{"id":174201,"date":"2021-05-20T11:25:04","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T18:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rockford-hard-rock-investor-denied-gaming-license-over-shooting\/"},"modified":"2021-05-20T13:07:43","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T20:07:43","slug":"rockford-hard-rock-investor-denied-gaming-license-over-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rockford-hard-rock-investor-denied-gaming-license-over-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockford Hard Rock Investor Denied Gaming License Over Shooting Incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

A prominent Rockford, Ill. restaurateur and investor in the city\u2019s forthcoming Hard Rock Casino<\/a> was denied a casino supplier license because of a prior shooting incident, the Rockford Register Star<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\"Rockford
Joseph Castrogiovanni, seen in a public meeting above, was a pillar of the community until he was charged with reckless conduct last July. (Image: Rockford Register Star<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Joseph Castrogiovanni, 69, owns Giovanni\u2019s Restaurant and Convention Center in Rockford. The plan is to invest $8 million to transform Castrogiovanni\u2019s building into a 37,790-square-foot temporary casino. It would house 736 slot machines while the main casino is being built.<\/p>\n

But in April, Castrogiovanni was snubbed by the Illinois Gaming Commission because of unspecified \u201cconduct and associations that would jeopardize the integrity of gaming and discredit, or tend to discredit, the state and Illinois gaming.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision caused perplexity in Rockford, where Castrogiovanni is considered to be of good character and a pillar of the community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

His lawyer, Michael Iasparro, wrote in documents filed with the Illinois Gaming Board that Castrogiovanni has for decades \u201cserved on numerous nonprofit and charitable boards, has tirelessly supported law enforcement, and has run a successful restaurant and banquet business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe suggestion that Mr. Castrogiovanni is unsuitable for licensure is wholly inconsistent with the character of the man,” he added.<\/p>\n

Trigger Happy Restaurateur <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Now, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request lodged with the Ogle County Sheriff’s Department, the Register Star <\/em>has been able to fill in the blanks.<\/p>\n

It appears that last July, two men looking for a house party accidentally found themselves driving down the half-mile driveway leading to the Castrogiovanni family’s private residence.<\/p>\n

Castrogovianni was alerted to their presence by his security system and went out to meet them armed with a loaded 9mm Sig Sauer handgun, according to the police report.<\/p>\n

\n

One of the vehicle\u2019s occupants told police he began to roll down the window to ask whether there was a party going on at the house. But before he could speak, he was met with a \u201cWhat the f— are you doing?” and gunfire.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The men backed up and sped away, later calling police from a gas station in Rockford.<\/p>\n

Castrogiovanni also told the police about the incident, claiming he had intended to fire warning shots into the air because of \u201ca reasonable fear for his and his wife’s safety.”\u00a0 But one of the bullets had pierced a rear passenger door and ended up in the pouch on the back of the front passenger seat.<\/p>\n

Reckless Conduct <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Castrogiovanni was charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct. But it was his failure to report the incident to the gaming board for a whole month that sunk his license application.<\/p>\n

He has since requested a hearing with the regulator\u00a0where he will attempt to “clear his good name and impeccable reputation.”<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Castrogiovanni will have to bid goodbye to his stake in 815 Entertainment<\/a>, the company established to unite Hard Rock International with local investors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The license refusal has also triggered clauses that will allow 815 Entertainment to acquire Giovanni’s, along with Castrogiovannis’ stake in the company.<\/p>\n

Developers said in April they envisage no disruption to the casino timeline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A prominent Rockford, Ill. restaurateur and investor in the city\u2019s forthcoming Hard Rock Casino was denied a casino supplier license because of a prior shooting incident, the Rockford Register Star reports. Joseph Castrogiovanni, 69, owns Giovanni\u2019s Restaurant and Convention Center in Rockford. The plan is to invest $8 million to transform Castrogiovanni\u2019s building into a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":174205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,13592],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRockford Hard Rock Investor Denied Gaming License Over Shooting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rockford Hard Rock Casino investor Joseph Castrogiovanni was denied licensing by the Illinois Gaming Board because of shooting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/rockford-hard-rock-investor-denied-gaming-license-over-shooting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rockford 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