Feds subpoena casino records

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed casino records as part of the search for tens of millions of dollars allegedly stolen from D.C. tax coffers in the largest corruption case in city history, law enforcement officials said.

Former tax office manager Harriette Walters was hosting wild spending sprees in Las Vegas at least as early as 1994, a one-time friend has told The Examiner.

Ralph Tuccillo, a Las Vegas waiter, said he met Walters, her niece Jayrece Turnbull and her friend Patricia Steven when they came in to eat at the upscale Spago restaurant where he worked in 1994. Turnbull and Steven are charged as accessories in the scam.

Tuccillo is the first acquaintance to talk publicly about the spending and gambling habits of Walters and her friends.

“She lived an elaborate lifestyle,” Tuccillo said. “She’d charge it up and go gamble and go to the stores.”

A law enforcement official said Tuccillo was one of a number of persons Walters befriended — and rewarded — on her gambling sprees.

Walters was a preferred member of at least eight casinos, according to federal documents. In November she and others were charged with stealing $20 million or more through a series of phony property tax refunds.

She took an instant liking to Tuccillo and invited him to party and go gambling, he said. Their friendship lasted about three years, during which he said she lavished gifts on him, including a Rolex watch, buying binges and even tickets to the heavyweight title fight between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

“She was a big VIP” at the casinos, which “comped” her often in return for her regal bills, Tuccillo said. “She used to get off on getting her miles and points and getting free stuff.”

What is not clear is how much Walters spent at casinos, investigators said.

Gaming officials in Las Vegas and Atlantic City who asked not to be named confirmed that Walters was a frequent visitor to casinos there. But they said the amounts she wagered were consistent with someone earning a civil servant’s salary, and didn’t raise red flags.

Law enforcement sources said they are worried that they might recover only a fraction of the money Walters is charged with stealing. Money spent in casinos and shops in Vegas and other resort towns might be particularly hard to trace, high-ranking law enforcement officials said.

Tuccillo said that when he knew Walters, Turnbull and Steven, they were coming to Vegas at least once a month. Walters would bet $200 and $300 at a time at the blackjack and high-low poker tables, Tuccillo said.

“She’d blow in and blow out,” Tuccillo said. “She’d go to Neiman Marcus and just kill there.”

Prosecutors have said that Walters racked up more than $1.4 million at Neiman Marcus from 2000 to 2007, years after Walters and Tuccillo’s friendship had faded.

Got a tip on the tax scandal? Call Bill Myers at 202-459-4956 or e-mail bmyers@dcexaminer.com.

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