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Chippewa Tribe Wins $18M vs Gambling Firm

Posted on December 25th, 2010

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A 14 year legal battle has finally ended in favor of the Chippewa Tribal Council in Minnesota. The tribe, specifically, The White Earth Band of Chippewa a tribe with 20,000 members is also the owner of White Earth Gaming. The Chippewas are also known also as the Ojibwe or Chippeways. The Chippewas, though, call themselves Anishinaabe which means “original people”.

The $18 Million decision came down as a victory to the tribe’s long dispute against Angelo Medure and his company, Gaming World International (GWI) Ltd., a Pennsylvania-based gambling company. The 14-year-legal-dispute stemmed from allegations in the tribal that Angelo Medure, who also owns Medure Development LLC., and Steelite International USA was said to have made an “agreement” with former White Earth Tribal Chairman Darrell “Chip” Wedena. The said agreement between the two parties would only profit Medure and Chief Wadena, leaving aside the Ojibwes. Angelo Medure’s company was tasked to provide the management for the construction, development, and operation of Shooting Star Casino. The casino is owned by the tribe and is located in Mahnomen in Minnesota. In its site, it boasts star-studded live concerts, exciting gaming, luxurious accommodations, delicious dining and soothing spa treatments.

Medure has originally invested $42,000—which was for the renovation of temporary bathrooms. But Medure has ended up profiting more than $10 Million. He was charged along with Tribal Council Member Rick Clark and Secretary-Treasurer Jerry Rawley, with embezzlement, conspiracy and bribery in a federal court but was never charged. In a legal move by the Chippewas, the case went to the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals. Anthony Medure has long been associated with the Mafia and La Cosa Nostra in Pittsburgh which is in control of most Indian casinos all over America. La Cosa Nostra which means “our thing” or “this thing of ours” and the Mafia which is an acronym for “Morte alla Francia, Italia anela”, is a known criminal syndicate. It is said that Cosa Nostra is only for Sicilian men, and that one of the tests required to get in is to test a person’s ruthlessness. A candidate is required to commit murder, then bound to omerta or ” the code of silence”. No policeman or close relative of a policeman can ever be a mafiosio even those who have close ties with the police cannot join. It is reputed that the more ruthless a mafioso’s reputation, the less he has to resort to violence, but that reputation should have been built by countless numbers of crimes flawlessly executed and gotten away with. Few of its known activities are, loan sharking, protection racketeering, drug trafficking, cigarette and liquor smuggling. But through all that, Medure still, has been awarded the “2010 Entrepreneur of the Year” a prestigious award given to outstanding businessmen. His businesses remain active in Pennsylvania today.

The Council though is expectant that Mr. Medure would not go down without a fight. Zenas Baer, Tribal Council’s lawyer, says, “Am I optimistic that he will fork it over and say, ‘When can I write the check?’ No. He’s had 14 years.” Medure is expected to fight it out in the court and file an appeal. After all, $18 Million is still a large amount of money.

Mr. Medure has always had a troubled relationship with the media. An article released in 1993 by the U.S News and World Report, “Gambling with the Mob?- Wise guys have set their sights on the booming Indian casino business ” mentions Medure as being suspected by the FBI, the article also notes that Medure, an asphalt company owner, has no prior convictions. The FBI has started suspecting Medure after investigations showed that Anthony Medure leased a warehouse to a pasta firm that used to be a front for criminal activity. Medure fought back by filing a complaint against U.S News and won. Other lawsuits in the same note were also filed with mixed results.

Atty Baer, states that he will file a petition in his local county court so the tribal ruling would be recognized. Mr. Medure’s lawyer’s camp has not issued a statement as of press time.