The_Info_Web/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/John Paul Nichols.md

aliases	category	tags	summary	updated	relations
John Paul Nichols	Business & Finance	Person PROMIS Lawyer	Son of Dr. John Philip Nichols, named as 'Project Manager' in the December 10, 1981 Chapter 11 petition of the Cabazon Indian Casino and later administrator of the Cabazon tribe.	2026-10-09	type with role fn relative_of Dr. John Philip Nichols son 1 type with role fn relative_of Mark Nichols brother 1 type with role start fn employed_by Cabazon Indian Casino Project Manager; signed the Chapter 11 petition 1981-12-10 3

John Paul Nichols was the son of Dr. John Philip Nichols. He took over his father's position as acting administrator of the Cabazon Indian Reservation when Dr. John Philip Nichols was incarcerated. In 1989, Mark Nichols inherited the position of administrator from John Paul Nichols.¹

John Paul Nichols is named as "Project Manager" in the December 10, 1981 Chapter 11 petition of the Cabazon Indian Casino.² On April 4, 1983, he wrote a letter to the Army Discharge Review Board asking for Jimmy Hughes' military record, as Hughes required security clearances to work in the Cabazon/Wackenhut Corporation Joint Venture, also known as Cabazon Security Corporation. He stated that Hughes had been instrumental in developing their reservation security force and providing training, and was becoming involved in matters requiring security clearances for government contracts.¹

The Chapter 11 petition filed for the Cabazon Indian Casino on December 10, 1981 was signed by John Paul Nichols as "Project Manager." The Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit quoted the petition's description of the casino as "a co-partnership consisting of" a list of members, which named "John Paul Nichols, Project Manager/Employee" among them. The panel wrote: "The record reflects that Mr. Nichols is a non-Indian and, therefore, ostensibly not a member of the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians."² A March 20, 1988 article gives the casino's debts as $567,577 owed to 45 creditors, against assets of $123,859, and quotes Nichols, identified as the Cabazon tribal administrator: "Nichols said incompetent management caused the downfall of the poker business and he has admitted a mistake in his hiring of Rocco Zangari as the first manager."³

John Paul Nichols was also involved in the Cabazon Indian Reservation and Indio Bingo Palace. He made a $30,000 withdrawal from the Bingo Palace's account by check payable to cash. He also wrote a letter to Wayne Reeder and his attorney, reminding Reeder of an agreement to "get rid" of Jimmy Hughes so Hughes couldn't expose Dr. John Philip Nichols' illegal activities.¹

The Miami Herald reported in May 1983 that Tommy Marson's wife had loaned $50,000 to John Paul Nichols in November 1980 to help finance the casino.⁴ A July 19, 1983 airtel from the Los Angeles office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the Director, captioned "PAN AMERICAN MANAGEMENT INC.," states that a Palm Springs resident described as a La Cosa Nostra operative put up $90,000 to start the Cabazon card parlor, and that when asked about the $90,000 he replied that it was $70,000 and a loan from his wife. It states that, allegedly, "a Los Angeles LCN member approached Cabazon Indian manager JOHN PAUL NICHOLS (originally from Florida) to demand the repayment of the loan," and adds: "Since then, the loan has supposedly been paid off."⁵ The names of the lender and of the person to whom the loan was to be repaid are redacted in the released copy. In 1985 John Paul Nichols told the Riverside newspaper that Marson had no dealings with the tribe, and that the $50,000 was a personal loan to him from Marson's wife.⁶ Cheri Seymour wrote that Marson, a known Gambino Crime Family associate, lent Dr. John Philip Nichols $50,000 to start the Cabazon Casino, according to John Paul Nichols.¹ The Press-Enterprise reported on February 9, 1989 that, according to the California Attorney General's office, John Paul Nichols had admitted receiving a $50,000 loan from Marson.⁷

In 1985 John Paul Nichols said that when tribal leaders learned of alleged organized crime ties of the former cardroom manager Rocco Zangari, "he was fired," and that the tribe banned the organized crime figures from the reservation.⁶

Footnotes

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1. Seymour, Cheri. The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010. ↩︎

2. Zangari v. Cabazon Indian Casino (In re Cabazon Indian Casino), 35 B.R. 124 (B.A.P. 9th Cir. December 29, 1983), BAP No. CC-82-1578-GVAb, Part II. https://static.case.law/br/35/cases/0124-01.json ↩︎

3. The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, California), March 20, 1988, p. B-1 with jump page, "Manager proposes plush Indian casino, club," by Mike Kataoka. Reprinted in FBI Los Angeles file 183A-LA-1746, Section 1, https://archive.org/details/JohnPhilipNichols; and Zangari v. Cabazon Indian Casino (In re Cabazon Indian Casino), 35 B.R. 124 (B.A.P. 9th Cir. December 29, 1983), https://static.case.law/br/35/cases/0124-01.json ↩︎

4. The Miami Herald, May 29, 1983 (series on Indian bingo and Wackenhut Corporation). Reprinted in FBI Los Angeles file 183A-LA-1746, Section 1, https://archive.org/details/JohnPhilipNichols ↩︎

5. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles, airtel to the Director, July 19, 1983, "Pan American Management Inc.," file 183-1746 (cross-reference Tampa 183A-1010). Reprinted in file 183A-LA-1746, Section 1. https://archive.org/details/JohnPhilipNichols ↩︎

6. The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, California), 1985, "Cabazon leader scoffs at report." Reprinted in FBI Los Angeles file 183A-LA-1746, Section 1, https://archive.org/details/JohnPhilipNichols ↩︎

7. The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, California), February 9, 1989, p. A-1, "Cabazon bingo casino listed as Mafia-tied." Reprinted in FBI Los Angeles file 183A-LA-1746, Section 1, https://archive.org/details/JohnPhilipNichols ↩︎