Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Gaming briefs for January 25, 2001

Crime figure to stand trial

FARMINGTON, Pa. -- A man accused of being a longtime "made" member of Pittsburgh's Genovese crime family will be tried on felony racketeering charges.

Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti, 71, New Kensington, was held for trial Tuesday after a two-day preliminary hearing before District Justice Wendy Dennis.

Ciancutti faces two counts of racketeering; one count each of criminal conspiracy, bookmaking and money laundering; and three counts of dealing with illegal gambling devices.

Deputy Attorney General Mark Serge claims Ciancutti pocketed up to $50,000 a week as part of a gambling ring that grossed 10 times that much when pro football season was in full swing.

Ralph "Big Head" Maselli, 60, of Pittsburgh, and Jeffrey Risha, 46, of Uniontown were also held for trial Tuesday.

The three defendants were among 11 people indicted by a grand jury in October of participating in the ring.

Attorney General Mike Fisher said the organization took bets of $300 to $500 in Allegheny, Westmoreland and Fayette counties since 1995.

Fisher said Risha ensured the betting was profitable for the organization by moving money from one bookmaker to another so no one bookmaker would get wiped out by winning bettors. Bookmakers typically kept 10 percent of any given bet, police said.

Seniors jockey for gambling seats

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Afternoon bingo may be the hottest winter game in the Grand Strand area after casinos were shut down last year.

The Grand Strand Senior Center packs in 260 players for its Tuesday and Thursday bingo games but more show up.

And as the competition for seats rises, so do tempers, with some locals grousing that snowbirds are forcing them out and snowbirds grumbling locals are rude and unwelcoming.

"People don't have any manners," said Jerry Farley, who comes to the center 90 minutes early to claim a seat. "We used to sit at a front table, and these birds come here and push you out."

When the doors open, he said, "it's just like a bunch of vultures" swooping into unclaimed chairs.

The situation has gotten so tense that two weeks ago, the center instituted a system where people get a card for a seat starting at 9 a.m. Before that, 300 or more people lined up outside the door.

"It came to a head when people were wanting to sit in the closet and in the kitchen," said Ray Fontaine, Horry County's Council on Aging executive director.

Kerkorian sells big stake in automaker

DETROIT -- DaimlerChrysler AG's third-largest shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian, has sold about 10 million shares in the struggling German-American automaker.

The transaction was made about two weeks ago, a source familiar with the deal said on condition of anonymity. The sale reduces by about a third the stake that Kerkorian's investment company, Tracinda Corp., held in DaimlerChrysler.

Kerkorian has been a longtime critic of Chrysler Corp.'s management team and on Nov. 27 he filed an $8 billion lawsuit against the automaker, demanding a reversal of its 1998 merger with Daimler-Benz AG. Kerkorian said executives falsely billed it as a merger of equals, rather than a takeover by Daimler-Benz.

DaimlerChrysler's stock price, now at about $47, has fallen steadily since reaching a high of $108 in January 1999.

In Las Vegas, Kerkorian controls casino operator MGM MIRAGE.

Seminoles can't run casino-style gaming

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Seminole tribe's effort to get casino-style gaming, including slot machines, on its land has been dealt a blow by the U.S. Interior Department, which agrees with the state that such games aren't allowed in Florida.

The Seminoles have been battling in court for a decade to be able to expand the games they offer.

A letter from Interior last week to the Seminole tribe said the agency agreed with Florida that the Las Vegas-style games the tribe wants aren't allowed, although the department sided with the Seminoles in saying that they can offer higher stakes poker than is currently allowed.

The fight isn't over. The state and the tribe are still in talks, and the state is also suing over whether the Interior Department even has the right to intervene.

It's also unclear what effect President Bush's new administration might have, if any.

Officials want swan killer charged

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- An animal cruelty charge will be recommended for the golfer who fatally beat an exotic black swan with a driver at casino operator Donald Trump's golf club, officials said.

Palm Beach County public safety director Paul Milelli told the Palm Beach Post on Monday he will ask that Cyril Wagner be charged with animal cruelty for beating the rare bird more than three weeks ago.

Investigators said Wagner, a New York resident, has yet to file a written statement, adding that they may ask authorities in New York to get the statement from him.

Also, police cannot examine the dead swan because it was buried on the Trump International Golf Club course the day after it died and is presumed to be decomposed.

Wagner told officials he killed the 50-pound bird in self-defense with one swing of a titanium driver. Wagner was playing a round of golf as a guest of New York plastic surgeon Eli Milch, a member.

Suspect blames woman for loss

ATLANTIC CITY -- A gambler who allegedly beat up and tried to rape a woman after blaming his losses on her was arrested after returning to the casino where it happened.

Anthony Vaglica, 51, of New Hyde Park, N.Y., was arrested Saturday at the Atlantic City Hilton, where the incident occurred Dec. 17, police said.

The victim, a 26-year-old college student from Astoria, N.Y., who had accompanied Vaglica and another man to the casino, told police Vaglica attacked her as she tried to leave him in the casino.

Vaglica allegedly punched her in an elevator and then dragged her out of the elevator and into her room, where he forced her up against a wall and ripped her pantyhose.

The victim needed stitches on her lips and suffered a head wound.

Vaglica, who is charged with aggravated criminal sexual contact, was arrested Saturday after returning to the hotel and checking into a room. Casino security alerted local police, who arrested him.

He was being held Tuesday on $50,000 bail.

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