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Park Place Tactics at Issue in Suit

"Rival developers and others have challenged what they described as the deception and bare-knuckled tactics that Park Place, the world's largest casino company, used in trying to seize control of Indian gambling in New York state.

"…Monday, one such rival, Catskill Development, filed suit against Park Place in U.S. District Court in Manhattan claiming that the gambling company had wrongfully engaged in a secret, seven-month campaign to persuade the St. Regis Mohawks to scuttle the tribe's long-term contract with Catskill Development to build a $500 million casino at the Monticello Raceway.

"…Park Place has insisted that it is going forward with plans to build a casino resort called the Anawana Club at Kutsher's Country Club, a 1,400-acre property about five miles north of Monticello.

"…The suit comes a month after secret negotiations between the two sides fell through. In early October, Arthur Goldberg, chief executive of Park Place, was seeking a deal to buy out Catskill Development for $300 million and build a casino and hotels at the Raceway. But the deal appeared to hit a snag on Oct. 16 and Goldberg died three days later.

"A dissident group of Mohawks has filed a separate suit in tribal court against Park Place, claiming that the company duped the Mohawk chiefs into breaking its contract with Catskill Development.

"…In another lawsuit filed in state court in Nassau County, Ivan Kaufman, whose company ran the Mohawk's small, money-losing casino on the Akwesasne Reservation, contended that Park Place double-crossed him by ruining his relationship with the Mohawks and reneging on a $30 million deal to take over the Akwesasne casino…"

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