DeBartolo deserved his pardon — victim of Louisiana extortion
President Trump during the past week issued a flurry of pardons, some of them very controversial because they benefited his personal friends and political supporters. But at least one of the pardons triggered little outrage. Eddie DeBartolo Jr., former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, is the paragon of white-collar crime.
DeBartolo in the 1980s and ‘90s presided over five Super Bowl champions. He was known for brilliant management, loyalty, generosity and philanthropy.
But in the late 1990s his financial fortune waned. The 49ers were not affected, but he and his family sold the Pittsburgh Penguins and 78 shopping malls.
Seeking a comeback, DeBartolo applied for a license in Louisiana to establish a riverboat casino. In order to make that happen, he was required to deliver $400,000 – in crisp $100 bills – to the governor of Louisiana, Edwin Edwards.
DeBartolo did what he had to do, the feds found out about it, and they obtained convictions on him and dozens of others who dealt with the fast-talking, inevitably corrupting Edwin Edwards, Huey Long wannabe.
For me, the DeBartolo story is personal, not because I know him but because I’ve worked in Louisiana and understand how grease is needed for the state government to move.
Edwards, now 92, has succinctly stated his position on corruption: “Illegal of them to give, not of me to receive.”
DeBartolo became a victim of extortion, and I saw this almost happen to my father, Al Truex, an attorney who worked for Natomas International Oil Company in negotiating an oil-and-gas lease with the State of Louisiana. Seconds after the contract was signed, my father was told: “One more thing, the governor will be having a party in Las Vegas next weekend to celebrate this deal.”
“Sounds great,” Dad said. “I’ll be happy to attend.”
“And your company will be paying for it.”
Dad called the president of Natomas to relay the state’s invitation. The oil CEO said no way the company was on the hook for a $50,000 party in Vegas.
That night, as the oil baron was driving home from dinner, a bullet was shot through the front end of his car. It was not a shot across the bow, it was into the bow. Message delivered, Dad received a phone call a few seconds later from a man breathing very rapidly and saying, “Al, the party in Vegas is on.”
So I can only imagine what would have happened if Eddie DeBartolo had told the governor’s minion: “I’m not paying any money to Edwin Edwards.”
As it turned out, DeBartolo pleaded guilty in 1998 for failing to report the extortion. He paid a million-dollar fine, which kept him out of prison; he served two years probation for his felony. The full pardon by Trump probably won’t change his 73-year-old life at this point. But it does start to rub out a stain that got more attention than it deserved.
Worst punishment DeBartolo suffered was losing control of the 49ers to his sister, Denise DeBartolo York. From her the rule over the family football franchise passed to Jed York, now 39.
No one since Eddie DeBartolo has won any Super Bowls for the 49ers. Jerry Rice, 49ers Hall of Fame receiver, was probably correct when he said, “He was the main reason we won so many Super Bowls.”
As for Edwin Edwards, he eventually was convicted of 17 felonies, including racketeering, extortion, money laundering and giving rather than receiving bribes. He did end up spending about ten years in prison. When he was free, he ran for office again and was defeated in 2014. We can only hope that ended one of the most catastrophic political careers in American history. Eddie DeBartolo, a well-meaning but overly desperate man, was among the collateral damage.
