State tribe to challenge Mashpee Wampanoag casino site

Monday, April 16, 2012
Filed Under: Casino Stalker | Land Acquisitions

A state-recognized tribe says it will oppose efforts by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to open a casino in Taunton, Massachusetts.

The Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe says Taunton is within its ancestral territory. The tribe plans to fight the Mashpee land-into-trust application.

“Back in the day there’d be war if you come into somebody else’s land. Right? We’d fight over stuff like that," Pocasett vice chairman Daryl Black Eagle Jamieson told The Boston Globe.

The Mashpee casino already faces doubts under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar. The ruling limits the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934 -- the Mashpees didn't gain recognition until 2007.

Get the Story:
Casino bid in Taunton spurs tribal turf fight (The Boston Globe 4/16)

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Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe pressured on old gaming site (4/13)