cleans floors now in the ritzy halls of Bellagio. It's not a glamorous job, but Hankins has health insurance, a pension plan, meals on the job and a chance to get his high school equivalency degree for free.

"It changed my life," Hankins said. "I was a deadbeat dad. Now I'm a good father."

There are eight other Burger King workers hoping to graduate from the program like Hankins.

Hankins, who once felt more at home on the streets than in the Bellagio, proudly wears his dark green Bellagio uniform, eager to come to work at the company that gave him a chance.

"If we all work hard at this, then his opportunities are endless," Nathan said, glancing at Hankins. "Someday he could be a manager in our company. He could be running Burger King."

Hankins beams, a large smile spreading across his face.