---
aliases:
  - Mark Nichols
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
  - Person
  - PROMIS
  - Cabazon
  - IndianGaming
summary: "Administrator of the Cabazon Tribal Council who inherited the position from his brother John Paul Nichols in 1989."
updated: 2026-10-09
relations:
  - type: relative_of
    with: "[[John Paul Nichols]]"
    role: "brother"
    fn: 1
  - type: relative_of
    with: "[[Dr. John Philip Nichols]]"
    role: "son"
    fn: 2
  - type: employed_by
    with: "[[Cabazon Indian Casino]]"
    role: "bingo parlor manager"
    start: 1984
    fn: 3
  - type: employed_by
    with: "[[Cabazon Indian Reservation|Cabazon Band of Mission Indians]]"
    role: "chief executive officer"
    start: 1989
    fn: 4
---
[[Mark Nichols]] inherited the position of administrator of the [[Cabazon Indian Reservation|Cabazon tribe]] from his brother, [[John Paul Nichols]], in 1989.[^1]

[[Los Angeles Magazine]] reported in September 1983 that Mark Nichols was present while his father, [[Dr. John Philip Nichols]], related how [[Rocco Zangari]] came to the [[Cabazon Indian Casino]]; the article quotes him on the casino ("This place is such a mom-and-pop organization it's ridiculous") and on [[Fred Alvarez]] ("I would describe him as a sociopath").[^2] *Gaming & Wagering Business* of October 1984 identifies him as the Cabazons' bingo parlor manager and quotes him that the Cabazons "have not experienced a whole lot of direct heat out of Vegas."[^3]

The Press-Enterprise of July 29, 1989 names him chief executive officer for the Cabazons; of [[Don Speer]], charged that month in Los Angeles County, he said: "We are of a mind to see his innocence, however." The same article reports that [[Southwest Gaming Inc.]] lifted the tribe out of bankruptcy court in March 1988 with a loan to pay off creditors.[^4] On September 20, 1989 the paper quoted him on the dismissal of the charges: "We're glad (Speer) is not going to jail or be sentenced."[^5]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^2]: Jan Golab, "Close-Up," *Los Angeles*, September 1983, pp. 116 to 128. Reprinted in FBI Los Angeles file 183A-LA-1746, Section 1. https://archive.org/details/JohnPhilipNichols
[^3]: *Gaming & Wagering Business*, October 1984. Reprinted in FBI Los Angeles file 183A-LA-1746, Section 1. https://archive.org/details/JohnPhilipNichols
[^4]: *The Press-Enterprise* (Riverside, California), July 29, 1989, p. B-1, "Poker club firm chief accused of embezzling." Reprinted in FBI Los Angeles file 183A-LA-1746, Section 1. https://archive.org/details/JohnPhilipNichols
[^5]: *The Press-Enterprise* (Riverside, California), September 20, 1989, p. B-1, "Felony charges being dropped in poker club case." Reprinted in FBI Los Angeles file 183A-LA-1746, Section 1. https://archive.org/details/JohnPhilipNichols