Stop Predatory Gambling

The Expendable Americans

by spgadmin

The government program of predatory gambling is dependent on addicted or heavily-indebted citizens. Predatory gambling operators attempt to elude charges of exploitation by pleading it is a “voluntary” act, hiding under the cloak of “freedom.” But by definition, someone who is an addict or someone who is in deep financial debt is not free. In a country where everyone is considered equal, where all blood is royal, how can the state actively promote a government program that renders some of our fellow citizens as expendable?

The Buffalo News has a story today listing just a few of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have been deemed expendable:

Thomas Pokrywczynski, a former union treasurer, admitted this week to stealing $71,000 from Transit Workers Local 1342.  He stole an additional $183,000 from a statewide lobbying group representing the rights of transit workers, making his total theft $254,000.

Pokrywczynski told a federal judge that he stole because he needed cash to gamble at casinos.  He is the latest of several local people convicted of large-scale embezzlements linked to legalized casino gambling.

“I’ve had at least 10 cases like this, and we’re seeing more of them,” said Thomas J. Eoannou, attorney for Pokrywczynski.  “And a lot of them are people who have never broken the law before in their lives.”

Another of Eoannou’s clients is Peggy Gaiser, 53, of Grand Island, who awaits sentencing in State Supreme Court for stealing $175,000 from a greeting card store she managed in the Town of Tonawanda.  Gaiser also admitted that she stole money to gamble at casinos.

“[Gaiser and Pokrywczynski] are extremely good people who had a weakness … casino gambling,” Eoannou said.  “Neither of them had any criminal history before these incidents.”

In recent years, other local cases have involved:

– Ronald Brdeja, 45, of Niagara Falls, who last year began serving a state prison sentence of one to four years for stealing $60,000 from his 90-year-old aunt, leaving her penniless.  Authorities said he and his wife used the money for casino gambling.

– Lon Coldiron, 43, a Buffalo businessman, who was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison last year.  He was convicted of burning down his Elmwood Avenue coffee shop to get an insurance settlement to pay gambling debts.

– Mindy Hernandez, 36, former manager of a Buffalo law firm, who was sentenced in 2007 to two years in prison for stealing $289,716 from her employer to pay for casino gambling and debts including online gambling.

– Kenneth A. Mangione, 63, longtime chief financial officer for a school and residence for troubled children in Hamburg, who embezzled $192,679 from the school to finance casino gambling and was sentenced to six months in jail in 2007.