Broadway Cafe

[agibson]

Wow this is sobering news... Perhaps the closure of the business and this case are related?

Hard to imagine they're unrelated. Also bizarre that this didn't come out earlier. If jury selection is this week it can't exactly have been a secret.

[vu84v2]

Is the man with the fedora and the eye patch testifying? You could be found guilty of engaging in organizing crime and illegal gambling solely by association with someone with that combination.

[talksalot]

Is the man with the fedora and the eye patch testifying?

No, I heard he was honing up on the rule book to take the Horizon League Basketball Officiating quiz.

[valpopal]

Another slippery twist in the story: Even though Borovilos was actually bragging about being the owner at the closing last week, and over the years always identified himself as the owner, his lawyer claims the defense is that he did not actually own the place, but his wife did.


Broadway Cafe gambling case takes a twist with defense claiming accused did not actually own the business
Bob Kasarda
VALPARAISO — George Borovilos was wrongly charged with a felony count of promoting professional gambling because at no time did he own, manage or have control over the now-shuttered Broadway Cafe where the illegal activities reportedly took place.


That was the argument of Borovilos' defense attorney, Larry Rogers, as the gambling trial got underway Tuesday afternoon before Senior Judge Thomas Webber.


While 67-year-old Borovilos is identified as the owner of the business in the charging documents, Rogers said the restaurant that had operated until just last week along a local stretch of U.S. 30 was owned by a corporation that was entirely controlled by his wife.


The felony count of promoting professional gambling Borovilos faces requires that he had control over the location where the gambling allegedly took place and that he knowingly allowed the illegal activity to go on, Rogers told the newly selected group of jurors.


The case, which resulted in charges against others as well in Porter and LaPorte counties, was triggered on Oct. 25, 2013, when Indiana Gaming Commission Control Officer Carl Diaz noticed what he believed to be gambling going on around him as he was having breakfast at the diner by Sturdy Road, according to court records.


"He was there just as a regular customer," Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Salina Malone said during opening arguments in the trial.


During the two-year investigation, Diaz placed several bets on professional and college football games using parlay cards and saw evidence that Borovilos knew that betting was going on at the restaurant and by some of its staff, she said....


https://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/broadway-cafe-gambling-case-takes-a-twist-with-defense-claiming/article_9f496246-ec97-57ca-885f-9dd5cbfccfb3.html#1

[VUGrad1314]

So does that mean his wife will stand trial instead or does she have plausible deniability?

[talksalot]

The Broadway Cafe was the Greyhound stop for the city until just very recently (Miller bus Company was the local provider for Greyhound)... I guess he just threw his wife under it.

PS.  Greyhound has dropped Valparaiso as an option on their bus schedule site.

[agibson]

The Broadway Cafe was the Greyhound stop for the city until just very recently (Miller bus Company was the local provider for Greyhound)... I guess he just threw his wife under it.

PS.  Greyhound has dropped Valparaiso as an option on their bus schedule site.

I didn't know we had (past tense) a Greyhound stop.

I suppose the hope is that the wife wasn't pinned to the gambling, but only the husband. So, they can act as if the wife didn't know about it.

At minimum it might get the current case thrown out. And, it may now be hard to find new evidence.

Interesting...

[vu72]

The Broadway Cafe was the Greyhound stop for the city until just very recently (Miller bus Company was the local provider for Greyhound)... I guess he just threw his wife under it.

PS.  Greyhound has dropped Valparaiso as an option on their bus schedule site.

I didn't know we had (past tense) a Greyhound stop.

I suppose the hope is that the wife wasn't pinned to the gambling, but only the husband. So, they can act as if the wife didn't know about it.

At minimum it might get the current case thrown out. And, it may now be hard to find new evidence.

Interesting...

Please keep us posted on site changes.  I would think the University will want to bulldoze the site to eliminate an eyesore developing from an empty, unattended building.

[VUGrad1314]

I'm not sure when exactly but I know they either already had the restaurant auction for tables chairs cookware etc. or they will have it soon. I'd imagine the plans for how to tear down and redevelop the site will be put in motion after that.

[VU2014]

It bums me out to hear Broadway Cafe is no longer in business. One of my favorite spot to grab a bite to eat when I was a student.

[talksalot]

Just for posterity... July 20, 2018.  The day demolition begins on that structure.  Lots of heavy equipment out there.

[78crusader]

Good. That structure greatly detracted from the beauty of our campus.

Paul

[talksalot]

Just for posterity... July 20, 2018.  The day demolition begins on that structure.  Lots of heavy equipment out there.

Well, the demolition project from July 20 to this morning, was infrastructure, removing the parking lot, one small shed and getting the utilities disconnected.   At 7:40am today, GE Marshall's crews took the first "Bite" out of the building.  I'm told it will be down by noon.   VU salvaged anything they could, Marshall gets to keep whatever is left. Someone bought all of the neon tubing around the building.  I'm also told someone inquired about the sign, but it now belongs to GE Marshall.

The top soil will be leveled today and tomorrow, and they'll start the seeding process.

[vu72]

Just for posterity... July 20, 2018.  The day demolition begins on that structure.  Lots of heavy equipment out there.

Well, the demolition project from July 20 to this morning, was infrastructure, removing the parking lot, one small shed and getting the utilities disconnected.   At 7:40am today, GE Marshall's crews took the first "Bite" out of the building.  I'm told it will be down by noon.   VU salvaged anything they could, Marshall gets to keep whatever is left. Someone bought all of the neon tubing around the building.  I'm also told someone inquired about the sign, but it now belongs to GE Marshall.

The top soil will be leveled today and tomorrow, and they'll start the seeding process.

So, no immediate plans to begin the water feature?

[crusader05]

The university wasn't planning on getting that land for I think another 6 months and are focused on the Quad creation. My guess is they want it seeded and set up nicely before they move into adding a water feature which will require some assessment, laying of pipes and other things for approval. Better to have a green space there for awhile rather that run the risk of a delay that leads to just a gross dirt patch.

[wh]

I just noticed that the building has been razed, most of the rubble has been removed, and a lot of excavating has been done to shape that corner. Having an unobstructed sightline to beautiful buildings in a campus settings as you approach that intersection from the east is an eye-opening improvement, far greater than I had anticipated.

[FieldGoodie05]

I just noticed that the building has been razed, most of the rubble has been removed, and a lot of excavating has been done to shape that corner. Having an unobstructed sightline to beautiful buildings in a campus settings as you approach that intersection from the east is an eye-opening improvement, far greater than I had anticipated.

Is the view FROM campus to the intersection of Sturdy & 30 appealing?  I know they razed that truly horrendous motel/hotel at the opposite corner to Broadway years ago, but is that any more appealing looking out?

Thanks for sharing btw, glad to hear progress!

[crusader05]

It's more appealing than with Broadway there. You have the Speedway still on the North side of 30 and now a brand new Caseys across from them but since that is brand new does not look bad. The corner south of where broadway was is the cemetery so that will always remain just grass I believe. It's not going to be the most attractive area but there's also no reason people on campus would look that way very often. The only thing that would have a direct line of site to it would be if you were looking out the south end of Gellerson and even that is slightly obscured by the Observatory.

[wh]

 

I just noticed that the building has been razed, most of the rubble has been removed, and a lot of excavating has been done to shape that corner. Having an unobstructed sightline to beautiful buildings in a campus settings as you approach that intersection from the east is an eye-opening improvement, far greater than I had anticipated.

Is the view FROM campus to the intersection of Sturdy & 30 appealing?  I know they razed that truly horrendous motel/hotel at the opposite corner to Broadway years ago, but is that any more appealing looking out?

Thanks for sharing btw, glad to hear progress!

IMO gas stations are gas stations.  They don't necessarily add or detract from an intersection of a busy corner intersecting a major highway.  That said, if the university finishes up with a nice fountain (like someone mentioned before), it will enhance the appearance of that intersection from every direction and change the perception from an empty lot to an attractive university boundary marker that gives the campus a more spacious look.