Column: Seneca Nation pulls a Foxwoods on New York

Friday, August 12, 2005  

"First there was Foxwoods, the sequel, a remarkable replay of the story of the Mashantucket Pequots' development of a casino as it was re-enacted by the Seneca Indians of New York.

Not only did the Senecas hire the same Jersey lawyer to develop and run their Niagara Falls casino, G. Michael Brown, they use the same wealthy Malaysian family, Brown's associates, to finance it, also with rich, eye-popping terms.

They even used the same contractor, Klewin Building Co. of Norwich, to build it.

And, in the final twist lifted right from the opening chapters of the Foxwoods story, a faction within the Senecas, complaining that they were being cut out from the big casino profits, take power in an upset election. Like the Mashantucket reformers, they gave G. Michael Brown a big goodbye."

Get the Story:
David Collins: In Upstate New York, Déjà Vu All Over Again (The New London Day 8/12)
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