DeNaples suspended from bank
HARRISBURG - A businessman charged with lying about connections to organized crime to win a casino license was suspended from his position as chairman of First National Community Bancorp Inc.
HARRISBURG - A businessman charged with lying about connections to organized crime to win a casino license was suspended from his position as chairman of First National Community Bancorp Inc.
The federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Monday also barred Louis A. DeNaples from working for any other bank.
DeNaples, 67, who is the bank's largest shareholder, requested a temporary leave of absence last week, the bank said.
He was charged Jan. 30 by state police with four counts of perjury after a seven-month investigation by a Dauphin County grand jury into what he told state gambling agents who were looking into his background. Prosecutors say DeNaples didn't tell the truth about his relationships with two reputed mobsters and two other men at the center of a federal corruption investigation in Philadelphia.
DeNaples won a casino license in December 2006 and opened Mount Airy Casino Resort in the Pocono Mountains in October.
After he was charged, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board suspended DeNaples' casino license and put a trustee in charge of Mount Airy.
Lawyers for DeNaples say he is innocent. *