Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The adage, "they'll get what's coming to them" finally came true for the
many bars in central Indiana that ran illegal gambling, either through
illegal slot-like machines, called "cherry masters," or by running numbers.
For those of you who think of "running numbers," as slum-centered it's been
going on in area bars for years. Here, it's called "drawings," where someone
buys a number and hopes it gets pulled to win the pot. Sounds innocuous.
Cherry masters seem like innocent fun, too. Both are illegal and probably
rigged. Who knows for sure because no one regulates it. It's governed by
greed. Oh, and no one pays taxes on the winnings.
We don't know if any of the 39 people arrested over the past two days are
guilty. They are innocent until proven guilty. We're not casting individual
blame, we're just acknowledging that illegal gambling in Madison County and
its environs has been overt, well-known and ignored by every law enforcement
officer and agency for years. It included the cops who drank at those spots
to their bosses who knew about the activities at those establishments.
Imagine how much larger the coffers of state and local governments would be
if they had gotten a slice, through taxes, of that multi-million dollar
industry. Imagine how much easier it would be for legitimate, law-abiding
businesses to compete had their competitors not been awash in illegal
gambling money.

And when people operate outside the law, they don't act outside the law just
a little. In for a dime, in for a dollar. When there is this much money at
stake, assume there is extortion, bribery and violence. It all goes with the
territory. High risk, high return. Oftentimes, the only way out of a life of
crime is either prison or death. We're not exaggerating.

So, yes, we're delighted police swooped in and seized millions of dollars of
criminally gotten assets. Local governments will divvy up the spoils. Good
for them.

The prolificness of illegal gambling has been an embarrassment to our
community for years and proof that corruption lives in Madison County. The
raids didn't completely stop the problem. Illegal gambling is still rampant
in other area establishments.

Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings says the state excise police have
been building its case against accused ring leader John Neal for five years.
But what about all the illegal gambling long before then?

Why weren't these establishments shut down long ago? We can only guess. Why
were they seized just two months before Rodney Cummings is up for
re-election? Again, we can only guess.

Yes, the bust will play well for Cummings' campaign. In the long run, we
don't
care what the motivation for the raid was, just that it finally happened.