Warned NBC, Aide to Wayne Newton Testifies

A former state gaming agent who later worked for singer Wayne Newton testified that he warned two NBC newsmen they were “barking up the wrong tree” if a network news report linked the entertainer with organized crime.

Former state Agent Lon Shepard told a federal jury hearing evidence in Newton’s defamation suit against NBC that he met with NBC reporter Brian Ross and producer Ira Silverman in a Las Vegas bar.

“I told them they were barking up the wrong tree and could be getting themselves in trouble,” Shepard testified Monday. Shepard went to work for Newton less than a year after investigating the entertainer’s state application to buy the Aladdin Hotel-Casino on the Strip.

Shepard said he told the newsmen “there didn’t seem to be any relationship between Penosi and Newton,” referring to Guido Penosi, a suspected associate of the Gambino organized-crime family, and identified by Newton earlier in the trial as a longtime fan.

Newton sued the network after an Oct. 6, 1980, newscast on grounds that he was defamed by being incorrectly connected with organized crime. Newton said the report damaged his reputation and earning power.

Entertainer Johnny Carson said in a deposition read into the record Monday that he met with NBC reporters about 10 days before the broadcast. Carson did not remember the names of the newsmen.

Carson, also a potential buyer of the Aladdin Hotel six years ago, said in the sworn statement that he thought the reporters told him about the story because of his personal interest in acquiring the gambling resort, which Newton and his partner bought for $85 million and have since sold.

Carson said in the deposition that he did not recall whether the newsmen asked him for information about Newton.