Federal prosecutors lay out final scheme in Edwards trial

Natalie Gott

Tuesday, March 14, 2000 | 10:59 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Prosecutors in Edwin Edwards' federal racketeering trial began today playing secretly recorded conversations between the ex-governor and former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr.

The government alleges the former governor extorted DeBartolo, who was seeking Louisiana's final riverboat casino license.

On the tapes, Edwards tells DeBartolo that he is working to round up support for DeBartolo's application.

"Well, but what I have going on now is I'm talking to members of commission and others that are interested in this thing to see if I can get them to consider granting a license subject to the election," Edwards said in an Oct. 18, 1996 telephone conversation.

DeBartolo was seeking a license for a floating casino in Bossier City. The reference to the election dealt with a requirement that local voters approve the project.

FBI agent Geoffrey Santini was on the witness stand to interpret the tapes. He noted that in 1996, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board approved who was awarded riverboat casino licenses and that board members were banned by law from discussing the applications.

When Edwards' work was done, after providing DeBartolo with a confidential report by state police and guaranteeing DeBartolo a casino license in 1997, the bill came to $400,000, prosecutor Mike Magner said Monday. DeBartolo won the license, but dropped the casino project after he was summoned before a federal grand jury.

The payoff money from DeBartolo came after Edwards had finished his fourth and final term as governor in 1996, but Edwards still wielded considerable power in state politics, Magner said.

DeBartolo will be the star witness in this aspect of the trial, in which Edwards, his son, Stephen; state Sen. Greg Tarver and four others are charged with carrying out a series of schemes to manipulate the riverboat casino licensing process for a profit.

The other schemes allegedly occurred before and during Edwards' final term of office from 1992 to 1996.

DeBartolo pleaded guilty in 1998 to one count of failing to report a felony, shortly before the indictments were handed down. He received a suspended sentence, was fined $1 million and agreed to testify against Edwards.

DeBartolo feared economic harm if he did not pay Edwards, Magner said.

Edwards' attorney, Dan Small, denied any wrongdoing on the former governor's part and said the money was for legitimate consulting work. The $400,000 was small change to DeBartolo, who is worth $675 million, Small said.

"Four-hundred-thousand dollars to him is like paying a parking ticket to you and me," Small said.

In his mini-opening statement about the alleged scheme, Magner described to jurors the long friendship Edwards had with the DeBartolo family.

Edwards originally was a friend of DeBartolo's father, the late Eddie DeBartolo Sr., who had met Edwards in the early 1970s when he opened Louisiana Downs in Bossier City and a shopping mall in New Orleans. Edwards later befriended the younger DeBartolo, who was intent on opening a riverboat casino in Louisiana in 1996.

Edwards offered friendly help at first but changed his tone after supplying DeBartolo with the confidential report and demanded the $400,000, Magner said.

The Gaming Control Board eventually approved the DeBartolo riverboat. Board member Ectory Fuller, who is a co-defendant in the case, made the motion to approve the riverboat.

FBI agents raided Edwards' safety deposit box on April 28, 1997, and seized $383,000. Edwards initially said the money was from gambling winnings and timber and cattle sales.

"It was a rare and complete blunder for Edwards to say that," Magner said.

Seven months later, Edwards admitted the money was from DeBartolo, but claimed it was for legitimate consulting and lobbing fees, Magner said.

Testimony and videotaped evidence in this portion of the trial also will focus on state Sen. Cleo Fields, who is seen on tape getting $25,000 from Edwards, Magner said. Fields was a congressman at the time. He has not been charged.

Edwards told Fields to be careful about how the money was passed out because the "other guy is under very serious, serious, serious investigation," according to the indictment.

The other person was Tarver, Magner said.

Fuller allegedly supplied Tarver with a copy of the confidential state police report. Tarver then gave it to Edwards, Magner said.

Magner noted that Fuller's copy of the report, which he was ordered to turn over to the federal grand jury investigating this case, had on it fingerprints of both Fuller and Tarver.

"There is no way to determine when the fingerprints got on the document," said Tarver's attorney, Mary Olive Pierson, who noted that Tarver was not aware of any alleged arrangement between Edwards and DeBartolo.

Fuller's attorney, Craig Smith, said there was a logical and reasonable explanation for the fingerprints that would come out during testimony.

Pierson noted that it was more likely that documents DeBartolo received came from Ralph Perlman, another member of the Gaming Control Board.

Pierson said that Perlman also discussed the board's vote with Edwards before the board actually voted. Perlman has not attended a gambling board meeting since 1998 at Gov. Mike Foster's request because of the Edwards investigation.