Leonard Finz | Statement

The proliferation of Indian gambling casinos may very well be heading toward the most explosive national scandal since the massive swindle unveiled in the 1923 Teapot Dome corruption cases.

In Teapot Dome, the Secretary of the Interior persuaded the Secretary of the Navy to transfer certain government lands to the Department of Interior. The property was then handed over, without competitive bidding to two oil barons for petroleum production, in exchange for a $400,000.00 cash bribe ($7 million in today’s dollars) to the Secretary of Interior. Seven years later, the Secretary was indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison. The Harding administration never recovered from the disgrace. More than 80 years later, the Indian casino issue has all of the ingredients of a monstrous scandal that could easily dwarf Teapot Dome.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act became law in 1988. It’s intent was to provide Native American Indians with the opportunity to generate much needed revenue through various forms of casino gambling. The monies were intended to be used for the economic, health, and education benefits for all members of those tribes who sought the advantages of the gaming Act. What was originally viewed as a meritorious and beneficial purpose, has been perverted in many cases, to enrich a select few tribal leaders to the exclusion of its many needy members. At the same time, the Act of 1988, specifically intended to assist Native Americans, is in reality conferring obscene profits upon non-Indians who use the Act as an open gateway to their own personal treasure trove.

The Act falls within the overall jurisdiction of the Department of Interior, and is executed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), a sub-division of the Department. The authority of the BIA is wide-spread. It has the power to give official recognition to a tribe. It can grant a license for a specific form of gambling, ranging from simple bingo to full-scale glitzy Las Vegas-type casinos. It even has the power to physically move a reservation (by creating a fictional “land trust”) to a different site that might be more profitable for the operation of an Indian casino, and much more. But while the Department of Interior (and the BIA), is invested with certain powers under the Act of 1988, the Act itself, provides little by way of oversight or safeguards on such questions as: Who has the right to operate the casino once a license is granted? Who is to profit from its operation? How is the tremendous revenue generated to be tracked or distributed? Billions of dollars in cash have already been produced with little or no government regulation linked to the huge cash handle of many of the casinos.

The current system embraced by Congress and the executive branch, is ripe for abuse and corruption of the worst kind. With almost 20 billion dollars in revenue last year alone, Indian casino gambling is now one of the largest all cash-producing enterprises in the history of the world, and at its current unfettered rate of growth, will become even larger. Yet, curiously, those who operate most of the Las Vegas-type Indian casinos, are non-Indian mega-gaming investors, or foreign operators who pull out hundreds of millions of dollars of profit each year as a result of shamefully loose and ineffective regulations.

Teapot Dome involved only a handful of miscreants. Here, United States Senators, Representatives, State Governors, politicians of all persuasions, and even Presidents of the United States, have received millions of dollars in political contributions from one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington in order to protect “Indian Sovereignty”- the two buzz words promoted by high-powered lobbyists whose mission is to keep the government’s hands off its questionable deals surrounding Indian casino gambling. The names of top level public officials appear in the press almost daily as they are under the scrutiny of Senate investigating committees looking into abuses of the worst kind.

At the present time little is known about the secret contracts and cozy deals between the tribes and the non-Indian casino operators. With billions in cash passing through so many hands and in so many directions with little or no government supervision, the seeds of corruption, organized mob influence, and evil are scattered everywhere.

As a former New York State Supreme Court Justice, and trial lawyer for many years, I have studied corruption first-hand and have observed it very closely at every level. I see a most troubling trend and therefore propose the following measures:

The investigation must cover every Indian casino enterprise with a review of each BIA license issued, as well as agreements entered into between tribes, State Governors and all gaming managers involved. The following questions, in addition to many more, must be answered: How did the tribe receive its license? How were the tribes certified? What was the criteria for certification? Who are the real operators? Who received what, how, and when? . . . and the list goes on.

Until straight-forward and truthful answers are obtained under oath, and effective oversight is instituted, the scent of unfathomable riches will be the continued lure to a potential national scandal that could explode with the intensity of a violently erupting volcano.