Hearing Under Way on Casino’s Liquor License : Hearing: Officials do not contend that the club broke any laws. But they say the management did too little to prevent crimes by customers.

It took about 30 law enforcement officers from Huntington Park, Bell, Maywood, and the Sheriff’s Department to break up one brawl at the Huntington Park Casino.

The fight had erupted among suspected gang members in a crowd of more than 200 people in the casino’s bar and parking lot. No one was seriously injured in the melee Oct. 22, 1989, but officers arrested 11 people for investigation of assault, battery on police officers and rioting, among other things.

That brawl was among more than 30 reported incidents, including alleged drug sales and use, that have prompted state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to consider revoking the casino’s liquor license.

ABC lawyer David B. Wainstein presented his case this week before Administrative Law Judge Samuel D. Reyes in Los Angeles. The ABC does not allege that the owners and management of the casino broke any laws, only that they did not stop such activity by customers.

“When it gets to a point where you have so many incidents, that indicates there’s a little bit of sloppiness on the part of management,” Wainstein said. “There’s a point when it becomes a nuisance and people’s safety is in jeopardy.”

A sheriff’s detective told the ABC about problems at the casino, which led the agency to send in an undercover investigator, Wainstein said.

A lawyer representing the casino contends that the card club has been unfairly targeted. Casino attorney Walter J. Karabian argued that the gambling establishment’s management did everything it could to stop unlawful activity, including calling police, and they should not be punished for the actions of their patrons.

“If someone goes onto school grounds of a public school and sells drugs . . . does the government close down the school and fire the teachers?” Karabian said.

He said the casino would probably go out of business if the license is revoked, leaving 170 employees without jobs.

After hearing testimony from both sides, Reyes will recommend to ABC Director Jay Stroh whether to revoke the license, to impose a suspension or to dismiss the case. Stroh could accept or reject the recommendation.

The ABC, which investigates and determines punishment for violations, hires a judge as an impartial third party to evaluate the merits of a case against a licensee. Licensees can turn to the state’s appellate courts to overturn ABC decisions.

Meanwhile, most Huntington Park officials are rallying in support of the casino.

Last September, the City Council passed a resolution urging that the ABC drop its action against the casino, contending that it no longer poses a law enforcement problem.

The casino is the city’s largest single source of revenue, generating more than $300,000 a year in gaming revenues for Huntington Park’s $10-million general fund.

“We would hate to lose the money and jobs,” Mayor Raul Perez said in an interview this week. “They should give them a break for the time being and keep a watch on them.”

Police Capt. Frank Sullivan, who is expected to testify in the hearing, said the casino had taken measures to cut down on alleged illegal activity, including barring gang apparel. A local gang had made the casino bar its hangout during late 1989 and early 1990, police said.

“At one point they were featuring rap music, which was a big draw for the gangs,” Sullivan said. “They changed the type of music and made other changes so they wouldn’t draw that type of crowd. It’s not really posing a police problem now.”

Statistics for incidents at the casino in the past year were not immediately available, a police department spokesman said.

The defense’s witness list includes Sullivan and the four councilmen who approved the resolution--Perez, Thomas E. Jackson, William P. Cunningham and Luis M. Hernandez. Councilman Richard V. Loya abstained from voting on the resolution in September. Loya, who took office the day the resolution was passed, said this week that he is still looking into the allegations.

The ABC is basing the bulk of its complaint against the casino on more than 30 incidents reported in or near the casino bar and discotheque between February, 1988, and October, 1990.

In all, 36 people were arrested for fighting, disturbing the peace, public drunkenness, resisting arrest and battery of police officers. Three men and a woman were arrested for assault or battery of police officers during the 1989 melee.

Ten people were arrested on charges of being under the influence of drugs--mostly cocaine and PCP. And an undercover ABC investigator bought small amounts of cocaine from the same casino patron on four occasions, the ABC complaint said. The man was eventually arrested, Wainstein said.

The casino is facing other legal and financial problems. Last April, sheriff’s detectives seized casino records and the records of several current and former Huntington Park councilmen in connection with an investigation of alleged profit-skimming, kickbacks and other improprieties.

Mayor Perez and Councilmen Hernandez and Loya are not targets of the investigation.

No charges have been filed in the ongoing Sheriff’s Department investigation. Casino and city officials have said they are innocent of wrongdoing.

In October, 1990, Huntington Park Club Operations Ltd., the limited partnership that owns the casino’s building, filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal Bankruptcy Act. It is still in Chapter 11.

Casino officials contend that the investigations have disrupted their business, causing revenues to drop. Casino revenues in the first 11 months of 1991 were 19% lower than the revenues from the same period of 1990, according to city records.