Alabama casino owner bragged about passing bill

Alabama casino owner bragged about passing bill
By PHILLIP RAWLS

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Country Crossing casino developer Ronnie Gilley admitted Wednesday that he bragged to people that he and his lobbyists, not VictoryLand casino owner Milton McGregor, were responsible for passing pro-gambling legislation in Alabama.

Gilley, who has pleaded guilty to offering bribes, returned to the witness stand Wednesday in Alabama's gambling corruption trial after being out for a week due to illness. He is a key prosecution witness in the trial of McGregor and eight others accused of conspiring with Gilley to buy and sell votes on pro-gambling legislation.

Defense attorneys used Gilley's own words, captured in FBI wiretaps on his phones, to attack his credibility in the fifth week of the trial.

In one taped phone call to a Gulfport, Miss., casino operator, Gilley said he and McGregor were having disagreements about how to pass the gambling legislation. Gilley recounted how he told McGregor that he needed to go along with Gilley's style of doing things and that he warned McGregor, "We are going to do it with you or without you."

Bill Baxley, defense attorney for McGregor lobbyist Tom Coker, quizzed Gilley about his relationship with McGregor.

"I had several disagreements with Mr. McGregor," Gilley testified.

In earlier testimony, Gilley credited McGregor with directing their legislative strategy.

Baxley asked Gilley if he made phone calls, recorded by the FBI, in which he bragged to investors in his Country Crossing casino in Dothan that he and his lobbyists were responsible for getting the state Senate to pass pro-casino legislation on March 30, 2010.

"I did," he answered.

In a loud exchange, Baxley asked Gilley if he told multiple lies in hopes of staying out of jail before he pleaded guilty in April.

"Just like everybody else in here is doing the same thing," he replied.

The gambling legislation was a proposed constitutional amendment to protect electronic bingo casinos like Gilley's Country Crossing and McGregor's VictoryLand in Shorter from raids by state police. The bill died in the House after the FBI disclosed its investigation of Statehouse corruption.

The Country Crossing and VictoryLand casinos closed last year under pressure from the governor's gambling task force.

Gilley admitted Wednesday that Country Crossing never turned a profit in its two months of operation and he never made money on his Bama Jam outdoor music festivals in Enterprise. He said he took a third mortgage on his Enterprise home to finance Country Crossing because investors kept pulling out.

"I'm dead broke as we sit here right now," he testified.

The 46-year-old developer has a plea deal with the prosecution that calls for a prison sentence of 20 to 27 years, but that could be shortened based on his cooperation with prosecutors.

Defense attorneys told the judge Wednesday that Gilley's attorney, David Harrison, has told people that Gilley expects a sentence of five years or less based on his cooperation.

Gilley testified Wednesday that he expects his sentencing, now scheduled for November, to be postponed because he won't be finished cooperating with the federal government. He said he has been vague when people ask what sentence he expects.

Gilley will return to the witness stand Thursday for a sixth day of testimony.

Gilley's two lobbyists, Jarrod Massey and Jennifer Pouncy, have also pleaded guilty to offering bribes and are cooperating with the prosecution. Prosecutor Justin Shur said they will testify after Gilley.