Ex-Tropicana boss tells of job cuts

ATLANTIC CITY — The former president of the Tropicana testified Wednesday that he was fired for resisting massive job cuts imposed by new owners of the casino, and for alerting state regulators that the cuts were planned.

Fred Buro said he was fired on Aug. 6 after he had spoken several times with the state Division of Gaming Enforcement about job cuts that Columbia Sussex Corp. wanted to make at the Tropicana.

Before the company completed the sale in January, owner William Yung III had insisted on at least $40 million worth of payroll cuts at the Tropicana.

Buro testified before the state Casino Control Commission that Yung became irate after Buro discussed the pending cuts with the commission — something Buro said the commission ordered him to do.

The commission is considering whether to renew the Tropicana’s license in light of new ownership’s cutting of nearly 900 jobs — about one-fourth of the casino’s work force.

“He was just angered beyond anything I’d ever seen him before,” said Buro, who previously worked as president of Trump Plaza before joining Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex in 2003.