Amid probe, casino owner asked to divest
Louis A. DeNaples' request to transfer to relatives was preliminary and coincidental, an aide said.
HARRISBURG - In the fall, a month after he opened the Mount Airy Casino Resort and while he was the focus of a grand-jury investigation, Louis A. DeNaples began making preparations to transfer ownership of Pennsylvania's first stand-alone slots parlor to family members.
The Scranton millionaire asked the state Gaming Control Board on Nov. 13 for permission to transfer 98 percent of the Poconos casino to trusts for his children and grandchildren.
The board, which suspended DeNaples' license Wednesday hours after he was charged with four counts of perjury, did not act on the request and will not while the suspension is in place, said Richard McGarvey, a board spokesman.
Kevin Feeley, DeNaples' spokesman, said DeNaples merely had been "floating the concept" of transferring ownership and hadn't decided to go through with it even if it was approved.
"I understand the timing of this is almost irresistible, but the predominant motivation here was one of succession planning," Feeley said. "This was about what happens after Louis DeNaples is no longer. He is 67 years old. This is the kind of thing people of his age do routinely."
Dauphin County prosecutors in Harrisburg charged DeNaples with four counts of perjury, alleging that he lied to gaming regulators about his ties to crime figures.
In closed-door testimony to regulators in 2006, DeNaples said he had limited or no relationship with late mob boss Russell Bufalino; Bufalino's protege, William D'Elia; the late Ron White, a chief fund-raiser for former Mayor John Street; and Shamsud-din Ali, the West Philadelphia imam who is serving time in connection with the City Hall corruption investigation four years ago.
Grand-jury witnesses, including D'Elia, testified that DeNaples had done business with the four men or had personal relationships with them, court papers said.
Through his attorney, DeNaples has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the charges vigorously. He is expected to turn himself in to authorities in the next several days.
In suspending DeNaples' license, Anne Neeb, executive director of the Gaming Control Board, allowed the casino to remain open but is barring its owner from stepping inside.
She also prohibited DeNaples from managing or profiting from the property and ordered all profits to be placed in escrow.
Feeley said the charges, which made headlines across the state, didn't hurt business yesterday. In fact, he said, Mount Airy might have benefited from the publicity.
As of midday yesterday, Feeley said, more people had walked through the doors than on any other Thursday since the casino opened Oct. 15.
"Business," he said, "was booming."