Taverns opening after gambling raids

ANDERSON -- More than a dozen of the 23 Indiana taverns shut down after video gambling raids in September will soon be back in business.\nAuthorities shut down taverns in Madison, Delaware and Henry counties last month after a series of raids capped an investigation into what police said was a gambling ring operated by John Neal, a former state Teamsters chief. Neal, 69, of rural Yorktown, remains in jail under a $2 million cash bond.\n"Most of the people involved in this case are not the real parties we're pursuing," Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said Monday. "In many ways, they are as much a victim as the people who were playing the gambling machines."\nA judge allowed seven of the taverns to reopen, and six more are expected to reopen in the coming weeks. Those that have reopened include bars in Gaston, Alexandria and Muncie.\nAll of the reopened bars will be allowed to serve alcohol and will be operated by the same proprietors that operated them before the raids, Cummings said. State excise police had seized the alcohol permits from the businesses.\nMore than 28 people besides Neal face charges of professional gambling and money laundering, and many are part-owners or employees of the bars under investigation. Cummings said the charges against them could be reduced if they cooperate with investigators.\nNeal's supporters argue he was unfairly targeted because most bars in the state offer some form of gambling.\nOne of the bars that reopened last week is The Curve Inn in Alexandria. The proprietor, Bo Alexander, faces eight felony charges. Alexander, a 43-year-old single mother of two, and her 12 employees have been out of work since the Sept. 18 raids.\n"About 75 percent of the people put out of work were single mothers -- the only thing Rodney Cummings and Madison County succeeded in doing was hurting the working poor," Alexander said.\nCummings said Neal was responsible for that harm. Some of the tavern proprietors had purchase agreements that required them to have the gambling machines on the premises, he said.\nAlexander said the video gambling machines she is accused of having are common and can be found in many taverns.\n"It looks as though the county has said, 'You guys are OK,' but any and every bar related to John Neal, they closed it," she said. "The closest I've ever come to laundering money is finding a few bucks in my dryer"