"Sometimes I marvel at how little crime is actually generated at the region's two casinos, which even on a slow day, and there are plenty of slow days lately, can attract as many people as live in some of our larger towns.

It's true that some significant casino-related crimes, robbery and embezzlement to support gambling habits, for instance, occur outside Connecticut. And some of those kinds of crimes around here probably never get identified as casino-related.

Still, aside from the occasional cheating or loan sharking scheme, the preponderance of casino arrests are relatively trivial: drunken assaults, underage gambling or maybe a marijuana bust.

A good example of how underwhelmed the casinos-funded State Police Casino Unit might be is the recent arrest of Alphonse Salerno, a 44-year-old Waterbury man - now homeless, according to court records - accused of harassing the Mohegan Sun by phone and e-mail.

If the investigation and arrest of Alphonse Salerno proves one thing, it's that police appear to have crime at the casinos pretty well under control. The other lesson is that, sore loser or not, harassing the casinos is not such a good idea."

Get the Story:
David Collins: Not Quite The Crime Of The Century (The New London Day 9/14)
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