The New Chiefs: His road to top was long and winding: One in an occasional series exploring the new leaders of California's Indian nations.

Byline: Stephen Magagnini

Sep. 2--Chairman Richard Milanovich, the half-Serbian Indian chief, holds court in his tribe's new corporate offices near the Palm Springs International Airport, cracking jokes and ignoring a phone that never stops ringing.

With the local classical station providing background music, Milanovich, 64, unspools the operatic saga of his long journey to head of state.

Milanovich -- who enjoys hiking the steep canyons of his ancient nation when he's not driving his 2001 Eldorado, reading Harry Potter books with his grandkids or negotiating multi-million dollar deals -- knows about traveling hard roads.

He's survived a broken home, 10 months at a ranch for troubled teens, the racism in his hometown of Palm Springs. As a boy, he ate government handouts of block cheddar cheese and ravioli from dented tins.

And he saw his culture nearly snuffed out.

For 23 years, Milanovich has served as the elected chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, once impoverished but now a 430-member tribe earning hundreds of millions of dollars a year from its casinos, and rent from some of the choicest parts of Palm Springs.

As the most powerful man in one of the most powerful Indian nations in North America, he's been a guest at the White House and dined with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Napa. Milanovich's influence has grown as Indian gambling -- an $8 billion a year industry here -- plays an increasingly larger role in California life. California's 57 Indian casinos host a million visitors a day on Indian land, and Milanovich is adding to those numbers.

State Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, a friend and beneficiary of…