"Big Al" Grossman, who was among the missing last year when an alleged coconspirator went on trial for a craps cheating scam at Foxwoods Resort Casino, made his first appearance Tuesday in the New London courthouse where major crimes are tried.
Allen M. Grossman, 53, is accused of being part of a crew that colluded with casino employees to cheat at craps between November and December 2007. The ringleader of the crew, Richard S. Taylor, was convicted in May 2009 and is serving a 10-year prison sentence. A dozen casino employees were arrested and fired in the scheme.
During Taylor's trial, the state broadcast a casino surveillance video that prosecutors said showed a Foxwoods dealer paying Grossman for late or losing bets. The state police casino unit had obtained a warrant for Grossman's arrest, but Grossman had changed his address and could not be located.
Grosswman was arrested as a fugitive from justice in Nassau County, Long Island, on Jan. 22. He waived extradition to Connecticut. Members of the casino unit brought him back to the state on Feb. 18. He was initially arraigned in the lower level court and ordered held on a $200,000 bond. Judge Susan B. Handy kept the same bond when Grossman appeared before her Tuesday. She appointed attorney John M. Newson as a special public defender and continued the case to May 11.
Grossman, nicknamed "Big Al" by the dealers at Foxwoods, lives up to his moniker, standing 6 feet, 2 inches tall and weighing 300 pounds. He told state police after his arrest that he had been living in Brooklyn and serving as the manager of a local restaurant called "Mr. Biggs" at the time of his arrest. He is being held at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Institution in Montville.
My Take: Well, Richard Taylor got 10 years in prison for masterminding this scam. I don't think Big Al will go away that long, but he's probably looking at a year or two behind bars. If he gets locked up in the same prison as Taylor, I have some advice for the rest of the inmates there: Don't get involved in a prison craps game with this pair!!!
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