Probe tests Pa. casino oversight

D'Elia was indicted twice last year, in May on federal charges of laundering thousands of dollars in narcotics profits and in October of conspiring to kill two witnesses.

Sources say information about a possible DeNaples-D'Elia link surfaced again during the drug investigation - although there is no indication that DeNaples did anything wrong.

D'Elia is behind bars awaiting trial. In July, he was taken in handcuffs to testify to the DeNaples grand jury.

James A. Swetz, a lawyer for D'Elia, said his client had no deal, and continued to dispute the federal charges.

"There are no plea negotiations," Swetz said. "We are headed to trial."

Much, if not all, that is publicly known about the supposed links between DeNaples and D'Elia is sketched out in the 2001 affidavit.

Seeking to trace the flow of cash from mob gambling operations, investigators filed the document with a federal judge to obtain a search warrant of another man's home.

Like many such affidavits, the 46-page document contains a grab bag of evidence - some gathered by police surveillance, other allegations in the form of raw tips from informants.

Investigators said they twice had videotaped D'Elia visiting DeNaples' auto-parts business. They did not, however, see any meeting between the men.

The affidavit also quotes a confidential source as saying D'Elia worked as a salesman for one of DeNaples' landfills. Still another unnamed informant said DeNaples had paid him $10,000 in cash for delivering a gym bag to a New Jersey Italian restaurant; the informant said he had believed the bag contained cash.

No charges were brought against DeNaples, and the affidavit's allegations were not tested in court.

During the gaming hearings, DeNaples "denied any connection with D'Elia, social or otherwise," a source said.

According to sources, the board's investigators tried to interview D'Elia, but were put off by his lawyer.

Feeley, DeNaples' spokesman, said last year that the affidavit was an unfair weapon.

"Frankly, the allegations amount to hearsay upon hearsay, assumptions and idle rumor, and in one instance they referred to one of those sources as basing his source on street talk," Feeley told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "There is a reason none of that has been proven: It is not true."

A breakdown

A feud began when the gaming board decided to hire private investigators to handle background checks. The state police were outraged; the troopers union even filed a lawsuit, still pending.

When DeNaples sought his license, the board nonetheless asked state police to open its files.

But former State Police Lt. Col. Ralph Periandi, who supervised casino-related investigations until he retired this year, said privacy law barred his troopers from passing along that information.