He calls himself Chief Quiet Hawk, and true to his name, he usually answers questions by fax. But on this day he is visiting Washington to press the case of his people, and he has agreed to meet at a restaurant favored by lobbyists, just a block from the White House. A solidly built man in a dark business suit, Quiet Hawk--born 55 years ago as Aurelius Piper--picks at a salad and steak as he explains his crusade to win federal recognition as an Indian tribe for himself and his 324 followers, most from the area around Bridgeport, Conn. "I'm trying," he says, "to get the best possible deal for the tribe to live out its culture and heritage."
And what would he and his followers do if they won Washington's seal of approval? They would seek return of some of their ancestral lands, he says, on which they would establish a museum and model village. And that's not all. "We're talking," he adds, "about having the largest casino in the world."
Three times over the past five years, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has rejected the petitions of Quiet Hawk and his followers, ruling that they failed to demonstrate sufficient links to the Golden Hill Paugussett tribe from which they claim to be descended. The ancestral Paugussetts were hunting and fishing around Bridgeport when the first English settlers arrived in the 1600s, but their numbers had dwindled by the late 1800s. Despite his setbacks, Quiet Hawk, a former social worker who now labors full time on his crusade, has persisted--and has persuaded the BIA to take an unusual fourth look at his group's appeal for recognition.
Billions of dollars are riding on the decision, expected by midyear. With federal recognition, Quiet Hawk's Paugussetts--factory and government workers, small-business owners and retirees--would become, in many respects, a sovereign nation and could, with the state's approval, open their casino. And not just any casino. Their preferred site would be on the Bridgeport waterfront--only 55 miles from New York City, and even nearer to the city's wealthy northern suburbs.
Profits, gambling experts say, would be at least $1 million a day. Connecticut's two existing Indian casinos have already proved the potential. The Foxwoods casino, hard by the Rhode Island border and run by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, is the largest-grossing gambling complex in the world. The Mohegan Sun casino in Uncasville, run by the Mohegan tribe, announced plans earlier this month for an $800 million expansion, including a 40-story hotel.
"There's a substantial market there, a good market," says Thomas Wilmot, a Rochester, N.Y., real estate developer. He has invested more than $4 million underwriting the lawyers, genealogists and historians who are helping make the case for federal recognition of the Quiet Hawk group. Wilmot says he will build and manage the casino if the Paugussetts get the go-ahead.