Lucky Alabama Mayor Loves Casino Gambling
Larry Langford, the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, loves casino gambling, and has advocated bringing electronic bingo to his town's race track. Of course, anyone as lucky as Langford would support gambling; Larry wins so much, he's facing several accusations of taking bribes fed him via fixed gaming.Langford was already charged with bribery charges on a federal indictment when he won $50,000 at a nearby greyhound track, leading to a lawsuit by Sandra Howard. Howard says Langford was directed by officials at VictoryLand to specific machines, and, ever so coincidentally, then hit big.
If the story sounds familiar, that's because it is. Langford is already being sued by Cynthia Teel for a night in 2007 which went pretty much exactly the same way at VictoryLand.
This time, Langford's special gambling luck came just in time, as he needed cash desperately to pay attorneys representing him against accusations of taking over $200,000 in bribes when he was president of the Jefferson County Commission.
Both the investment banker and the lobbyist linked in the federal case to Langford have pled guilty to bribing him and will testify for the prosecution. Langford, meanwhile, thinks casino gambling is so beneficial, it should be allowed at the Birmingham Race Course, which is owned, coincidentally, by the owner of VictoryLand.
Soon, Langford will go before a judge and jury. He better hope he hasn't used all his luck up, as it looks like he's facing real longshot odds now.
