Federal, local officials raid gambling ring run from Laotian markets

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2001 | 10:13 a.m.

"One spoke led to the hub," said Fort Smith Police Sgt. Jeff Barrows. "That led to the whole wheel."

More than 140 officers from a variety of local and federal agencies conducted the simultaneous raids - called Operation Double Down - during the weekend. By Monday, 39 people had been arrested on charges including running a gambling hall, criminal use of property and drug charges.

The investigation began two years after members of the Asian community complained about illegal gambling, Barrows said.

"This is a case of people in the (Asian) community preying on one another," Barrows said.

One problem was the lack of Asian officers in Arkansas.

"We can't send in a white officer; they wouldn't do the deal," said Springdale Police public information officer Dale Atkinson. "We just don't have the resources to investigate this, normally."

Fort Smith has one Laotian officer, one more than Springdale. Federal agencies supplied Laotian personnel to help with the investigation.

Another obstacle was some Laotians' aversion to police, stemming from memories of corrupt law enforcement agencies in their homeland, Barrows said. He said the ring targeted Laotians because of that tendency.

"What we have here is the bad guys taking aim at members of their own community," he said.

Bets were being placed on professional and collegiate sporting events and complex number systems were being developed and used to gamble on the Chicago and Thai lotteries, Barrows said.

"This type of a gambling operation is truly organized crime," he said.

During the raids in the four Arkansas communities and Des Moines, Iowa, police confiscated cash, more than a half-dozen cars, computers, fax machines, paper shredders, papers, documentation, methamphetamine and large amounts of pornographic videotapes in the raids. The Sebastian County prosecutor's office said Monday that more than $70,000 in cash had been seized in Fort Smith, Van Buren and Barling. About $15,000 was confiscated in Springdale and $20,000 in Des Moines.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Cromwell said federal charges were likely, but said he couldn't speculate on an ongoing investigation.

This is the second time a major Asian gambling ring centered on Fort Smith has been busted in a decade. On Super Bowl Sunday, Jan. 27, 1992, a similar force raided several businesses in Fort Smith, serving companion warrants in Honolulu and Pearl City, Hawaii; Granada Hills, Calif.; Des Moines; Dallas and Fort Worth in Texas; and Belmont, N.C. More than 80 people were arrested and charged in those raids.

"We've seen some of the same people (in this operation)," said Dan Sturgill, supervisory special agent for the FBI.

Participating in the recent raid were agents, officers and deputies from police departments at Fort Smith, Van Buren, Barling, Springdale and Des Moines, the Sebastian County sheriff's office, FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Postal Service and U.S. Marshal Service.