Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Frontier co-owner admits to spy center

Frontier co-owner John Elardi and his electronics expert describe in sworn depositions made public this week how they set up a secret command center to spy on striking Culinary Union workers.

The spy center, dubbed the 900 Room, was manned 24 hours a day with the latest high-tech video equipment on the second floor of the embattled Strip resort. Video cameras and microphones aimed at the picket line outside the hotel-casino were controlled from the center.

Wayne Legare, who ran the 900 Room from 1992-1995, has previously said under oath and in interviews with the SUN that the command center also was used to play dirty tricks on the strikers.

Legare's allegations and those of other former ranking Frontier officials have led FBI and state gaming agents to conduct separate investigations of the hotel-casino.

The electronics expert, John Horton, who acknowledged building the 900 Room for Elardi, said in his deposition that he was interviewed by FBI and gaming agents earlier this year.

Horton's 111-page deposition was taken Feb. 25, and Elardi's Feb. 26 in connection with the lawsuit filed by California couple Sean and Gail White stemming from their April 25, 1993, beating on the picket line. The beating was videotaped by hotel cameras.

In his 146-page deposition, Elardi took credit for the 900 Room, saying he did not consult with his co-owners, mother Margaret Elardi and brother Tom Elardi, before creating it.

Under questioning from White attorney Will Kemp, John Elardi said he believed the stepped-up surveillance of the strikers had a "calming" influence over the picket line.

"It seemed that the video cameras had an interesting effect on the strikers," Elardi said. "When they had concern that they were being videotaped, OK, the amount of misconduct greatly diminished."

Elardi said he invested $100,000 in the latest electronic equipment in the 900 Room, an estimate far below the $250,000 Legare has previously suggested.

The command center, he said, had 39 television monitors hooked to video cameras and microphones around the property and 40 video recorders, three of which were used to keep track of television news reports about the 5 1/2-year strike.

He explained that the money poured into the room was not part of the Frontier's formal budget.

Only a handful of top-level Frontier executives and security officers could get into the secret command center, Elardi said.

Access was limited, he added, to reduce the chances that "weaknesses in the system could become public knowledge."

Elardi said a camera and a microphone even were mounted in the 900 Room so Legare could spy on the spies from his nearby office, "Wayne's World," where all the tapes were stored.

Additional high-tech equipment, such as video switchers, time-date generators and tilt and pan units, also were installed in the command center to give the resort sweeping ability to monitor the picket line around the hotel, Elardi said.

A police scanner, he said, also was kept in the room, which was manned by a total of eight to 10 people, including Legare.

Elardi said at one point he even set up a timer in the 900 Room to control the resort's sprinklers so they could be used to spray strikers camped out on his property.

The idea was hatched, he said, after police stopped responding to calls to remove pickets the hotel felt were trespassing.

Elardi said the easiest way to get the strikers off the property was to "push the button and activate the sprinklers."

This is the first time Elardi has publicly acknowledged playing dirty tricks on the strikers.

Legare and others have alleged the hotel performed dirty tricks, such as spraying the pickets with a large water gun, placing manure where they ate and stealing their hand-held radio signals.

Elardi denied trying to steal the radio signals, but he admitted that a "large water truck" was used to hose down the feeding area of the strikers, near the hotel's valet parking lot.

Contrary to claims by the strikers, he insisted the water was not sprayed until after the strikers were done eating.

"The union thought our property was their personal dumping ground," Elardi said. "And they would take soda or coffee ... or food or whatever and hurl it into the valet lot. And it became very sticky. It became very messy. It became a breeding ground for, and I'm going to call it, bacteria.

"And we would water down the lot, the valet lot, probably between 45 minutes and two hours after the strikers had eaten."

Elardi also acknowledged putting bags of manure in a grassy area near the valet lot. But he insisted the bags weren't opened and the act was a reaction to a campaign by the union to steal the resort's sprinkler heads.

Eventually, Elardi said: "The sprinkler heads started to disappear. We could not keep that area watered. So we took the manure and used it on a different part of the property."

The Frontier boss confirmed the hotel at one point had equipment to monitor phone conversations at the hotel, but he said it was turned off in 1990.

The FBI is said to be investigating allegations from Frontier whistleblowers that the resort may have been illegally wiretapping its phone lines.

Elardi said the hotel opted to use another system after 1990 to monitor calls through its PBX operator, but it did not have the capability to record conversations.

Elardi and Horton admitted the resort recorded telephone calls it made to Metro Police from the 900 Room. However, they said employees were instructed to tell police that the calls were being monitored.

The duo also acknowledged that they never put up signs outside the property warning the public and hotel guests that they had installed cameras and microphones that could pick up their conversations as they moved along the sidewalk.

The union, Elardi said, did a good job of notifying the public for him by posting signs informing pedestrians about the surveillance equipment.

Elardi, meanwhile, denied telling Legare to bring a copy, rather than the original, of the videotape that captured the White beating to a county grand jury investigating the incident.

Legare has sworn under oath that Elardi instructed him never to let any original tapes leave the hotel.

Kemp filed court papers this week seeking to conduct electronic tests on the White videotape.

"Given the conflict between Legare and Elardi on this point," Kemp wrote in his motion, "the proposed testing will help the jury decide which is the more credible witness by determining which is correct with regards to whether the grand jury videotapes are originals or copies."

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