Tapes portray DeBartolo-Edwards friendship

Natalie Gott

Monday, March 20, 2000 | 9:41 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Edwin Edwards may be wishing now that he had relied more on his instincts about the former San Francisco 49ers owner and less on his personal history with Eddie DeBartolo Jr.'s family when he helped DeBartolo get a riverboat casino license in 1997.

That's because the former governor and six others have been on trial for 11 weeks now, accused of carrying out a series of schemes to manipulate the riverboat casino licensing process. The alleged schemes occurred before and after Edwards left his last term in office in 1996.

In one of those alleged schemes, DeBartolo has admitted that he gave Edwards $400,000 two days before the gambling board approved his license. Edwards told DeBartolo that without the money, there would be problems with his license, according to the indictment.

Edwards, who is under a court-ordered gag order, has previously admitted that DeBartolo gave him money, but said it was for legitimate consulting work.

Edwards was out of office when he worked with DeBartolo on the license.

DeBartolo is expected to testify against Edwards - possibly in the coming week after a couple more days of FBI testimony. There is no court Monday and no set schedule, so DeBartolo might not get to the stand until the following week.

He pleaded guilty in October 1998 to one count of failing to report a felony - which prosecutors say was the extortion by Edwards.

Jurors in the trial listened last week as prosecutors played tape after tape of secret recordings made of Edwards' conversations with DeBartolo. The tapes portray a friendship between Edwards and DeBartolo built on business deals, family history and a surprise birthday party.

The tapes also cast DeBartolo as a pesky businessman who relied on Edwards' contacts and knowledge to get him a riverboat casino license.

"You're going to think I'm a real pain in the ass," DeBartolo told Edwards in a taped call on Feb. 24, 1997, when he asked Edwards to get a confidential state police document. Edwards told DeBartolo he already was working on getting the document.

Edwards, meanwhile, could be heard complaining about DeBartolo's delay in signing a retainer contract for his son, Stephen Edwards, who also is a defendant.

"I worry about him because he lost a million dollars at the Desert Inn one time and welched on a deal," Edwards told his son in a March 10, 1997, tape.

The contract called for Stephen Edwards to be paid $50,000 a month for five years for consulting work. DeBartolo Entertainment never agreed to the terms.

Nonetheless, Edwards kept up his friendship with DeBartolo throughout the licensing process as DeBartolo kept up the favors.

Giving DeBartolo's pilot just a few hours notice, Edwards' jetted off to Florida in DeBartolo's private plane in March 1997 so he could look at a $260,000 yacht.

He also asked DeBartolo to get him tickets to the Superbowl in New Orleans, reminding DeBartolo that his late father, Edward DeBartolo Sr., used to get him tickets as well.

DeBartolo eventually gave Edwards 30 tickets, which the former governor sold for $22,000 even though DeBartolo gave them to him as a gift, FBI agent Geoffrey Santini testified. Scalping is not against federal law and is not a charge in this trial.

Edwards returned the favors and once threw a surprise birthday party for DeBartolo in New Orleans.

To lure him to the party, Edwards told DeBartolo he wanted to show him something that "might be of interest" to him regarding the now-defunct Flamingo riverboat casino in New Orleans.

Edwards also agreed to help DeBartolo with his riverboat casino license every time DeBartolo asked. DeBartolo frequently asked Edwards for updates about the status of his application and asked questions about legislation pertaining to his riverboat.

When DeBartolo asked for what he called the executive summary, a confidential report by state police about the riverboat applicants, Edwards said he already was working on it.

Edwards called state Sen. Greg Tarver two minutes later and asked for Tarver's help in obtaining the report.

"Those people have a piece of paper that's called executive summary, which is kind of a pro and con of the various applicants," Edwards told Tarver. "If I were able to get a copy of that, it would certainly solidify my position with some people," Edwards said in a Feb. 24, 1997, conversation.

"I understand," Tarver responded.

Prosecutors said Ecotry Fuller, a member of the gambling board, eventually gave the report to Tarver, who gave it to Edwards.

Although Fuller would have violated a gambling board rule if he supplied the report to the men, there would have been nothing illegal for Tarver and Edwards to pass on the report. Prosecutors said the passing of the report adds to the overall conspiracy in the case.

DeBartolo won the license in March 1997 but gave it up after being summoned before a federal grand jury.

DeBartolo received a suspended sentence, was fined $1 million and agreed to testify against Edwards. After his guilty plea, he lost control of the 49ers to his sister.

The plea was devastating to Edwards, who had been close with DeBartolo's father since the early 1970s, when DeBartolo built Louisiana Downs in Bossier City and a shopping center in New Orleans.

In a statement before court last week, Edwards said he had very little contact with the younger DeBartolo while his father was alive because DeBartolo Jr. was rarely in Louisiana to take care of family business.

"But after his father died, and, of course, he took over, then our relationship began to cement," Edwards said.