FEDERAL COURT Four suspects in alleged gambling ring at GM plant plead innocent

By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- A Niles man and three Warren men pleaded innocent in U.S. District Court to charges of operating an illegal gambling business.
Joseph Cupido, 62, of Andrea Blvd., Niles; Clifford L. Jordan, 63, Woodview, Warren; Andrew J. Jordan Jr., 58, Sweetbriar S.W., Warren; and Clifford L. Jordan Jr., 24, Van Wye, Warren; entered the pleas Wednesday.
Cupido is facing two counts of operating an illegal gambling business and the others are each facing one count.
Each man was freed on a $20,000 bond. Court officials did not know when the men would have to return for a hearing.
If convicted, the defendants could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The four were indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday and authorities served the subpoenas Wednesday morning.
Reaction
The indictments stem from what authorities say was a gambling ring being operated out of the General Motors fabricating plant in Lordstown and a building on Warren's South Side.
Bob Chambers, president of United Auto Workers Local 1714 at the fabricating plant, said gambling is not rampant at the plant.
Jim Graham, president of UAW Local 1112 at the Lordstown Assembly Plant, said some problems are to be expected when so many people are together, but the vast majority of workers are good employees and citizens.
The two plants employ more than 6,000 hourly workers.
"We have a small city. Things happen in a small city," he said.
Atty. Robert Shaker, who represents Cupido, said his client is innocent.
"He is a 63-year-old retired gentleman who has had two heart operations," Shaker said. "This is a gambling charge in the Mahoning Valley -- we aren't talking about a murder charge."
Shaker said his client was not surprised by the indictment because his house was searched by agents last November.
The investigation
FBI agent Jeffrey Sadlak got 21 federal search warrants last year.
Sadlak and officers from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and Detective Jeff Hoolihan of Warren and Detective Rick Seigal of Lordstown used the warrants to search homes, vehicles and other structures in Trumbull County in November.
The investigation began in March 2000, FBI officials have said.
According to the indictment, the illegal gambling business began sometime in 1996.
The operation included sports bookmaking and a numbers lottery being conducted from GM's assembly plant and a building identified by authorities as Tri-County Golf Club at 1109 Wood Ave. S.W., officials said.
The one-story cinder block building is a social club not affiliated with a golf course, authorities say.
FBI officials have said the gambling operation was bringing in an estimated $10,000 a day.
The indictment also states that the defendants should have to forfeit $1 million, which officials believe was the proceeds of the gambling; the real estate on Wood Avenue; and about $6,000 seized during the Nov. 6 raids.
XDon Shilling, Vindicator business editor, contributed to this report.