State Rep. Mike Sturla's campaign finance records have been subpoenaed as part of a grand jury investigation into a Scranton millionaire casino owner's alleged mob connections.

In 2005, nearly one-quarter of Sturla's campaign contributions came from Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples — just months before DeNaples put in his bid to get a gambling license to open his Mount Poconos casino.

Sturla, a longtime supporter of legislation that paved the way for casino gambling in the state, later said he had no knowledge of DeNaples' criminal past, which includes a 1978 conviction for defrauding the federal government for Hurricane Agnes cleanup work.

Now those campaign contributions appear to be playing a role in a mounting case against DeNaples, whose gaming license was suspended in February after he was charged with four counts of perjury for allegedly lying about ties to reputed Mafia players and two other men at the center of a federal corruption probe in Philadelphia.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that Sturla and several other state lawmakers split $45,000 in campaign donations received from DeNaples three months before he applied for a gaming license to operate his casino.

In addition to Sturla, records were subpoenaed from former House Democratic Whip Mike Veon, a Beaver County legislator who lost his seat during the pay-raise scandal; House Majority Leader H. William DeWeese of Greene County; and state Reps. Sean Ramaley of Economy and Jewell Williams of Philadelphia. DeWeese, Ramaley and Williams are all Democrats.

None of the legislators is accused of wrongdoing.

Sturla did not return calls for comment Monday, but he recently said he has no intention of returning the $10,000 in light of the DeNaples scandal.

"Why would I want to give it back to him?" Sturla said, adding that the money has been spent on previous campaigns.

"This is somebody making a judgment on somebody else — because that person may have done this … or is accused of something else, well, you should give back all their money. … For what purpose?" Sturla said in a newspaper interview last month.

DeNaples awaits a preliminary hearing on charges he lied to the state Gaming Control Board about his association with reputed organized mob figures. He maintains his innocence.

According to Sturla's records, his campaign received a $5,000 contribution on March 21, 2005, and another on Sept. 22, 2005, from Lackawanna County-based D&L Realty, a partnership controlled by DeNaples and his brother, Dominick.

That same year, Sturla made a $3,000 contribution to Veon's campaign.

The Tribune-Review reported that the subpoenaed records might be a means of corroborating testimony by former state Rep. Frank LaGrotta of Ellwood City, who informed on DeNaples so he could plead guilty and avoid jail time for putting relatives in state jobs.

DeNaples, who was named three times in documents compiled by Pennsylvania's now-disbanded Crime Commission citing alleged connections to the Bufalino organized-crime family in northeastern Pennsylvania, contributed $1.1 million to candidates and campaigns in the last decade, according to various sources.

He contributed about $115,000 to Gov. Ed Rendell, according to the Tribune-Review; $55,000 to State Attorney General Tom Corbett from 2003 to 2005, according to the Department of State's finance database; and $1,000 to former 48th District Sen. Chip Brightbill and $1,000 in 2001 to state Supreme Court Justice Mike Eakin of East Donegal Township, according to newspaper records.

E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com