Tuesday, March 18, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The former head of a Frontier hotel-casino spy squad has returned to Las Vegas to testify in District Court about alleged wrongdoing by the owners of the embattled Strip resort.
Wayne Legare -- whose allegations of spying and dirty tricks on striking Culinary Union workers led to investigations by FBI and state gaming agents -- became the star witness Monday in the case of a California man who has accused Frontier security officials of beating him up in 1992.
Kevin Cimity and his wife, Linda, who were guests of the Frontier, filed suit after the alleged March 21, 1992, beating.
Though Cimity was convicted of a misdemeanor battery charge for kneeing former Frontier security Lt. Kirk Leuthy in the groin, he is alleging that Frontier officials used excessive force, including a stun gun, that rendered him unconscious during the altercation.
Cimity's lawyer, Jerry Wiese, called Legare to refute a claim by Frontier security chief Mitch Eichberger that there was no videotape of the beating, which occurred at the resort's holding room for unruly customers.
Legare, 61, who now lives in Arizona, testified that he saw a video camera in the holding room and there should have been a videotape made.
"Our instructions were to make sure we had video coverage of everything that went on in the holding room," Legare said.
But under cross-examination by Frontier lawyer Steve Cohen, Legare acknowledged that he never saw a tape of the alleged beating and could not dispute the Frontier's claim that the camera was removed from the holding room before the incident.
Eichberger, however, testified a camera now is in the room.
Legare also acknowledged that his primary role was to oversee external, rather than internal, surveillance at the hotel.
Legare, who said he answered directly to Frontier co-owner John Elardi during his tenure at the resort from 1989 to 1995, testified that he received orders to avoid showing authorities tapes that put the Frontier in a bad light.
He testified that he once was instructed to lie in court during proceedings involving the April 1993 beating on the picket line of California tourists Sean and Gail White. The Whites have since sued the Culinary Union and the Frontier over the beating, which was captured on Frontier video cameras.
Cohen attempted to portray Legare as a disgruntled employee who was angry at the Frontier for fighting his efforts to obtain unemployment compensation after he left the hotel in October 1995.
But Legare, a nondenomination minister since 1984, said he felt no ill feelings toward the Frontier owners and quit because he felt he needed a change in his life.
"I did not really feel good about some of the things I had done at the Frontier," Legare said.
Elardi was scheduled to testify today in the trial, being held in the courtroom of District Judge Nancy Becker.
Legare has previously charged in a sworn court statement and interviews with the SUN that Frontier officials monitored strikers 24 hours a day from a secret command center dubbed the 900 room.
He alleged the officials played such dirty tricks on strikers as spraying them with a large water gun, placing manure where they ate, and stealing their hand-held radio frequencies.
Other ex-security officials have stepped forward to alleged additional wrongdoing, including wiretapping of the resort's phone lines and videotaping in hotel rooms.
Amid the accusations, the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor organization with 13 million members, has condemned the Frontier and launched a national campaign to focus attention on the resort's actions.
The AFL-CIO plans to hold public hearings in Washington on the recent developments in the 5 1/2-year strike and present them to a federal commission that will study the gaming industry.
Top labor leaders have accused Nevada gaming regulators of failing to take action against the Frontier during the bitter strike.
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