FEAR AND LOATHING AT THE DA'S OFFICE OVER MAQUINITAS

By Juan Montoya
Following the revelations that the Cameron County District Attorney's Office had sold more than 500 eight-liner machines to two attorneys representing a Georgia-based company closely linked to gaming arcade operators in South Texas counties,we have received indications that the office has initiated a policy reminiscent of Nixon's plumbers to shut off leaks to the public.
Our sources tell us that D.A. Luis Saenz laid down the law in no uncertain terms during the weekly staff meeting where he warned the entire department personnel that leaks of any kind would not be tolerated. He is also said to have invited anyone not in agreement with his edict that they could resign their positions if they disagreed because there was a line of applicants who would gladly replace them.
That resulted, we understand, in at least one female Asst. DA taking up his offer and leaving the employ in Saenz's office.
Meanwhile, rumors abound of selective eight-liner operations getting back in business undeterred by Operation Bishop. At least one – at the corner of Dockberry and FM 511 – was said to have been raided in the past month only to be back in business as late as Friday night.
In the graphic at left here, one can make out the outline in the dark of cars departing the arcade Friday night. The location is the same featured on this blog November 13 when we reported it had been raided and closed by the DA's Office. That's the graphic we ran on the right.
Ther was evidence presented to the DA's Office that Moneygrams totaling in the thousands were made from a local Walmart almost on a daily basis to a recipient in Houston by the operators there.
Reports are also coming in that calls to CrimeStoppers to report ongoing eight-liner operations have fallen on deaf ears. One of those operations is said to be in a opulent subdivision of Brownsville and run by two law enforcement personnel who operate undisturbed by Operation Bishop.
But as the DA's Office scrambles to assure the public that its policies of not reselling the machines to former operators has begun to crumble, a local blogger has taken up the defense of the DA, blaming underlings for the writing of the contract signed April 2014 by Saenz with Lowkes International and its subsidiaries, a gaming firm represented by attorney Carlos Masso and Rick Zayas with offices in Georgia and Las Vegas, Nev.
Saenz had said in the past that he insisted that the machines be removed from the State of Texas. However, a close reading of the contract he signed with Lowkes president Paul Calamari makes no mention of that except that the buyer has five days to take possession of the machines and an additional 60 days to inspect and remove them from the county, not the state.
Saenz's cyber megaphone cum apologist Robert Wightman states that it is not the DA's fault that he signed a contract without a clause forbidding the operation of the machines in the State of Texas as does the one in Henderson County.
The Henderson County contract, he states, contains the phrase: "PLEASE NOTE: Condition of sale requires that these 8 liner gaming machines not to be used or re-sold in the State of Texas. The buyer will be required to sign an affidavit. The buyer shall not have any conviction related to gambling or gambling related offenses."
Wightman recommends that Saenz fire the deficient Asst. DA who formulated the contract he signed. Would that be Matthew Kendall or Edward Sandoval?
This blog has already gotten indications that some of those machines may be operating in eight-liner operations in Starr County, specifically, in La Grulla, just west of the Hidalgo County line where eight-liner operations are also prohibited.
Wightman further states in Saenz's defense that the DA would never get into a deal with Masso if he knew it involved his former opponent for the Democratic Party's nomination for DA in the last round of elections.
So are we to believe that with Saenz knowing that both Masso and Zayas being the legal representatives for Calamari in Brownsville, that he didn't know what he was signing? Further, the contract for the Henderson County sale of eight-liners named the county as the seller, not the district attorney. After all, aren't the confiscated gambling devices the property of the state and county? So why was it left to the sole discretion of the DA to negotiate the sale and control the funds it generated?
And, as Wightman correctly pointed out, the Henderson County sales are made at auction, and not with one lone company. What's to prevent the public from assuming this was a sweetheart deal between the DA's Office and the buyers through their representatives?
That forfeiture funds were used by former DA Armando Villalobos to reward his favorites in the department is indisputable. Saenz came in claiming he was cleaning house and replaced most of the personnel who worked under Villalobos. Yet, the salary schedules posted with the county auditor and county clerk indicate that he is also using the forfeiture funds to augment certain members of his staff. With the installation of Plumber Unit policies to stop leaks, a bunker mentality reigns supreme in that department.
That leads to the overwhelming question (as T.S. Eliot used to say): What's the difference?