Priest Charged With Perjury in Casino Investigation

Reverend Joseph Sica was arrested in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania amidst accusations that he concealed and lied about relationships he had with figures involved in organized crime.

A Catholic priest received a rough start to the new year, being charged with perjury on Wednesday in the matter of an investigation into the ownership of Mount Airy Casino Resort. Reverend Joseph Sica was arrested in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania amidst accusations that he concealed and lied about relationships he had with figures involved in organized crime.

A grand jury has been looking into the background of Mount Airy owner Louis DeNaples for over a year. Charges have been made that DeNaples lied to the Pensylvania Gaming Control Board during his background check, hiding and misrepresenting his ties to mob bosses. Reverend Sica is a close personal advisor to DeNaples.

Sica is accused of lying during his testimony to the grand jury in August concerning his relationship with Russell Bufalino, a deceased crime boss with multiple convictions. Sica told the jury he did not know Bufalino except through a chance encounter.

However, prosecutors revealed evidence contrary to Sica's sworn testimony, displaying photographs of Sica and Bufalino with arma around each other, as well as a photo of Sica with William D'Elia, Bufalino's successor as head of the crime family. Sica also wrote a letter in 1982 to the wife of then-Governor Dick Thornburgh, pleading for help in getting "his friend" Bufalino released from prison.

Of course, a tongue-in-cheek argument could be made that casinos should be run by the mob anyway. After all, Las Vegas was largely free of petty crime, and far friendlier a town, back in the days organized crime ran things. It took corporate America to bring its own special brand of cold, soulless money-grubbing to Vegas, forever changing the city from a land of endless deals and rewards to one in which everything costs and then some.