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The story offers a window into Indian gambling casinos in California, and the attraction of criminals and scam artists to these lucrative enterprises. The San Francisco Chronicle learned that a group of land speculators, including a man previously convicted of theft and others sued for fraud, were behind a proposal to develop 321 acres of farmland -- one of the last stretches of open space on the San Francisco Bay. The group has disguised its plans to eventually build a gambling casino at the site. In a profit-sharing scheme, the speculators have teamed up with the Hopland Pomo Indians to establish a new Indian Reservation on the acreage -- and then declare the site immune from federal gaming laws. (March 16, 1996)