The Nation - News from Feb. 9, 1989
- Share via
A witness whose identity and voice were disguised told Senate investigators that organized crime families control many of the largest bingo games on Indian reservations, in one instance bilking a reservation out of more than $500,000 a year. The witness admitted to managing a reservation bingo game for an organized crime family and said mobsters anxious to break into the “wide-open” Indian gambling market have done so by bribing or intimidating tribal leaders. Federal law enforcement officials acknowledged the existence of some ties between organized crime and Indian bingo but said the problem was not yet “a substantial and consistent threat.” FBI agent Richard Elroy, however, said tribal corruption is “pervasive” and added that he was “hard-pressed to come up with a single tribe in Oklahoma that is not touched by it.”
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
John Orr was a renowned fire investigator who was also a prolific arsonist, and whose thinly veiled novel helped to convict him. In this episode we hear from the fire captain who first suspected him—and from Orr himself.
Madison McGhee is joined by legendary Dateline host Josh Mankiewicz and esteemed L.A. Times Reporter Richard Winton as the three of them dive into all-things Menendez Brothers, the good, the bad, and the still unknown.
NPR climate editor Sadie Babits talks about why the media has long overlooked the climate crisis, and how that’s starting to change.
