Alabama: Gambling trial week 4: Calls, cussing and country music

Gambling trial week 4: Calls, cussing and country music
Written by
Sebastian Kitchen

There were some interesting quotes and information from the fourth week of the high-profile federal corruption trial of Victo­ ryLand owner Milton McGre­ gor, his lobbyists and current and former state legislators. The week included the playing of more than three-dozen phone conversations secretly recorded by the FBI.

The following are some of those quotes, comments and tid­ bits:

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"There is no question Ronnie is our friend." McGregor said of gubernatorial candidate Ron Sparks. " ... I will tell you a cou­ ple of things in person, but there is no question he is our friend."

The Indian-casino operator war

"We go to war with the Indi­ ans," Gilley said to McGregor about passing the bill in the Sen­ ate despite opposition from Na­ tive American gambling inter­ ests.

Jammed

Gilley said he was the found­ er of BamaJam music festival. He said he was proud of it, but it was never financially success­ ful. He said he is trying to re- vive the festival.

Owen lobbyist

"He's got time and money invested" McGregor tells lobby­ ist Tom Coker about singer Randy Owen of the band Alaba­ ma. Owen was calling state sen- ators to personally lobby them to vote for the gambling legisla­ tion.

Good phone

McGregor, in a taped con­versation with Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley after the Senate passed the electronic bingo bill, said: "Hey Big Boy."
Gilley: "Congratulations Mr. Mac."

McGregor: "Call me back on your good phone."

When a prosecutor asked Gilley why McGregor want­ed him to call from his "drop phone," Gilley said "because we didn't want you listening to it."

Fighting for survival

In the conversations, McGregor made it clear he was fighting for the future of his establishments. "It's a survival bill for me, for us," McGregor said. He said he was the one "taking the big­gest risk." McGregor added: "I've got more invested than Gilley, Lowndes and Greene all put together."
Better to ask forgiveness

"Forgive my language again everyone" Gilley said to the court before he read the text of a conversation he had about McGregor that is laced with profanity.

Unexpected switch

Coker said then Gov. Bob Riley, a Republican, and Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, were pushing Sen. Jim Preuitt of Talladega to switch parties and said Preuitt didn't think he could vote for gambling if he switched parties.
"I think he is comfortable now that he is going to run as a Democrat. That freed up that thing for him," Coker said. Democrats expected Preuitt to file to run as a Democrat in 2010, but he filed paperwork to run as a Republican on the last day to register. He later dropped out of the race.
Subtle and mature

Greenetrack CEO Luther "Nat" Winn, operator of Greenetrack, told McGregor he wanted a "subtle mature white person" to talk to then-Sen. Bobby Denton, D-Mus­cle Shoals, about voting for the bill. McGregor asked him if he had "some good white person or couple to go." Winn reiterated that he wanted a "good solid church person." McGregor and Den­ton are white. Winn is black.

Riley's arm

When asked by Sen. Quin­ton Ross, D-Montgomery, about the prospects for the gambling legislation, McGre­gor said, "I feel pretty good about the legislative process. I don't feel good about the state court process. The Ala­bama Supreme Court has proven they're like an arm of the governor's office."

Admonished

"It is essential that you not learn from any other source what has occurred in this case outside of your pres­ence," U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson told Gilley after he said in court that he knows other people in the case had referred to him as a con man. Gilley said he was told by friends and not by at­torneys in the case. Thomp­son said he should cut off any future conversations about the case.

Migrating westward

"If we don't pass this damn bill, my project is going to Mississippi," Gilley said. He continued, in a con­versation with a consultant secretly recorded by the FBI: "We have an offer al­most too damn good to pass up."

Jamey Johnson fans

Preuitt, according to Gilley, was a big fan of coun­try musician Jamey Johnson. Johnson was reaching out to Preuitt on the vote and had offered to spend time with Preuitt at the BamaJam mu­sic festival, according to Gilley, who also is a fan. On the wiretapped conversa­tions taped by the FBI that are played in court, people can hear Gilley's ringback tone of Johnson's "In Color" repeatedly before people would answer the phone.

School of hard math

"I'm not a real educated guy. You might want to check my math," Gilley said when asked about the total on some invoices in court.

A flunky and a friend

Gilley referred to Mark Sheldon, a friend who was president of one of his com­panies and still works for him, as his "general flunky."

Business experience

Gilley said he wouldn't ar­gue the statement that he has had more than 100 com­panies in the past 20 years from lawn care to real estate development.

The Bold and the ...

Susan James, attorney for defendant Jay Walker, who was the spokesman for Coun­try Crossing, asked Gilley if he was bold and arrogant during the time of the crimes. He responded "I was not arrogant. I was bold."

Round 1

When asked, Gilley said he could be a witness in a lot of cases in the future. He did not elaborate.

At it again

Gilley said he is currently pursuing a project in Coffee County called Keystone. "I have a family that has to eat and we are in the process of working on our original proj­ect in Coffee County. I have been given permission by my probation officer to do such," Gilley said.

Not playing (or paying) possum

Country legend George Jones was not an investor in Country Crossing, Gilley said. He said Jones was paid $50,000 at times to be the na­tional spokesman for the project. In a secretly record­ed conversation, someone re­minded Gilley about $50,000 due to Jones in February and another $50,000 in August. When asked if they were try­ing to stiff Jones, Gilley said, "George didn't let us forget when we owed him money."

Judge and jury

U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson informed jurors and others in the court that his court reporter had a dia­betic episode Monday and passed out briefly. Thomp­son said this is not a trial, and with Gilley, especially not a witness, that people would fall asleep during. "Whether you like (Gilley's) language or not, it is color­ful,"
Thompson said.

Telecommunications

FBI Special Agent John McEachern said on the stand Friday 12,000 phone calls and text messages were in­tercepted during the investi­gation. About 5,000, he said, were gathered from two phones used by Milton McGregor.

'This pretty good strong scheme'

"I ain't backing off that son of a b----," Barron said on one conversation about Preuitt, adding: "We need to get into this pretty good strong scheme that I am against this damn bill. That Lowell won't do it. That he's acting like he's for this bill but doing everything he can to get you p----- off to kill the bill."
Barron later tells McGre­gor to "cuss me and give me hell," and adds later "I'll do whatever it takes to make my part look authentic. Any­thing to show my p----- off­ness, I will do it."

'Pretty funny'

"I thought it was pretty funny," McGregor attorney Joe Espy said of the conver­sation between McGregor and Barron. "It was a story. I do think it clearly shows no­body tried to buy Jim Pre­uitt. If he'd been bought, no one would try to come up with a story of a feud going on."

Musical appreciation

During a lengthy cross ex­amination Friday, Jimmy Judkins, an attorney for lob­byist Robert Geddie, told McEachern they could make the process more interesting. "I'll sing my part, you sing yours," he said.