The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 11

MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1977 THE INDIANA POUS STAR PAGE 11 Junketeer- sent from New York to Los Angeles in connection with garment center racketeering but ended up getting busted on deceased), a Hoosier then serving on the U.S. Supreme Court. AN FBI REPORT on Riddle's licensing contains the notation that he has no panded into other businesses, including Manufacturers Supply Corporation and Indiana Metal and Machinery Company. He died in 1937 By then.his son, Major Arterbum Riddle (named after an uncle) not only was playing an important part in the profitable businesses but had turned to the sideline which would become his mainstay later gambling. According to Nevada records.

Riddle as early as 1936 was associated with the Plantation Club, a gambling spa located just outside McCordsville in Hancock County and managed by Jacobson. The subject of occasional raids, the club included entertainment which, old-timers say, was out of Chicago and controlled by the Capone mob. Other silent backers of the Plantation included a former Marion County sheriff, Charles (Buck) Sumner. Riddle's initial break with Indianapolis came in 1940 when he became associated with another Plantation Club, this one at Moline, 111., which was a reputed hangout for former Capone people SEVERAL YEARS later, Riddle moved from Indianapolis to Chicago where he was involved in trucking interests, maintained a stable of racing horses and dated Virginia Hill, the celebrated playgirl who later became famous as the girlfriend of mobster Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel Riddle operates Riddle Oil Company in Texas and from 1937 to 1954 held controlling interest in the Hancock Trucking Company, Evansville. He took over management of Hancock when Roy L.

Friedle retired, but the company slid into bankruptcy in 1954 and finally collapsed nearly 20 years later with hundreds of creditors taking a bath. Company officials blamed the failure of Hancock, in part, on Riddle's increased interests in Las Vegas. Tomorrow Indianapolis and the Chicago syndicate. resented many of the top racketeers in the county In Shenker and persons with whom he has been associated have tapped into a staggering $200 million in loans from the union pension fund, many of which triggered government investigations. One lawsuit, filed in Nevada earlier this year, charges that the Southern Nevada Culinary and Bartenders Union pension fund trustees made illegal loans of $30 million to failing companies controlled by Shenker AL BRAMLET, secretary-treasurer of the union, was found shot to death in March.

His body was found in a makeshift grave 45 miles outside Las Vegas. The case is unsolved. In 1969, the FBI was required to testify about certain conversations it monitored from "bugs" hidden in the Dunes. The testimony was in connection with eavesdropping relating to various investigations against Hoffa. One agent described a discussion between Hoffa and Riddle about a $4.5 million loan to purchase an insurance company Another conversation about the purchase was monitored from a "bug" in the office of Dalitz at the Desert Inn, testimony showed Riddle was born in Louisville and spent part of his youth in the family home here at 1409 Broadway after his father, Charles L.

Riddle, moved to Indianapolis in 1917, when Major was 11 The senior Riddle worked in plumbing, insurance and truck sales before forming the old Globe Cartage Company of Indianapolis. He became known as one of the pioneers in interstate truck hauling. CHARLES Riddle served on the city boards of public works and public safety in the late 1920s and was active in politics. By 1936, he was president of the old Indiana Motor Traffic Association and his successful family-held corporation ex Continued From Page 1 Shenker as piles of Teamsters union pension fund loans were shoveled into the Dunes. Loaned money to a reputed member of the Vito Genovese crime family.

Besides the Dunes Junkets, currently co-ordinated from here by former jewelry store owner Matthew F. Kane, Riddle has been influential in junkets from Indianapolis to other casinos. He started the late Max Klapper in junkets to the Circus-Circus, according to Klapper's son, Phillip, and James J. Malad, the Indianapolis director of junkets to the Aladdin and formerly to the Desert Inn, said Goldstein helped start him in the business. Jacobson, who ran a half-dozen gambling operations in Indianapolis at various times, remained close to Riddle even after Riddle moved from Indianapolis to Chicago in the 1940s.

Jacobson was thought by some investigators to have been Riddle's surrogate here for many years. A former employee of Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, he died in 1972. MIROFF, WHO is under indictment at Chicago in connection with syndicate-sponsored robberies, was a long-time business partner with Riddle in purchasing surplus equipment. Riddle said they ended business relations in the early 1950s and were not especially close in later years. "In the days with me he was never arrested and never had any problems with anybody," Riddle said of Miroff.

"I never heard of him having any problems, and I knew Leo for many, many years." While Riddle's career has abutted from time to time with organized crime, he said: "If there was any question about my integrity and about my problems, why, I couldn't get a license in Nevada. They check your every action and so forth." And Riddle consistently has won Nevada Gaming Commission approval since 1956, when he gained control of the Dunes from owners who had been secretly representing a New England Cosa Nostra boss. THE LAST MAJOR problem the Dunes has had with gaming authorities was in 1975 when Riddle and Shenker were questioned because a top Chicago syndicate figure, Anthony (Tony the Ant) Spilotro, seemed to be "setting up shop" in their casino. Riddle recalled: "I've never met this man in my life, but Mr. Shenker knew Cold Continued From Page 1 Crossing area were without power from 4.30 a.m.

to 5:20 p.m. because a line had to be repaired and switches at the substation had to be thawed, according to David P. Vincent, spokesman for PSI. Vincent said the power failure was caused when an icy neutral transmission line broke because the cold temperatures caused it to contract excessively. The neutral line fell onto hot lines, causing the power failure.

Power was restored quickly to many of the homes because the lines were simply rerouted. The exact cause of the failure was not immediately determined. IN INDIANAPOLIS, as elsewhere in the state, rescue workers stayed busy Sunday helping stranded motorists. The Marion County Police Department Help Patrol, consisting of two station wagons equipped with first-aid gear, jumper cables, portable air tanks for inflating tires and other emergency tools, was working with a constant backlog of two to three calls, a spokesman for the department said. As is customary during bad weather Riddle, Dalitz Combined Forces In Try To Aid Detroit Boss' Son arrest record, but in fact there is one old stain from the period when Riddle operated a trucking line out of Chicago.

In 1941 Riddle was taken into custody on charges of violating interstate tariff regulations and pleaded guilty to 97 counts in criminal proceedings. He was fined for just one of the offenses. The Dunes previously had been held in the name of Joseph Sullivan although it was widely known that the actual owner was Raymond Patriarca, Mafia boss of New England. Sullivan sold his interests to James (Jake) Gottlieb, a Chicago trucking magnate who was a friend of Riddle's and had strong ties with Hoffa. In 1956 Riddle became associated with Gottlieb in the Investment Company, a holding company for several truck lines and also the new operating company for the Dunes.

WHEN GOTTLIEB stepped out of the picture, Riddle retained the majority interest but other stockholders of record included Wyman, Charles Duckworth, Charles Rich and Robert Rice. (Gottlieb died in 1972). Rice was a former jeweler from Providence, R.I. Rich and Wyman were former St. Louis gamblers who had been involved in C.J.

Rich a bookie operation which flourished in Indiana and other states in the 1930s and 1940s. Duckworth, Rich's stepson, had been an employe of the Rich company for several years. In 1962, the Dunes got its first Teamsters pension fund loan $5 million. Later loans brought the total close to $15 million, with the bulk still owed to the fund. It was in the 1960s also that the Dunes came under significant control from Shenker.

In 1967, Shenker and 24 other persons bought controlling interest in a New York-based electronics company, Continental Connector, which in turn bought and the Dunes the next year. Shenker and Riddle became directors of Continental. Majority stockholder in Continental Connector became UK Nevada an investment company with extensive Nevada and California holdings. The powers in it were Shenker and Irving J. Kahn, a financier who died several years ago.

IJK in turn received a staggering amount of loans from the Teamsters pension fund. CURRENTLY, Shenker is chairman of the board of Continental. IJK is majority shareholder at 870,880 shares, and Riddle has the second largest holding, 222,614 shares. Riddle is president of and Goldstein is vice-president and has some stock. Riddle was one of seven current or former directors of Continental Connector recently cited by the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly allowing Shenker to misuse millions in Continental funds to help rescue other companies Shenker owns.

Shenker is regarded by authorities as a financial mastermind who has conducted bewildering investment deals throughout the country. He formerly was legal counsel for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and has rep Tn4iannnrliii to3 5 2 narcotics charges. Police said Fiano was present at a meeting at the Sands Hotel at Las Vegas in early 1957 when mobsters discussed a trucking company which was to be used in the Los Angeles garment center. RIDDLE RECALLED Fiano as the owner of a Los Angeles restaurant who gambled in Las Vegas and possibly could refer customers to the Dunes. "He told me that he was short of money and wanted to get somebody to invest with him.

He had lost considerable money gambling and he was going to lose the lease on his place. "So I loaned him $15,000 to pay the rent on the thing, and when he went there, these people refused to renew the lease with him paying the back rent, and he called me the following morning to return my money to me." Riddle said he planned to get the cash, but, in the meantime, Fiano was arrested on narcotics charges and authorities first thought Riddle's money might have been part of the narcotics transaction. "I'm sure it was about as innocent as a human being could be, because I went out there and claimed my money, my $15,000, because it was important to me at that time," Riddle said. BESIDES A Chicago trucking company, Riddle had been a principal owner for years of the Evansville-based Hancock Trucking Company, which became involved in a celebrated marathon bankruptcy case. He had real estate interests here simultaneously.

Riddle's background has interesting parallels to the rise of the Teamsters union and Hoffa and people such as Dalitz. Although Riddle and Dalitz were considered two of the most influential gamblers in Nevada, particularly in the 1960s, Riddle said their relationship did not begin until Riddle came to the Dunes after Dalitz already was in the Desert Inn. Casinos associated with Dalitz, like the Dunes in Riddle's case, have enjoyed prosperous relationships with the Teamsters' Chicago-based pension fund. Riddle also owns or leases the Silver Nugget. Silver City and Silver Bird (former Thun-derbird).

When Riddle, who made and lost his first million before he was 26, got a casino license for the first time, he listed some influential names as references, including Justice Sherman Minton (now versation, Dalitz and the second person left. Then Riddle had a conversation with one of his Dunes partners, Charles J. Rich. At one point, Riddle told Rich that Hoffa had called him and, referring to the Zerilli bid, had told him, "Maj, I want you to do it as a personal favor for me and I've discussed it on the phone wiith Moe (Dalitz) today." Riddle told Rich he was not obligated to Dalitz, but was committed to both Dalitz and Hoffa, could not double-cross them and would approach Sawyer casually. On May 6, 1963, Riddle met with Dalitz and Anthony Zerilli and in the conversation referred to discussions he had held in the interim with Sawyer.

Riddle: If you're clean yourself regardless of what happened in the early days that will have no bearing on you. I told him (Sawyer) the whole thing. In fact, I told him I talked to you, Moe, and that Moe had assured me that the Desert Inn had no part in it. Dalitz: That's right. We're just trying to get rid of an eyesore.

Riddle: That's right. I told him it was an eyesore to you across the street, and he agreed with me. So he's going to make a preliminary check on it. He's going to have some people make a preliminary check. He told me that if he (Zerilli) is not associated anymore and I told him that he was going to give up the Hazel Park track and it looks pretty good.

Dalitz: Major, I think it was (expletive) big of you to do this. I certainly appreciate it. That's good news for all of us. Riddle: Now, I've always told you we like you, Moe, and he (Sawyer) told me, "You have my blessing 100 per cent." Oh, one other thing he told me was that it looked okay if he's (Zerilli) not on the A.G. list (attorney general's list of undesirables).

He said there were three things. One, that he's not on the A.G. list, that he himself was not involved with hoodlum operations. Dalitz: You'll never be embarrassed about this believe me. Riddle: I told you, Moe, that when this guy gets out of office we should do something for him.

Dalitz: Oh sure. In fact, I'm going to give his office some business now. Later that month, however, Riddle had another meeting with Sawyer, and then had a meeting with Zerilli with bad news. According to the FBI: "Riddle advised Zerilli he had spent an hour with the governor and the governor had told Riddle that Zerilli could not secure a gambling license in the state of Nevada. Zerilli and several of his associates are on the attorney general's list and Riddle quoted Governor Sawyer as saying that Zerilli would never be accepted at the present time.

He also pointed out to Zerilli that his wife was also reportedly the daughter of someone who is not considered Riddle stated he was sorry he could not do anything for Zerilli." This was not the end, however. In 1972, the nation-wide sports concession conglomerate then known as Emprise Corp (now Sportsystem Corp.) was convicted of violating federal racketeering laws by "fronting" for Zerilli and others in the licensing for the New Frontier in 1966 Also convicted were young Zerilli and five others, including reputed St. Louis Mafia figure Anthony Giordano. Shenker Riddle him." Both Shenker and Spilotro had lived in St. Louis, Mo.

Riddle said Spilotro registered at the Dunes under an assumed name, and, although his picture was on hand as an "undesirable," it was 20 years old and he was not recognized. "It was about as innocent as anything that ever happened," Riddle recalled. "Mr. Shenker didn't know he was here and of course, with me, I never met this man in my life before, I'd never seen the man in my life, don't even know him. I didn't even know there was such a name." The state gaming commission complained otherwise, saying Spilotro was well-known to the management, spent long hours in the poker areas of the casino, played poker with Riddle and showed up again at the Dunes even after the management was warned about him.

The casino had been fined previously for giving special treatment to mobsters and, in 1969, Anthony Giordano, a reputed top St. Louis Mafia figure, was arrested at the Dunes after visiting Sid Wyman, one of Riddle's partners. AN INVESTIGATION determined that Wyman had ordered "complimentary" service for Giordano on previous visits. Giordano later was convicted of racketeering in a case involving another casino. Wyman was indicted but found not guilty of "skimming" casino receipts in the early 1970s.

In 1976 he was indicted in connection with an eight-state bookmak-ing operation. That case is pending. One of the witnesses, Jerry Delman, formerly of Indianapolis, was shot to death in Las Vegas last year. The murder is unsolved and investigators said they do not know if it was related to the bookmaking case. Riddle was identified as having loaned $15,000 in 1957 to Louis Fiano, a reputed Genovese family member who had been to him.

We really went the route for him. You know. They discussed donations for Sawyer's campaign and the fact that Riddle could not get the governor to veto a gambling regulation bill. Riddle then said he did not want to discuss Zerilli with Sawyer over the telephone. Dalitz: We can complain bitterly about the operation of the Frontier, and now there is an opportunity to make it a first-class operation.

We can show that all of the hotel men see this problem and feel it would be good for the whole industry if the Frontier could be taken over by new people. Riddle: Now you know with all these things going on he'll (Sawyer) probably move down here and maybe we could use him as an attorney for us after he gets out of office. Dalitz: Are you kidding? Listen, we'll work strong with you on that. We've got to let Grant (Sawyer) know that we are for a new and improved set-up over at the Frontier. There are going to be two lawyers representing the builders and the operator.

Woodburn's firm is going to represent the builder and the money people, and Springer is going to represent the operator. You see, we don't want Grant to start off with a "No." We want to let Grant know that we are most anxious to see a favorable change be made at the Frontier. Riddle: Grant will question the purpose of my visit, knowing that I don't have to come in to him for an okay for any builder. Dalitz: That's right, but these people are then going to represent a group of operators for licensing and they want to know beforehand if they will get licensed. They don't want to build and not have operators.

So you tell him I don't know who they (operators) are but I'm sure they're responsible people if law firms like that are representing them. You can tell Sawyer that these lawyers are going to come to him and request this and that you want him to know that the gambling industry feels it's good and will be for the benefit of the industry if the Frontier gets new operators. You tell him that you want him to listen to their request favorably and ask him to give it his blessings. Now Zerilli has an old man who has a bad reputation former bookmaker. However, he is now very wealthy.

The kid, Anthony, is vice-president and operator of the Hazel Park Racing Track in Michigan. At one time he was even going to buy the Thunderbird (Las Vegas casino linked to underworld financier Meyer Lansky, later leased by Riddle) before Marion Hicks died." Riddle: I'll tell you what I can do. Number one, I'll find out if there are any objections and, if so, tell him to at least keep an open mind on the subect. Dalitz: But, Major, Ed Olson (then chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board), he'll fight it because of the FBI. The FBI will tell Olson that Zerilli is the son of the old bookmaker and he'll say it's a part of the mob trying to move in.

At this point Riddle left the room briefly, and Dalitz told an unidentified person with him, "I won't let the lawyers go in to see him before Major gets his word in with the governor." When Riddle returned, he and Dalitz discussed whether Riddle should approach Governor Sawyer without mentioning Dalitz' name. After further con Christmas Special! 1 and holidays, the patrol is operating around the clock, with reserves augmenting regular police. Established by the late Sheriff Lawrence Broderick in 1976, the patrol exists almost exclusively as a rescue unit for interstate highway travelers in distress. A spokesman said the work load of the past week was reminiscent of last January's record-breaking spell of foul weather, when some 400 calls for help were answered in an eight-day period. Refinery Fire Routs Nearby Residents Woodhaven.

Mich. (AP) Several homes in this Detroit suburb were evacuated Saturday night after fire broke out at a Mobile Oil Co. refinery, police said. The fire, centered in a grease manufacturing area at the refinery, was brought under control within two hours. It was confined to one large building, officials said.

The grease-making facility and a storage area were destroyed. Damage was estimated at $500,000. Shonuini; Center Shopping Center Major A Riddle, the former Indianapolis businessman-gambler, who went on to fame and more fortune in Las Vegas, played a key part in an abortive attempt to get a Nevada casino license for the son of a Detroit Cosa Nostra boss. FBI wiretaps of the episode provide vivid illustration of quiet cross-country maneuvering and the relationship between two men who strongly influenced gambling in Indiana and Ohio during the dawn of the syndicate, Riddle and Morris B. (Moe) Dalitz.

Although Riddle's intervention in behalf of Anthony Joseph Zerilli, son of Detroit Mafia boss Joseph Zerilli, occurred in 1963, the episode was not revealed until a transcript of conversations was released in court proceedings in California last year. THE INTERVENTION involved such prominent names as Dalitz, the former Cleveland racketeer, and James Riddle Hoffa, then boss of the Teamsters union, who vanished in 1975. The "bug" was hidden in the Dunes Hotel and Country Club, in which Riddle has held a substantial interest since 1956. Here are key parts of the conversation: On May 4,1963, Dalitz told Riddle: "You've got to sit down and talk just like we're talking now these people also have an (unintelligible). They're clean, but the ones these guys sponsor his name is Zerilli, in Detroit.

A terrific kid a college graduate and he owns a license for the biggest race track in Michigan. He's successful now you know." Riddle: Well, you know if he holds a license for a race track, he can't. Dalitz: He's going to abandon it. We you and I or you have got to see Governor (Grant) Sawyer and tell him it's best for our entire industry. The Frontier (New Frontier Hotel, directly across from Dalitz's Desert Inn), which is the only place left, has to be taken over by responsible people.

Also, that we're disturbed over the Frontier's method of operating. That we understand the people that are going to build and put the money not the operators we won't tell him (Sawyer) about the operators. We'll only tell him about the builders and the financing people, so we can condition his mind. Riddle: Moe, let me ask you one question anyone from Chicago? Dalitz: No. Riddle: Well, let me tell you, if so I won't go for it.

Moe, you may have been pressured somewhere along the line and now you have to do something you don't want to. Dalitz: No, it's not that at all. It's nothing like that at all. There was further conversation, including statements in which Riddle said he thought Nevada was a "clean" state. Dalitz: The reason we want to express our feelings with Grant (Sawyer) is that with the lawyers that come in to him, he will already know that he is not hurting his two friends, Riddle and Rich (a partner in the Dunes), in Las Vegas.

See, there is only the one Zerilli and he's clean. That's all. Then Riddle recounted an incident in which Sawyer was offered $50,000 by a gambler with Cosa Nostra connections to get a gambling license but said that Sawyer eventually withdrew from the proposition. Riddle noted that Sawyer "will help us if he can." Dalitz: Listen we were a lot of help lbs. Assorted Chocolates $650 Reg $7 00 Special price does not apply to mail orders December 12-17 Shnns 52 Monument Circle Glpndale Washington Square Shopping Center Lafayette Square lAfayette: Market Square Shopping (.

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