On The Game
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday June 23, 1993
THERE have been winners, there have been losers. Numerous participants in the ICAC's latest lid-lifting exercise - inquiring into the activities of the police Gaming Squad - have found themselves tangled in the webs they have woven and few are happy the inquiry has taken place.
Lawyer Chris Murphy has argued vigorously, even blustered, on behalf of his client, Mr Bruce Galea. He has accused the Assistant Commissioner, Mr Peter McClellan, QC, of "disgraceful conduct", complained about media reports involving himself and his client, then slipped off to the ICAC's media room to put on his other hat as a journalist.
Mr Galea, 57, who till now has enjoyed a reputation several shades paler than his illustrious father, Perc, will now have to live with the evidence before the ICAC that he is the biggest gaming operator in the State, an allegation he has denied.
Several police officers, under suspension, are far from being out of the woods, the operations of the Gaming Squad have been severely disrupted, Commissioner Lauer is talking about a revamp of the squad and Detective Chief Inspector George Taylforth, a police officer for 33 years, probably wishes his role in life was still to be kicking goals for Canterbury.
Inspector Taylforth has been defensive of his squad's record. Confronted with what appears to be strong evidence of a big gaming operation at Mr Galea's premises in the Haymarket, he has been at pains to point out the difficulties of getting material that will stand up in court.
Proceedings against Mr Galea's establishment were in process, Inspector Taylforth said. Papers were had been sent to the Crown Solicitor's office in September last year.
"The Crown Solicitor often selects a barrister to prosecute the matter and I have had several conversations with the barrister in relation to this matter and it is my belief that shortly they should come to fruition," he said.
Mr Murphy has pointed out to the ICAC that gambling was quite legal in a range of circumstances. The Gaming and Betting Act proscribes games of pure chance and operations where the "house" takes a cut. And just to make the point, Mr Galea has said in evidence that his club has continued to operate during the course of the inquiry.
A former rails bookmaker who tired of racing when it became clear to him the punters were catching up, Mr Galea has been running clubs for several years in which gambling has occurred. Before Dixon Street he ran the 77 Club in Kings Cross.
Some of his answers to Mr Peter Neil, counsel assisting the ICAC, have been entertaining. He raised much comment during his evidence when he said the money he made from operations at Dixon Street came from sale of coffee at $5 a cup and sandwiches at $7.
But the questions do not stop at Dixon Street. Senior Sergeant Christopher Robin Bult, intelligence officer attached to the Gaming Squad, said there were"approximately 140 what we regard as suspect illegal gaming premises in the Sydney, Wollongong, Newcastle area".
He said that of that 140 about 10 were considered hard core, and that "the others in my opinion, the other 130, are small ethnically-based coffee shops that are suspected of playing illegal games.
"By and large, they perform a function to the ethnic minorities that live in those particular areas.
"The ones we're mainly concerned with are the larger ones - until a few years ago (they) were in the Haymarket area - now have drifted out towards the Cabramatta-Fairfield area."
He and Inspector Taylforth late last year had drawn up a list of suspected illegal gaming establishments. Mr Galea's club topped the list, followed by a premises at 70 Ramsay Street, Haberfield, which was organised and run by Mr Thomas Magnifico. He believed third on the list was an establishment at 31 Norton Street, Leichhardt, which was run by Mr Con Kyriazis.
A question arose as to whether illegal gaming is a serious issue, or whether it is just tolerated naughtiness. The difficulties of gaining evidence have always seemed insurmountable, especially in the face of endless streams of innocent explanations.
"Smarties" found scattered on the floor after a raid are just what they appear to be, lollies, not instruments of gaming.
Buckets of water in Mr Galea's premises are to take the overflow from the air-conditioning, not to throw in water-soluble mats used for playing the illegal game Hazzard.
If a police raid succeeds in finding something half-dissolved in a bucket of water, then the thing was merely a sign for displaying the rules of Russian Poker, which is of questionable legality.
If a man is seen for hours sitting at a window of the Dixon Street club, it is because of the chance to get a breath of fresh air in a smoke-filled room -it has nothing to do with being a cockatoo.
The explanations might represent practised sleight-of-hand to cover illegal activities, but they appear to have had a demoralising effect on policemen designated to enforce the gaming law.
Kevin Joseph Parker, senior constable but suspended from duty at the time he gave evidence, said the Gaming Squad officers made regular visits to premises suspected of being involved in illegal gaming.
He said that he had never been involved in an occasion when illegal gaming was found being conducted on a premises.
Mr Neil asked whether Constable Parker thought that extraordinary. Constable Parker replied: "Generally, if you call into one place, particularly on night work you'd call in, there'd be nothing doing. They might be just sitting there and then the word goes around, the Gaming Squad are in the area. By the time you got to the next premises, everybody's just sitting round watching TV."
Mr Neil put to Constable Parker that surveillance evidence showed he had knocked off several hours early one particular night, reaching home at 2.15 am but had recorded in his duty book his hours of duty finishing at 5.30 am. Constable Parker said he had done that but it was not unusual in the squad.
EVIDENCE has been stated by a number of police witnesses that when making an inspection they have gone to the front door of a premises and asked to be let in. They have had apparently cordial conversations with the operators of the clubs and left.
Not all the evidence has been negative. Senior Sergeant Graham Daniel Stockwell said in answer to his counsel, Mr Jim Hall: "I have been probably the most successful Gaming Squad officer since the early 1980s. I have been leader of teams that have seized more than 700 prohibited gaming devices."
Inspector Taylforth has himself testified to the effectiveness of the squad since he took over operations in 1988 and indicated that the squad's operations go Statewide and take in far more things than illegal casinos. It polices SP bookmaking as well.
Mr McClellan asked Inspector Taylforth whether in fact if illegal gaming was allowed to flourish, it could lead to more "sinister" things.
Inspector Taylforth said: "If I can go back in time, when I first became a member of the Gaming Squad, it was part of the State Investigative Group.
"Some time after that, Mr Avery (the then Police Commissioner John Avery)had an overseas trip and when he came back he called me across and he said that in Canada they had seen that because of the intermingling of drugs, gaming and vice, it would be better if the Gaming Squad went into the Drug Enforcement Agency.
"When the DEA was formed in 1989 under Assistant Commissioner Strong, we joined them."
He said that in raids, small amounts of drugs were found and he believed people with drug convictions went to illegal gaming houses, and that people with drug money might look to gambling it.
Whatever the evidence might be on such ancillary activities, the real question now facing the ICAC is whether the continuation of illegal gaming in this State has spread the stain of police corruption.
EVIDENCE has been presented to the com mission that, at least on one view, people involved in gaming appear to have cultivated relationships for their own benefit.
This is despite claims by at least some police involved that they were merely collecting information for the purposes of law enforcement.
Detective Senior Sergeant Roger Ernest Ford, formerly of the Gaming Squad, now attached to the State Emergency Services, has been related by marriage to Mr Alf Azzopardi, who was described as an associate of a suspected illegal gaming operator, Mr Branko Balic.
Ably represented by Mr Hall, he has presented a composed and rather impressive figure but has been confronted by a series of taped telephone conversations which, it was suggested, indicated Mr Azzopardi might have been using his association with Sergeant Ford for an improper purpose.
Sergeant Ford was questioned about his relationship with a Lebanese immigrant businessman, Mr Neville Shalhoub, who, according to the evidence, he used as an informant on what was going on in the racing industry.
Mr Shalhoub, questioned by Mr Neil, said he knew a person called Bert who was connected with gambling clubs.
Mr Neil: "Do you remember on August 23, 1990, Branko Balic was having a telephone conversation with Bert and you were there with Bert and Bert put you on the line to Branko?"
Mr Shalhoub: "It could be."
Wasn't there a discussion about the problems about the police and council over the operations at 53 Spring Street? - He asked me to help him.
Mr Neil: "Did you not say to Branko you would talk to 'my man'?"
Mr Shalhoub said that referred to an individual (not Sergeant Ford).
Evidence before the commission is that Sergeant Ford and Mr Shalhoub had a meeting in a car on March 17, 1990, in Benvenue Street, Kingsford.
Mr Shalhoub said they had met in the street because his wife was sick and he did not want to disturb her. He was seeking advice on a newspaper article which mentioned him.
Sergeant Ford in evidence agreed that the meeting had taken place but Mr Shalhoub had never asked him for his advice on gaming matters. He said his connections with Mr Azzopardi were unavoidable.
On an occasion when he had been seen and noted going into Mr Azzopardi's home, it was to talk to him about matrimonial problems Mr Azzopardi was having. It did not have anything to do with gaming.
Inspector Taylforth has spoken highly of Sergeant Ford's integrity, saying he was hand-picked for the job and believes in him. The job of policing gaming is hard. He needs such men - their relatives notwithstanding.
The question remains as to whether such awkward facets of evidence should be left at raised eyebrows or carried further, whether they represent a broader problem, and whether the appearance in the ICAC witness box in such circumstances should represent a watershed to otherwise seemingly exemplary careers.
© 1993 Sydney Morning Herald
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