Terror suspects may have visited Las Vegas

Jeff German and David Strow

Thursday, Sept. 20, 2001 | 10:49 a.m.

Some of the suspected associates of the 19 hijackers responsible for the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., may have stayed at Las Vegas hotels within the past two years.

Billing records at major Strip resorts have found several matches to names on an FBI terrorist watch-list distributed nationwide to authorities, law enforcement sources said.

"There have been some visitors here in the past couple of years that match those names," a well-placed law enforcement source said today. "Several of the hotels have been cooperative."

The names primarily were run through security chiefs along the Strip.

"There were minor discrepancies on the spelling of some of the names, but for the most part they were pretty close," the source said.

The information, the source said, was turned over to the FBI.

FBI agents also have learned that Mohamed Atta -- a 33-year-old urban planner believed to have commandeered an American Airlines flight that slammed into the World Trade Center Sept 11 -- visited Las Vegas within the past three months.

Atta, authorities said, made two short trips to Las Vegas, one in late June and the other in August, and stayed both times at the Econo Lodge, 1150 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

"He was extremely low key from what we know," the law enforcement source said. "He was just passing through."

FBI agents this week visited the Econo Lodge looking for information about Atta. They also looked up his car rental records.

Atta, sources said, rented a car twice here, and on one visit accumulated nearly 1,000 miles.

For the most part, agents so far have been unable to get a good grasp of what Atta was doing in Las Vegas, sources said.

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that Atta, regarded as a leader in the terrorist attacks, and two other hijackers had been in Las Vegas in recent months.

Las Vegas FBI spokesman Daron Borst declined this morning to comment on Atta's reported visit, as well as word that some of those on the FBI watch list may have been here. There are about 190 people on the latest version of the list.

Among the major casino companies the FBI has turned to for help in locating possible terrorist associates are MGM MIRAGE and Mandalay Resort Group, which own some of the most well known resorts on the Strip.

Federal agents went to MGM MIRAGE soon after the Sept. 11 bombings with a list of more than 100 names in its investigation of Osama bin Laden's U.S. network.

But MGM MIRAGE officials said they found no evidence that anyone on the list had patronized the company's properties, spokesman Alan Feldman said.

"As I was told earlier, there was nothing of substance found from the search," Feldman said. "They were looking for any kind of information ... Social Security numbers, passports, photographs, signatures. I have to believe they're looking for everything."

John Marz, senior vice president for marketing at Mandalay Resort Group, declined comment this morning.

FBI agents, meanwhile, continued today to work closely with hotel security chiefs.

"We've been in constant contact with the security chiefs at the various casinos," Borst said.

But he declined to give details.

"They asked us to check on guests who may have stayed in Las Vegas on past dates," said Tim Donovan, president of the Las Vegas Security Chiefs Association, which has about 100 members. "They're calling us on a need-to-know basis."

Donovan said agents particularly have been interested in visits here within the past year.

"They're looking for anyone who would have involvement, directly or indirectly, with any type of terrorist activity.

Borst acknowledged that the FBI has distributed the watch list locally.

"We've provided it to numerous other entities in the area," he said. "The public has been tremendous in its cooperation with us."

Borst said that as of Wednesday, the FBI had received 112,000 tips and leads in the nation's biggest-ever criminal investigation.

Sources said bin Laden's name also has surfaced in hotel records, but that it was unlikely reputed terrorist kingpin himself has been to Las Vegas within the past two years. He reportedly comes from a large family with 52 brothers and sisters.

One of his sisters, however, is said to be a respected high-roller at the Bellagio, sources said.

The sister is not believed to have much contact with bin Laden.