Man Fights to Have Lenin Statue Removed From Casino

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey —  Since the day a statue of Vladimir Ilich Lenin went up outside the trendy Red Square restaurant at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in 2005, Al Garrett has wanted it torn down.

He claimed having a 15-foot (4.5-meter) tall statue of one of history's most brutal dictators is an insult to thousands of soldiers who died fighting communism. He went on talk radio shows claiming the statue is anti-American.

He wrote letters to the editor claiming that a ruthless communist dictator has no place in a casino — a bastion of American capitalism, after all.