Neil Knight Private Dick

A Grander Scheme

Miguel Turedo had a gambling problem, and he hadn't had a win in a long time.

Whether it was cardrooms, Indian casinos, the California State Lottery, horse racing or charitable gaming, Miguel had a place at the table, and with his recent losing streak he was encouraged by the house to play as often as possible.

And play he did.

Although most non-casino cardrooms are in Montana, which currently has more than two hundred licensed clubs, California comes in second with eighty-eight, and the Mayor frequented many of them including the Bicycle, Hollywood Park, the Crystal and Larry Flynt's Lucky Lady casinos in Orange County, the Imperial in San Diego, and the Riverside and San Bernardino cardrooms in the Inland Empire region.

Since games played in cardrooms are usually player-against-player, instead of player-against-house, for the organizers to make any money the dealers need to either collect a rake, a percentage of the pot from each hand, or assess a charge against each player for a specific period of active playing time. As Mayor of Santa Ana, Miguel ran a tab at each location, sometimes needing another well-heeled member to stake him to a bet should he exceed his table limit.

In 1988 Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

Signed by then President Ronald Reagan, it allowed States and Natives to enter into compacts where Indian tribes could own and operate gaming and entertainment centers on their reservations in return for sharing a percentage of the casino revenue with the state.

California has sixty-nine Native American casinos including fifty casinos, sixteen resorts and three mini-casinos. These casinos host over 70,000 slot machines and 2,000 table games, which far exceeds the numbers of any other state.

Early on in his gambling travails, Miguel Turedo was known as a 'wannabe whale', or a hopeful high roller, at the San Manuel and Soboba Casinos outside San Bernadino, and at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula. Based more on his political status than his gambling competency, he would often travel to and from these sites in gaming limousines and would, if he had liberally libated, stay overnight in their best suites.

Around the Pechanga spa, sun deck, pool and poolside bar the Mayor was referred to, by the employees, as the 'Ballena Blanca' in Spanish or the 'Xwaiaxonot Koyóowut' in Luiseno, the native language of the Pechanga tribe. Loosely translated each meant 'white whale', referring to Miguel's voluminous pale, almost luminous appearance in swimming trunks rather than anything that 'Moby Dick' might alternately suggest.

Based on these references, whether at the gaming tables or at poolside, the mayor was affectionately nicknamed 'El Baleen', and was referred to as such anywhere within the Pechanga casino complex. Soon the handle became his 'go to' reference at all gaming stops, extending into other gambling establishments and eventually into City Hall as well.

In the Mayor's statement of economic interests for 2016, which he filed shortly after his re-election, he revealed eight outstanding personal loans given over the prior two years that could add up to somewhere between $125,000 and $710,000. The actual value of the debt was unclear due to the nature of the Form 700s, or financial disclosure statements, which only require loans to be reported as falling within ranges of either $1,001 to $10,000 or $10,001 to $100,000, so a debt of ninety-nine thousand potentially looks the same as a debt of twelve thousand.

Most of the loans, provided by philanthropists and businessmen, were unsecured and failed to include 'due dates' on the documents, which indicated the loans were disguised 'gifts', as the lack of a repayment date suggested the 'loan' never really had to paid back.

Although these loans might have attracted suspicion, it was the real estate deal, concluded in mid-2016 between Carmine LaFrenza, president and owner of Orange County Auto Used Car, Towing, Parts & Repair, and Turedo that captured the attention of District Attorney Tony Riganti.

Passing by Orange County Auto one might be struck at the lack of salespeople on the lot, or the lack of activity in the sales office, but that didn't mean financial transactions weren't occurring. For years the dealership/repair shop had been laundering money for the Lopers by purchasing luxury vehicles with gang related cash and then reselling the autos to legitimate buyers, providing financing at attractive rates to these purchasers as well.

It was a simple formula. Buy used cars at auction using tainted cash. Sell used cars to law abiding citizens, for a profit, and bank the clean cash. Everybody was happy, especially Vinnie Fuentes sister, Carmela, who was the wife of Carmine LaFrenza. One big happy family.

Happy except for the one thing that stuck in Vinnies craw.

Ever since Turedo starting busting Vinnies chops in 2015 by rounding up his street dealers, shutting down some of his labs and putting The Pharmacist behind bars, the leader of the Lopers had been looking for a way to screw the Mayor.

In the early Spring of 2016, the germ of the land deal idea had become just the ticket for revenge.

And the more Vinnie considered the deal the grander the scheme became.

'Why stop at just beaching El Baleen?' he thought.

'Why not lay the ground work for a profitable future? One where, what was that tag line the local Doo Wop Hip Hop Darkie Dee Dee used? Yeah. That was it. Why not put a plan into action where everybody wins?' he considered quietly.

'Damn' said Vinnie to himself. 'This is gonna be good.'