Feds near sting of gambling ring run by Gambino mobsters in Brooklyn
January 8, 2010 by The Boss · 5 Comments
Prosecutors are closing in on dozens of Gambino mobsters in Brooklyn and Staten Island running a multimillion-dollar online sports betting ring, the Daily News has learned.
The two-year investigation is focusing on a high-tech operation that used text-messaging, BlackBerrys and other sophisticated devices, and stretched from New York to Aruba to Costa Rica.
Prosecutors used extensive wiretaps and surveillance and issued dozens of search warrants in the last month alone, sources said.
Among the high-ranking Gambino mobsters named are Pietro Inzerillo and Joseph Lanni, who operate the Web site www.touchdownbets.com, law enforcement sources and documents in Brooklyn Supreme Court show.
“These are made guys, major [players] in the Gambino family,” a law enforcement source said. Investigators are also looking at www.nysportswager.com and www.bet1010.com.
Prosecutors are seeking nearly $20 million in assets from the reputed mobsters affiliated with all three.
Alfredo (Dark Al) Correa and Gerard Bruzzese control nysportswager.com, the largest of the three sites, the documents show.
Correa’s lawyer denied the charges.
“I don’t think he’s connected to the mob and he denies the allegations,” lawyer Joseph Mure said.
The documents are filled with phone recordings and taped conversations of mobsters at coffee shops and restaurants in Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge and Staten Island using betting codes and tough mob-talk.
“I told him make me an offer,” Anthony Falco, who operated www.bet1010.com, said to his father, Lewis Falco, about a gambler who apparently owed money.
“Yeah, he wants the big bucks, tell him to go f— himself,” the elder Falco responded.
A shocked Anthony Falco last night denied the accusations.
Bruzzese, on one of the tapes, was caught schooling a young bookmaker on collecting a payment.
“The first rule I got to teach you is that when somebody has money for you, go get it….You’re all excited, but that’s how they’re supposed to pay. I got guys who lose $15,000 and they pay me in full no problem.”
The investigation by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office and the NYPD’s Organized Crime Investigative Division began in early 2008, court papers show.
No charges have been filed but sources say arrests could come anytime in the next few weeks, apparently timed around the Super Bowl.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/01/08/2010-01-08_feds_near_sting_of_gambinorun_gambling_ring.html#ixzz0c2eUYkUS
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Why are we reading that they are NEAR arrests? Do the Feds need that much publicity in the face of terror plot failures? Get them off gambling and onto those who want to blow us up.
They’re missing the terror plots and they won’t deal with the Mexican cartels–each of whom are a bigger threat to security than some guys who deal with some degenerate gamblers. But you see, there’s no payout stopping terrorists or cartels like there is when you seize gambling money that they feel they should have a monopoly on.
Amen, Cliff. They have no fear of OC guys killing them, but do tremble at the thought of a terrorist or Mexican drug dealer taking them off the count. What heros.
This is all about RICO, not about our safety and protection. The Feds want to fatten their wallets.
The FBI has thousands of employees, and Terrorism is the agency’s top priority. I find it hard to believe that the resources devoted to this operation affected their terrorism investigations. As for the border, the department of justice as a whole has devoted many men and resources to the border. Even accounting for the Mexican cartels increasing influence, I don’t believe New York is a significant stronghold for them yet.
It makes sense to devote some resources to illegal gambling, since it’s the biggest money maker for the mob, and is sometimes used to fund other more harmful activities.