Yup, anything on Indian land or within the confines of a structure owned by Native Americans is considered “Indian Country,” legally.
Anna Nicole Smith was “found unresponsive” on tribal land at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. She was declared dead later, after leaving Indian Country, at a hospital in Broward County.
For a variety of reasons, some believe her drug overdose wasn’t an accident and needed to be investigated further.
However, because of where the overdose happened, and because the Seminole Tribe police and first responders declared it an “accidental death,” the hotel room was never treated as a crime scene.
Some of the needed investigative work was done, but the results have never been released, nor will they ever be, simply because the Seminoles decided against it. Bad PR for the Hard Rock Casino.
Not exactly “welfare recipients” in every sense of the word, the Seminoles of FL (not to be confused with the Seminoles of Oklahoma, thank you) have now bought out all the Hard Rock Cafes in the world.
Luckily for those of us concerned about this investigation, the California DOJ has gotten involved and recently conducted a raid on the offices of the CA doctors who prescribed the meds used. What happens next remains to be seen - but I doubt we’ll ever see the Seminole files, thanks to sovereign immunity (and I speak as one of the “sovereign”).
You know,it's funny that you mention the Seminoles in Hollywood.When I was a kid...about 50 years ago....our family vacationed in Ft Lauderdale and one day we went to Seminole reservation not far from where we stayed (I assume it was in Hollywood) that featured alligator "wrestling".I can remember as if it was yesterday a guy standing over a gator and showing the audience his hand and telling us that his finger was missing because a gator had bitten it off.
I haven't thought about that in decades!