by KYW's Tony Romeo
The Gaming Control Board has suspended the license of a Poconos casino owner after he was indicted on perjury charges. Louis DeNaples (in file photo above) is accused of lying about his connections to organized crime during the casino licensing process.
In addition to allegedly lying about his ties to northeastern Pennsylvania mob figures, DeNaples is also accused of lying about his dealings with convicted Philadelphia imam Shamsud-din Ali, and Ron White, the associate of former Mayor Street who died while federal charges were pending against him.
By law, Gaming board investigators were denied access to law enforcement information about DeNaples but State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller says he does not believe the casino licensing process failed:
“They suspected that Mr. DeNaples was not being truthful with them, but they lacked the ability to put all the pieces together at the time, not specifically because they couldn’t have access to certain information alone, I think also because certain things in the process hadn’t developed yet”
The casino will continue to operate but DeNaples will have no control.
DeNaples, who opened Mount Airy Casino Resort in October with the blessing of state gambling regulators, was charged with four counts of perjury by the Dauphin County district attorney's office in Harrisburgh after a seven-month grand jury investigation. DeNaples' company, Mount Airy No. 1 LLC, was also charged.
Prosecutors say DeNaples didn't tell the truth to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board when he talked about his relationship with four people.
The four are: William D'Elia, the reputed head of a Scranton-area organized crime family; the late Russell Bufalino, an organized crime boss; Ron White, a now-dead Philadelphia businessman accused of trying to trade government contracts for political donations; and Shamsud-din Ali, who is serving a seven-year prison term for using his political connections in Philadelphia to obtain dubious loans, donations, and city contracts.
The gaming board, which vets casino applications, awarded a license to DeNaples after investigating his background for organized crime ties, financial troubles, and more.
Through a spokesman, DeNaples has maintained that he has no ties to organized crime. His lawyers have accused Dauphin County prosecutors of misusing the grand jury as a fishing expedition and a tool in a turf war over who should regulate the state's casinos.
More than two dozen witnesses, including D'Elia, appeared in front of the grand jury. D'Elia is in federal prison awaiting trial on charges of money laundering and conspiring to kill a prosecution witness.
Dauphin County prosecutors brought the case to the grand jury last year after reviewing information given to them by state police investigators. A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board did not immediately return a message left Wednesday.
DeNaples, 67, has business interests that span waste hauling, auto parts, and real estate. He chairs a bank in which he is the biggest shareholder, and is a generous philanthropist and campaign donor.
DeNaples opened his casino and hotel on the site of the storied but shuttered Mount Airy Lodge resort with the promise of spreading economic cheer to northeastern Pennsylvania. Anticipating that he would beat a competing group to win the license, DeNaples had already razed the old lodge and broken ground on the new facility by the time the gaming board voted unanimously for him in December 2006.
For years, law enforcement agents have taken an interest in DeNaples, whose name has surfaced several times in state and federal intelligence reports on organized crime.
In 1978, DeNaples was fined $10,000 and placed on probation for three years after pleading no contest to a felony charge of conspiracy to defraud the federal government in a case involving government payments to clean up the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes.
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