Philadelphia
gambling ring busted, ran online betting operation
Authorities
in Philadelphia have busted a large gambling ring, arresting 17
people on charges from illegal bookmaking through loan-sharking
and drug dealing. The operation dubbed "Delco Nostra" led to the
arrests of 17 people spread around the city, with Nicholas
Cimino, 49, also known as "Nicky the Hat," considered the top
boss of the illegal gambling ring. According to police, Cimino
operated a "large-scale" bookmaking operation from 2002 until
March 2007 that included a "casino" on MacDade Boulevard in
Folsom. As part of the illegal gambling ring, Nicky the Hat also
ran a Web site for online sports betting, and an 800 number for
bettors without computer access. The domain name of the sports
betting website has not been released.
According to the investigators, the
gambling enterprise took over $1 million in various bets
monthly. Among the arrested were Gregory "King" Triantafillou,
Daniel Diedrich, Victor "Vic" Novelli and Spiro "Bart" Barbalois,
who were allegedly employed to accept the sports bets, collect
the losses from bettors and to pay bettors for winning bets.
Police also said that Cimino's gambling ring was occasionally
"laying off" bets, i.e. transferred the bets to other bookmakers
in order to minimize the risk of loss to the organization. Grand
jury testimony revealed that one of the ways to clean the money
from the illegal sports betting business was to purchase winning
Pennsylvania state lottery tickets, which were cashed in to show
a "legitimate" source of income.
Published on
07/24/2008
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