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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Kingstons Accused Of Mafia Ties
Denver CO Rocky Mountain News 13Feb00 D5
By Lou Kilzer: Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
DENVER, COLORADO -- A Denver Rocky Mountain News article this past
Sunday details the position of the Kingston Clan's businesses in
Colorado and implies those businesses may have connections to
organized crime. The Utah-based polygamy group, known as the Latter
Day Church of Christ, is tightly controlled by seven brothers, sons
of the first wife of John Ortell Kingston and by the descendants of
John Ortell's brother Ardous, who have gained control of the group's
ventures in the amusement machine market.
The Kingston group got a lot of unwanted publicity last year when
John Daniel Kingston was arrested for whipping his 16-year-old
daughter, after she fled a marriage to her uncle, But the trial
didn't bring out much new information about the group and the
businesses it runs. Now, the Rocky Mountain News gives a profile of
the group in Colorado, and its two Colorado businesses, Mountain
Coin and A&E Amusements.
The group first entered Colorado in the 1970s, seeking a toehold in
the nascent market for 'amusement' machines - the coin operated video
games and tabletop games often found in bars, bowling alleys and in
dedicated arcades. After the major player in the Denver market
suffered from a political scandal, the Kingston businesses grew
rapidly, and now face just one serious competitor, who claims to
share the market with the Kingston's about equally.
The businesses involved in this industry are sometimes owned by
organized crime because they are cash rich businesses -- businesses
that process a lot of cash in their operations. A former employee of
the group's Utah amusement machine operations, Merlin Symes, even
claims that the group has direct ties to organized crime. Symes says
that Elden Kingston, who runs Mountain Coin, told him that reputed
New Jersey mobster Carmen Ricci had offered to let the Kingston's
invest in an oil shale business. And the Rocky Mountain News
confirmed that Mountain Coin's subsidiaries in Denver, Albuquerque,
Des Moines, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Salt Lake and Pocatello, Idaho had
all purchased coin-operated video machines from Grayhound
Electronics, a slot machine and video machine manufacturer run by
Ricci.
A 1995 undercover operation by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation
also determined that A&E Amusements, a route operator owned by the
Kingston's, was involved with providing illegal slot machines to its
customers. Under the law, 'video poker' machines are to be for
amusement only, and shouldn't be able to 'accumulate credits' over
multiple plays. However, undercover CBI officers were able to arrange
for such a machine from A&E, one equipped with a remote-control
switch that could disable the machine's illegal features should
authorities investigate.
Elden Kingston of Mountain Coin denies all these allegations, saying,
that Mountain Coin does "not handle gambling devices or machines that
are illegal in any state that we distribute in." He added, "I, myself
and/or Mountain Coin is not now, or never has been, associated,
involved or has any connection with organized crime, any crime family
or any other illegal activity."
Kingston also denied any connection to organized crime. He says he
doesn't know who Carmen Ricci is, and doesn't know anything about the
ownership of SMS Manufacturing, Mountain Coin's main supplier of
video games a decade ago. "We have never purchased any illegal
gaming machines from them. I am not aware now, (nor) was I aware at
that time if there may have been any connection with SMS and any
crime family."
The Rocky Mountain News article also gives further information on the
Kingston group's history and current leadership, including Paul
Kingston, who is the group's current leader. It also tells about the
group's frugal lifestyle and business empire, estimated at $150
million at least, but said by some to be as much as 10 times that
figure. The article even quotes one source claiming that the
Kingston's businesses are worth $11 billion.
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