Federal and Massachusetts state authorities have filed charges against three men who sold land to Wynn Resorts for its Everett casino project. Mob 
associate Charles Lightbody, Anthony Gattineri and Dustin DeNunzio have been indicted on a spectrum of felonies that include wire fraud, document forgery, evidence tampering, and assault and battery. Of the owners of the highly toxic site, only Paul Lohnes escaped indictment. (How much you wanna bet he turns state’s evidence?) Gattineri and DeNunzio face indictment for allegedly conspiring to hide convicted felon and Cosa Nostra-tied Lightbody’s co-ownership. “The state investigation revealed that these three defendants allegedly attempted to hide Lightbody’s involvement in the company because he has a criminal record,” prosecutors elaborated.
All Wynn Resorts would say about the incendiary news was, “The indictments are an example of the rigor and diligence exercised by law enforcement and regulators in the Commonwealth.” However, this latest development brought a predictable eruption from Boston Mayor Martin “McCheese” Walsh, who fulminated that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission “clearly failed the people of Boston and of the Commonwealth by allowing — even remotely — the taint of corruption to be associated with this land transaction.”
Mohegan Sun also darkly threatened legal action aimed at prying away Steve Wynn‘s gaming license: “We will be monitoring future developments relative to these criminal indictments of people associated with the Wynn 
Resorts project site in Everett, and any impact they may have on the licensing and regulatory process.” Suffolk Downs COO Chip Tuttle piled on, saying “I don’t know how the commission can continue to let this land transaction to go through based on the commission’s own standards, now you have multiple owners of the Everett land who are being accused of fraud.” Hey, Chip, don’t you have a racetrack to close?
Lightbody’s attorney called the case ““speculation, conjecture and surmise,” adding that his client “is planning a vigorous defense and looks forward to the truth coming out in court.” So far the truth hasn’t been very pretty where Lightbody is concerned. How much more can he afford to have unearthed?
* Speaking of scandals, MGM Resorts International is shuttering its ill-reputed Haze nightclub at Aria. It’s the place where pimp and convicted felon Ammar Harris had an altercation with colleague “Kenny Clutch” Cherry that was fatally resolved with gunplay on Las Vegas Boulevard. “The shooting shed light on the Strip’s thriving and violent prostitution subculture and also brought unwanted attention to Haze … Haze gained a reputation as a safe haven for pimps and prostitutes,” writes John L. Smith.
Club owner Light Group has been peppered with lawsuits for allegedly being “a hototbed of sexual harassment, discrimination, and mistreatment of its female employees.” MGM would only say the a “new concept” would replace Haze and did not indicate whether or not Light Group would be involved.
