Witness Says He Was Paid to Scare ‘Queen of Bingo’ : Hearings: Police cast doubt on the surprise testimony. Parlor operator Edith Ryan is seeking to block city efforts to revoke her license.

In a bizarre twist, a man claiming to be an ex-convict testified Thursday that he was paid $2,000 to terrorize the owner of the city’s largest bingo parlor so a former partner in the operation could seize control.

Police quickly cast doubt on the testimony of surprise witness Gene Hawkins, 58, who was called to the stand by Woodland Hills bingo operator Edith Ryan in her fight to block a city effort to revoke her bingo license.

Assistant City Atty. Byron Boeckman said late Thursday that police “have discovered information that gives us great pause to believe anything this man says or even that he is who he says he is.”

Hawkins testified under oath that Sylvia Dean of Sherman Oaks offered to pay him $10,000 to fire a gun next to Ryan’s head to “scare her out of her wits.”

Dean is a former director and longtime worker at Identity Inc., Ryan’s nonprofit bingo operation. She could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Hawkins, described as a “bombshell” witness by Ryan’s attorney, Mitchell W. Egers, said he served eight years in San Quentin and Folsom prisons for robbery and kidnaping. His criminal record could not be confirmed.

Under questioning by Egers, Hawkins, who wore sunglasses during his testimony, said he never took any action against the 64-year-old Ryan, widely known as the “Queen of Bingo.”

The effort by the city’s Social Services Department to revoke Ryan’s license is based on the testimony of Dean and three other former Identity workers. The four said Ryan illegally paid them $100 to $300 a day to work at the bingo games. Under state law, bingo must be run by volunteers and all money after expenses and prizes must be donated to charity.

Thursday’s hearing was cut short when Los Angeles Police Detective Fred Clapp arrived to interview Hawkins about his allegations of possible criminal wrongdoing.

Boeckman, who is prosecuting the city’s revocation case, initially told reporters that he called the detective because “it’s clearly something the police ought to look into” and that he had “no reason not to believe” Hawkins.

Later, however, Boeckman said he agreed with Clapp that Hawkins’ testimony was unreliable. Clapp told a reporter that he would testify Monday, when the hearing resumes, “in a way that may or may not discredit Mr. Hawkins--I believe it will.”

Clapp would give no details but said Hawkins “has been around a long time. I’ve been in this department 20 years and I’ve known of him for nearly 20 years.”

Identity has grossed $29.4 million since 1982, more than any other bingo operation in the city, according to city records. The organization’s bingo profits are used to fund rehabilitation programs for physically handicapped teen-agers and young adults.

Hawkins said he first met Dean a year ago at night in the parking lot of a Van Nuys restaurant, where she offered to pay him “to terrorize Edith. She wanted me to make Edith believe I was a member of some type of criminal organization.”

Dean wanted him “to scare the life out of her so she’d leave the area,” Hawkins testified. The ex-convict, now on probation, said Dean told him to fire a gun twice close enough to Ryan’s head “to bust her eardrums and so she could smell the singed hair.”

Hawkins said Dean told him that “there was an awful lot of money missing” from Identity’s bingo operations and that the only “sure way to cover up” the deficit was for her to wrest control of Identity away from Ryan.

A few days after their initial conversation, Hawkins said Dean paid him $2,000. Hawkins told Egers, Ryan’s attorney, that “I had no intention of doing this . . . because I’m an ex-convict and I can’t carry a gun.”

Hawkins said he had no further contact with Dean. He testified that he read a news story two weeks ago about the revocation hearing and contacted Ryan because “I knew if anything happened to this lady it would definitely be on my conscience.”

Hawkins testified that he had no idea why Dean contacted him.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Administrative Law Judge John B. Rice will recommend whether to revoke Ryan’s license to Robert Burns, general manager of the Social Services Department.

Ryan, who insists she will appeal an unfavorable ruling to Superior Court, said that Identity draws about 300 players three nights a week to its cavernous De Soto Avenue parlor.