DISTRICT ATTORNEY
QUEENS COUNTY
125-01 QUEENS BOULEVARD
KEW GARDENS, NEW YORK 11415-1568
718-286-6000
Release # 147-2012
www.queensda.org
RICHARD A. BROWN
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: DISTRICT ATTORNEY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 718-286-6315
NYPD/DCPI
646-610-6700
FBI
212-384-2100
25 INDIVIDUALS INDICTED IN MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR
ILLEGAL NATIONWIDE SPORTS BETTING RING
Charged With Enterprise Corruption and Promoting Gambling;
Search Warrants Executed In Multiple States Across The Country
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, joined by New York City Police Department
Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Office of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation Mary E. Galligan, and representatives of other law enforcement
agencies from across the country, today announced the indictment of 25 individuals including three
owners of a sports betting Internet website in five states on charges of operating an illegal sports
betting enterprise in Queens County and elsewhere that profited by more than $50 million during an
eighteen-month period by accepting wagers on various sporting events including horse-racing and
professional and college football, basketball, hockey and baseball.
In addition, dozens of search warrants and asset seizure warrants were executed in multiple
jurisdictions in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Nevada and California, resulting, to date, in
the seizure of real property and more than $7.6 million in cash and gambling chips. The arrests
and/or warrants were carried out by the New York City Police Departments Organized Crime
Investigation Division, the FBIs Asset Forfeiture Section, the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the
New Jersey State Commission of Investigation, the Monmouth County (NJ) Prosecutors Office, the
New Jersey State Attorney Generals Office, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Los Angeles
Police Department. Furthermore, the Office of Loretta E. Lynch, the United States Attorney for the
Eastern District of New York, has filed asset forfeiture warrants against the defendants assets.
Eight defendants were arrested yesterday and arraigned in Queens County Supreme Court
in Kew Gardens. Seventeen additional defendants were arrested yesterday in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Nevada and California. The defendants are all charged with Enterprise Corruption
a violation of New York States Organized Crime Control Act as well as being variously charged
with promoting gambling, money laundering and conspiracy. They each face up to 25 years in prison
if convicted.
District Attorney Brown said, The defendants are accused of operating an incredibly
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lucrative illegal gambling operation taking in more than $50 million in a year and a half. Such
unlawfully earned profits are often and easily diverted to more insidious criminal enterprises.
The District Attorney continued,
Illegal gambling is not a victimless crime. Those who
participate in these criminal enterprises often use threats, intimidation and even physical force to
collect debts and oftentimes charge usurious interest rates on outstanding debts. In addition to our
NYPD and FBI partners, I want to thank our other law enforcement and governmental colleagues
and authorities in other states for their cooperation and efforts in this investigation. So massive was
the enterprise that only with their assistance could we bring these defendants to justice.
Police Commissioner Kelly said, The defendants in this case gambled and lost that their
illegal activities would fly under the radar. I want to commend the NYPD detectives, federal agents
and our out-of-state partners, who together with the Queens District Attorneys prosecutors, brought
these individuals to justice.
Acting FBI Assistant Director in Charge Galligan said, This action is an important step in
policing illegal sports wagering, from hockey to horse racing. This is yet another example of the
collaboration between the FBI and our partners that is increasingly necessary to combat evermore
sophisticated crimes and the criminals who commit them.
District Attorney Brown said that the investigation leading to todays indictment began in
February 2011 when NYPD Organized Crime Investigation Division detectives developed
information about an illegal sports betting operation and began a joint investigation with the District
Attorneys Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau. The investigation included physical surveillance,
intelligence information and court-authorized electronic eavesdropping.
According to the indictment, between April 13, 2011 and October 18, 2012, the defendants
conspired to acquire money illegally through the operation of an unlawful gambling enterprise
involving the use of Internet web sites that accepted bets on sporting events.
The indictment also alleges that the ring used non-traditional wire rooms in the form of offshore,
Internet-based gambling services such as
www.pinnaclesports.com,
www.jazzsports.net/com,
www.wager4you.com and
www.playhera.ag used by bettors and agents
to actually place their wagers. It is alleged that the members of the enterprise used the off-shore wire
rooms to maintain the gambling accounts of numerous agents through the Internet website in an
effort to evade law enforcement detection through traditional methods.
Law enforcement crackdowns on traditional mob-run wire rooms have led to the use by
illegal gambling rings of off-shore gambling web sites where action is available around the clock.
Bettors can click on an off-shore gambling website over the Internet and be assigned individual login
codes and passwords. Their wagers and win-loss amounts are recorded in sub-accounts
maintained in the accounts of agents. These gambling web sites typically store their information
on computer servers outside the United States such as in Costa Rica and Panama and bounce
their data through a series of server nodes in an effort to evade law enforcement.
The indictment charges that at least fifteen of the defendants were bookmakers Daniel
Monreal and Pinnacle Sports owners Stanley Tomchin and George Molsbarger, in California; Steven
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Diano, Jerald Branca, Kelly Barsel, Joseph Paulk and Pinnacle Sports owner Brandt England in Las
Vegas; Andrew Belardino, Michael Duong and Gadoon Kyrollos in New Jersey; and Vincent
Basciano, Jr., Edward Cappucci, Edward Iazzetti and John Tognino, in New York. These
bookmakers were allegedly responsible for overseeing agents such as Thomas Chiantese in New
Jersey and Pennsylvania, Joseph Kornreich in New York and Ian Mandell, and Michael Colbert in
Las Vegas whose jobs allegedly were to build a clientele of bettors who would regularly bet with
the enterprise. It is alleged that the agents were the intermediaries between the bettor and the
enterprise itself, and were responsible for squaring up or settling up with the bettors usually
on a designated day each week by collecting and paying out money owed.
According to the indictment, the enterprise also employed money collectors, money
distributors and banks such as Paul Sexton in Las Vegas, Flora Wu and Daniel Bornico in New
York, and Danny Belardino and Christian Rodriguez in New York and New Jersey to handle the
illegal flow of money between the participants of the enterprise. These individuals were allegedly
responsible for the collection and distribution of illegal gambling proceeds between the bookmakers
and the agents. They also allegedly transported money throughout the United States and to and from
Panama and/or Costa Rica via courier. It is additionally alleged that the money collectors and
distributors that acted as banks were responsible for holding large amounts of money for the
operation. Bookmaking enterprises use money collectors, distributors and banks to avoid wire
transfers and credit card transactions which are prohibited by federal law for the payment and
collection of gambling debts.
The investigation was conducted by Detectives Gerard McNally, of the New York City Police
Departments Organized Crime Investigation Division, under the supervision of Sergeant James
Bratta, Lieutenant Christopher Farano and Inspector Brian H. ONeill, and the overall supervision
of Chief Anthony Izzo of the Organized Crime Control Bureau.
Also assisting in the investigation were former Assistant District Attorneys Christine Corbett
and Christine Maloney.
Assistant United States Attorney Ameet B. Kabrawala and Forfeiture Support Associates
Law Clerk Anthony Lauro, of the Asset Forfeiture Unit of the Office of the United States Attorney
for the Eastern District of New York, are handling the asset forfeiture lawsuits against the defendants
under the supervision of Laura D. Mantell, Chief of the Asset Forfeiture Unit, and under the overall
supervision of Loretta E. Lynch, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Assistant District Attorney Gerard A. Brave, Bureau Chief of the District Attorneys
Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau, is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Executive
Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant
District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.
It should be noted that an indictment is merely an accusation and that defendants are
presumed innocent until proven guilty.
