Organized crime may use illegal gambling to victimize the individual rather than help him or her benefit from the gambling games. Even if the activities are fun for the participant, he or she will almost lose at least some money when playing because of the need to take from others rather than run a legitimate gambling activity. Money-laundering is crucial to organized crime operations because offenders would be discovered easily if they could not 'merge' their illegal cash into, for instance, a legal business, bank, or real estate (Soudijn, 2014; Malm and Bichler, 2013). The money laundering scheme was caught on surveillance at River Rock Casino. Police collected footage of people dropping off large sums of money in hockey bags to gamblers. They followed these suspects, and were able to link them to known drug-dealers in the BC.
How Organized Crime Launder Money At Casinos Will
How Organized Crime Launder Money At Casinos
IL-The state's top-grossing casino was hit Tuesday with a $7.2 million fine--the highest in state gambling history--after being accused of doing business with four allegedly mob-tied companies, breaking state law on a contract issued to one of them and destroying security records. The Grand Victoria casino in Elgin had contracts or business relationships with four companies owned or run by Joseph Bastone and Jamie Bastone, sons of Carmine Bastone, according to the Illinois Gaming Board. The three 'have each been identified as known members and/or associates of organized crime,' board counsel Jeanette Tamayo said, citing undisclosed law enforcement sources.
'$7.2 million fine for Elgin casino'/Chris Fusco/10.17.01/Daily Southtown Pioneer Press
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's decision to host at his home a mob associate banned from Nevada's casinos 'is an embarrassment to the state, an embarrassment for Las Vegas and an embarrassment for gaming,' one outraged gaming regulator said.
'Gaming official critical of mayor's Black Book guest'/Las Vegas Review-Journal/3.28.03
NV - The reason the preferred high-roller game today is baccarat is that 80 percent of the whales are from Asia. Ironically, given the attitude of Las Vegas toward the Mafia, many of these men are criminals. An elderly Macao gambler named Yip Pon, with ties to Chinese organized crime, has been seen in several casinos. Former leaders of the Hong Kong mob have been spotted at the tables. Yet women who describe themselves as 'luxury prostitutes' know where the money comes from, because they've been present at many a high-roller gambling session.
'The Vegas Guy'/By Joe Bob Briggs/3.19.02/United Press International
NV-Judah Hertz, owner of the California Mart and several other major downtown Los Angeles properties, lost a bid Wednesday for a Nevada gaming license as a result of alleged ties to reputed mobsters involved in drug dealing and prostitution.
'Nevada Denies L.A. Developer Gaming License'/12.21.00/Los Angeles Times
NV-A mob associate from New York pleaded guilty Friday to a conspiracy charge in what authorities have described as a plot to take over the outcall service industry in Las Vegas through extortion. Authorities have described Stefano as an associate of New York's Gambino crime family. Indicted with Stefano and Congiusti were Las Vegas outcall service operator Christiano DeCarlo, Anton Nelsen, Kenneth Byrnes and Joshua Snellings. Outcall services send male and female dancers to customers, usually in hotel rooms. Police claim these businesses serve as fronts for prostitution. According to court records, Stefano boasted that Congiusti once used a cordless drill to drill holes into an individual's head and that Nelsen was a former mercenary.
'Authorities say a crime family associate plotted a takeover of the Las Vegas outcall service industry.'/Carri Geer/8.14.99/Las Vegas Review-Journal
NV- Jurors were given a crash course Tuesday on the workings of the mafia during opening statements and the start of testimony in the trial of two men accused of authorizing the January 1997 slaying of mob associate Herbert 'Fat Herbie' Blitzstein. 'The evidence in this case will demonstrate that there is a nationwide criminal conspiracy known as La Cosa Nostra,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Johnson told jurors as he began his statement. Authorities claim Henderson residents Stephen Cino, 62, and Robert Panaro Sr., 57, used their status as soldiers, or members, of the mafia to sanction the killing of Blitzstein.
'Trial in mobster slaying under way'/Carri Geer/4.28.99/Las Vegas Review-Journal
NV-In the early 1980s, Ross Durham of Las Vegas was a cheating magician whose sleight-of-hand stole million-dollar jackpots in less than 18 seconds. A mastermind mechanic and expert locksmith, he was able to outsmart even the newer, more sophisticated machines. Durham worked for Johnny Vaccaro, who the Nevada Gaming Control Board fingered as an organized crime boss who stole more than $30 million in illegal jackpots in about five years.
'Cheating the cheats'/MaryThompson/4.13.02/Reno Gazette-Journal
NV - Private detective Tom Dillard flew to Chicago this week to step up an investigation into ties between murder defendant Rick Tabish and reputed mob associate Salvatore 'Sammy' Galioto.
Dillard, who has been investigating Ted Binion's (former casino executive)1998 slaying for his estate,...
'Mob link to Binion case investigated'/By Jeff German/Las Vegas Sun/3.9.00
NV - Love it or hate it, outcall is a lucrative business that grosses a sum the FBI believes is big enough for criminals to kill for. But Richard Sorrano, the most prominent outcall operator in Las Vegas, thinks it isn't the revenue generated by escorts, dancers and strippers that caught the mob's eye -- it's the potential for far more profitable criminal activity. It takes only $150 a year, the fee for a general business license, for an outcall service to set up shop in Clark County.
'Escort industry generates uneasy mix on Vegas scene'/Richard N. Velotta/ 10.16.98/Las Vegas SUN
TX-Vincent 'Vinny Aspirins' Congiusti flew into Las Vegas from Tampa in October 1998 to help the Gambino and Bonanno crime families of New York seize control of organized prostitution in that desert gambling oasis. 'Prostitution has always been a cash cow for organized crime,' Agent Gastorf said.
'Dallas IRS office heads mob crackdown'/Bill Lodge/2.03.00/The Dallas Morning News
NV - A New York FBI special agent Tuesday positively identified a Pahrump resident as the man suspected of shooting a mob associate to death last fall in Brooklyn, N.Y. Greco was arrested Thursday in Pahrump by Las Vegas FBI after a 68-page indictment was handed down by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York. Greco so wanted to avoid the police that he went to the Nye County Sheriff's Office to get a work card so he could get a job at the Terrible's Town Casino,
'FBI agent ID's Greco as suspect in mob hit'/By Kim Smith/LAS VEGAS SUN/12.8.99
A Pahrump casino dealer appeared Tuesday in a Las Vegas courtroom, where a federal prosecutor accused him of being the triggerman in an October 1998 mob hit in New York. FBI agents from Las Vegas arrested Anthony Greco, 44, on Thursday in Pahrump after a federal indictment charged him with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the shooting death of Joseph 'Joey O' Masella
'Casino dealer triggerman, prosecutor tells U.S. court'/ By Carri Geer/Las Vegas Review-Journal /12.08.99
ATLANTIC CITY - Stuart and Clifford Perlman once were the hottest team on the Las Vegas strip as chairman and vice-chairman of Caesars. But the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, wary of their links to reputed underworld figures, told Caesars to get rid of the brothers if it wanted an Atlantic City casino.
'Questionable links have forced casinos to dump partners'/The Detroit News/1.18.99
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Longtime Nevada casino executive Ted Binion has been stripped of state licenses held for up to 33 years at the Horseshoe Club in downtown Las Vegas. The Nevada Gaming Commission's vote Monday to oust Binion ended an eight-hour hearing that focused on his associations with murdered underworld figure Herbert 'Fat Herbie' Blitzstein.
Las Vegas Sun/3.23.98
NV - Mexican textile magnate Kamel Nacif has been a familiar face at Las Vegas gambling tables for some 30 years, using phony identification to wager at Caesars Palace when he was still in his late teens. He remains, however, a bit of a multimillionaire mystery man, long suspected by Nevada Gaming Control Board agents of money laundering and arms and narcotics dealing.
'Dave Palermo Binion ruling stirs things up'/The Sun Herald/7.9.00
LOCAL LORE HAS IT that Benny Binion showed up in Las Vegas in 1946 with $2 million in cash in two suitcases, a step ahead of the Dallas lawmen. That may or may not be true, but it is a fact that the late Binion built one of the longest-running gambling dynasties in town before he died in 1989. In a May filing, Nevada's State Gaming Control Board alleges that Ted Binion has hung around notorious Vegas mobsters such as Herbert (Fat Herbie) Blitzstein, an associate of the late, ruthless Anthony (Tony the Ant) Spilotro (who inspired Joe Pesci's violent character in Casino). Blitzstein was found in Las Vegas in January with a bullet in the back of his head.
Forbes/7.28.97
NV - A Southern California businessman with ties to reputed mobsters involved in large-scale drug deals and prostitution Wednesday lost his bid for a Nevada casino license.
'Regulators veto casino licensing plan'/Reno Gazette-Journal/12.21.00
NV - It's a lawsuit on file at District Court that names Club C2K and Venetian management as defendants in the July 200c0 Ecstasy-linked overdose of 21-year-old Danielle Heird.• The Venetian held serious concerns about Estasy and other drug sales at C2K before Heird's death. • A Las Vegas undercover officer established a pattern of narcotics trafficking activity that might have gone on with the knowledge of club management. • Associates of the club were linked to a large-scale Arizona Ecstasy trafficking ring operated by Gambino crime family underboss-turned-FBI snitch Salvatore 'Sammy the Bull' Gravano.
'Ecstasy lawsuit could visit new liability concerns upon casinos'/
JOHN L. SMITH/Las Vegas Review-Journal/8.15.01
Jury selection for a half-dozen defendants charged with diverting millions to mob figures from a $34 million judgment over the sale of the Tropicana hotel-casino was to begin today. Before the Doumanis sold the Tropicana, the resort was the target of a massive Justice Department investigation into alleged casino skimming by the Kansas City mob. Several Mafia bosses were convicted and sent to jail in the probe.
'Trial begins for former Tropicana landlords'/By Jeff German/Las Vegas Sun/4.6.98
Detroit - But the feds say they know who Tocco is, and they secured an indictment that puts him on trial this week in Detroit federal court with six associates accused of conspiracy and racketeering. Two other defendants pleaded guilty this month. Federal prosecutors locally have only gone after individual mobsters in the past, but this time they'll try to show a jury how the entire family operates, Zuckerman said. They include allegations the mob tried to invest in three Nevada casinos, charged a 'street tax' to bookies and persuaded a former U.S. Justice Department attorney to steal an Internal Revenue Service investigation file on a Detroit Mafia captain and his son.
'Feds, mob suspects ready to face off'/By David Josar and Gene Schabath/The Detroit News/1.25.98
DETROIT (AP) - An FBI agent says he put his head to the wall of a hotel room and overheard a discussion of a mafia plan to skim $200,000 from a Nevada casino. Agent Samuel Ruffino testified in U.S. District Court on Monday in the racketeering trial of alleged Detroit mafia boss Jack Tocco and four alleged associates.
'FBI agent tells of overhearing mafia plan to skim Nevada casino'/Las Vegas Sun/3.3.98
WI - The Menominee Indian tribe formally pulled the plug on its Kenosha casino deal because it was clear federal and state officials would not approve it,...The tribe's main investor partner, Nii-Jii Entertainment, became a liability, Apesanahkwat said. Nii-Jii's major partner was Morgan Murphy Jr., a former Chicago congressman. Though Murphy's business ties to a Chicago labor leader with mob connections caught investigators' attention, it was other Nii-Jii investors' backgrounds that were more problematic, Apesanahkwat said.
'Tribe gives up on plan for Kenosha casino'/
By STEVE SCHULTZE/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/8.17.01
MS - The labor union that has been recruiting Coast casino workers in recent weeks has just been released from U.S. Justice Department oversight and has a history of corruption and organized crime influence that predates Al Capone.
'History of corruption goes back to Prohibition'/CHARLES BUSBY/the Sun Herald/2.4.00
NJ - The Casino Control Commission voted 5-0 to preliminarily ban alleged mobster George Remini from setting foot inside the city's casino hotels. The FBI in 1993 formally identified Remini as a captain in the Gambino family. Remini has also been an active gambler here since at least 1985. The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement said Remini last year played at Bally's, Caesars, Resorts and Tropicana Casino and Resort. 'CCC votes to ban alleged mobster from casinos'/ By JOE WEINERT/The Press of Atlantic City/2.15.02
NJ - Breton, one of the city's biggest gamblers, is an associate of the Gambino crime family, is 'actively involved' in illegal gambling and in 1994 gambled at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut with mob boss John Gotti, according to a DGE petition filed Friday with the Casino Control Commission. In a separate petition, the DGE asked commissioners to permanently exclude Vincent Basciano, an alleged member of the Bonanno crime family. Basciano, of New York City, is involved with illegal gambling and las summer 'transported a large amount of money' from Atlantic City to the Essex County Jail to bail out Breton after his arrest at Caesars, the DGE said. The division wants Breton and Basciano added to the commission's list of 173 people who are prohibited from ever setting foot inside local casino hotels.
'DGE seeks to ban 2 linked to the mob'/Joe Weinert/2.26.01/ www.pressofatlanticcity.com/
CT-A lengthy investigation into illegal loan-sharking activities has provided a rare glimpse into the growing influence of Asian American organized crime groups at the state's two Indian casinos. A Massachusetts man who had been the subject of a state police investigation for nearly a year was arrested early Tuesday at Mohegan Sun Resort Casino, accused of taking advantage of Asian American casino patrons by offering loans at high interest rates under the threat of physical harm if the loans weren't paid back in full if the loans weren't paid back, records show, Lin would make harassing phone calls or visits to those who owed the money, often threatening to send an Asian American gang called the 'Black Society' after them. The Black Society, court records say, is an Asian American organized crime outfit that operates out of Boston and New York, collecting payments from legitimate Asian American businesses and cash-strapped casino patrons who would rather comply than turn to American law enforcement officials.
'Arrest Follows Investigation Of Loan Sharking'/Matt Burgard/ 1.30.02/Hartford Courant
NJ- New Jersey gaming investigators want to ban two reputed organized-crime figures with alleged ties to jailed mob leader John Gotti Jr. from all Atlantic City casinos. In petitions filed yesterday, the Division of Gaming Enforcement asked that Vincent Basciano and Taylor W. Breton be placed on the so-called 'exclusion list.' Placement on the list, which now includes the names of 173 alleged mob figures and suspected cheaters, would not only bar both men from gambling in Atlantic City, but would also prohibit them from entering any of the city's casino-hotels. Both men have prior arrests and have extensive organized-crime ties, according to the petitions filed yesterday.
'N.J. seeks casino ban for two men'/George Anastasia/2.24.01/Philadelphia Inquirer
NJ - He has been a Philadelphia police officer, an Atlantic City casino worker and a New Jersey Racing Commission employee. He also has been a bookmaker, a loan shark and a captain in the Philadelphia-southern New Jersey mob. He scammed gamblers and prostitutes while working the floor at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino.
'From cop to mobster to informant, scam was name of Previte's game'/By PETE McALEER/South Jersey Publishing/3.12.01
ATLANTIC CITY — Casinos lost one of their biggest gamblers Wednesday when the Casino Control Commission banned reputed Gambino mob associate Taylor Breton from setting foot inside local gaming halls. Breton, 48, is 'a whale, the biggest player in the United States,' former Caesars Atlantic City President Gary DiBartolomeo said last year. Several Las Vegas casinos also gave Breton million-dollar credit lines, DiBartolomeo said.
'Gambler’s mob ties roll craps with CCC'/By JOE WEINERT/South Jersey Publishing/3..15.01
ATLANTIC CITY -- A mob turncoat who has quit the federal witness-protection program took the stand Wednesday to point the finger at a New York construction company he says has mob ties. Under heavy security, William Murtha appeared before casino regulators in a hearing aimed at deciding whether Giamboi Bros. Inc. should be licensed to do work on Atlantic City casino projects.
'Mob turncoat testifies at hearing on casino license'/AP/5.21.98
BILOXI, MISS. -- Corporate and state-run gaming enterprises today operate on the same principles established by the mob decades ago, a former Chicago underworld associate told the National Gambling Impact Study Commission on Thursday. 'After all the camouflage is removed,' William Jahoda said, 'the harsh truth is that every form of organized gambling is either a replica, a knock-off or a jazzed-up model of each betting scam the mob trotted out before an unsuspecting public in the barren Las Vegas nightscape 50 years ago.'
'Ex-mobster rips gaming'/By Jeff German/LAS VEGAS SUN/9.11.8
MS - Last month, a couple from Arkansas filed a lawsuit in Tunica County, alleging they'd been gypped out of a big jackpot. When they complained publicly, they alleged in their lawsuit, a Fitzgerald's casino employee told them the casino was operated by the mob. They took the comment as a threat.
'Tunica County Sheriff Jerry Ellington says his department must regain the trust of the community after corruption charges toppled former top officers.'/By Bartholomew Sullivan/The Commercial Appeal/1.16.00
LA - A former casino executive who testified against ex-Gov. Edwin Edwards says he is looking over his shoulder -- not because of helping to convict Edwards, but because of his involvement in a Russian casino. The casino carried the brand name of actor Chuck Norris, but Brotherton says it was controlled by Russian mobsters.
'Involvement with casino has ex-executive scared'/By Alan Sayre/AP/2.12.01
CT - Lin's arrest could be indicative, police believe, of a growing presence of Asian gangs in both area casinos. Chinese and Taiwanese gangs, known as triads, are considered to be some of the most efficient and effective organized-crime syndicates in the country, with a presence in many large cities, including New York and Boston.
'Man charged with loan-sharking at Mohegan Sun Casino'/Georgina Gustin/1.31.02/ www.theday.com/
CT-State police Master Sgt. John C. Drumm was ready to tackle the underbelly of Connecticut's liveliest little city, where up to 60,000 free-wheeling gamblers party around the clock every day. Within a year's time on the beat at Foxwoods Resort Casino, he says, he was immersed in investigating enough alleged wrongdoing to pack a noir thriller: prostitution, narcotics abuse, poker chip counterfeiting, illegal kickbacks, sexual assault coverup and lurking mobsters.
'Detectives case before tribal court'/Rick Green/7.25.02/Hartford Courant
MO-Two of the three men arrested Monday night for trying to cheat the Players Island Casino out of more than $11,000 once had ties to organized crime, authorities said Wednesday. Officials believe that a father and son - John Francis Castagna, 57, of Sarasota, Fla., and Jack Francis Johns, 37, of the 4400 block of Lindell Boulevard in St. Louis - were once linked to organized crime groups in Connecticut and New York. One of the links was to the Genovese crime syndicate, arguably the most powerful one in the nation. Federal authorities said Castagna has performed a variety of activities for the crime family over the past two decades, said Maryland Heights Police Chief Neil Kurlander. Johns, too, was convicted on RICO charges in 1990. His connections to the crime families were through his father, authorities said. Authorities believe that the men now work as independent 'wiseguys,' con men who travel the country and make their living through illegal gambling, cheating and theft.
'2 of 3 accused of casino scam had mob ties, authorities say'/ Lance Williams/3.12.98/ St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A Las Vegas slot-machine distributor pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court yesterday for his role in a failed attempt by the Pittsburgh Mafia to gain financial control of the now-defunct Rincon Indian casino.
'Union-Tribune Publishing Co'/By Chet Barfield/'/Union-Tribune Publishing Co/12.10.97
MA - In 1998, leaders of the Rincon tribe in California pleaded guilty in connection with accusations of acting as a front for a Pittsburgh crime family plotting to take control of their casino to launder money. Federal prosecutors said it was a classic example of the mob's infiltration of a cash-based business.
'Indian casinos spend to limit US oversight'/Sean P. Murphy/3.12.01/Boston Globe
MA-Three-and-a-half years ago, investors in another Rincon gambling operation were accused of acting as a front for a Pittsburgh crime family plotting to take control of the facility to launder more than $2 million raised through other criminal activities. Seventeen people, including a member of the Rincon tribal council, were indicted in what federal prosecutors described as a textbook case of organized crime's notorious appetite for infiltrating casinos and other businesses that generate large amounts of cash. And that wasn't the first time the Rincons had brushed up against the Mafia. In 1993, 10 people associated with Chicago crime boss John 'No Nose' DiFronzo and a San Diego mobster were convicted of racketeering and extortion in another attempt to take over a tribal gambling hall. 'There's a historical tendency for organized crime to become attracted to casinos and the solution to that is effective controls,' says Eugene Christiansen, a financial analyst who tracks the gambling industry. 'We're not seeing that with Indian gaming right now.'…Organized loansharking at the Salt River Pima-Maricopa casino, in Mesa, Ariz. State gaming officials have confirmed that the FBI is investigating allegations of illegal money lending at the casino's card room that might involve organized-crime figures.
'Tribes make easy criminal targets'/Michael Rezendes/12.13.00/Boston Globe
CA-Construction of the first Harrah's hotel-casino in California is scheduled to start July 31. Federal prosecutors later proved the tribe had been duped into dealing with Pittsburgh mobsters. Seventeen people, including a Rincon tribal councilwoman, were convicted of various felonies.
'Rincon hotel and casino construction set to break ground soon'/Chet Barfield/7.21.01/ Union-Tribune
CA - Former tribal Councilwoman Ruth Calac pleaded guilty to perjury yesterday to get bribery charges dismissed in a case involving a failed Mafia plot to gain control of the now-defunct Rincon Indian casino.
'In plea bargain, ex-tribal official admits perjury'/By Chet Barfield/
Union-Tribune Publishing Co./2.3.98
A 60-page Santa Clara County grand jury indictment made public Monday accuses 55 people of criminal activity at both the Bay 101 and Garden City cardrooms. According to the indictment and a related affidavit: Loan sharks typically approached gamblers and extended them credit with the understanding they would have to pay 10 percent interest every week. Among those charged was Bay 101 Vice President Hai Quang Huynh, who allegedly bragged about connections to organized crime and ordered the beating of a man seen with Huynh's girlfriend.
San Jose Mercury News/5.2.02
LOS ANGELES - She grew up among gangsters and drug dealers, extortionists and killers. Her father, David Berman, was one of the kingpins of the Las Vegas Mafia then. A partner to notorious mobsters Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, Berman was a syndicate strongman whose reputation was forged through moxie and brutality. So when police found the body of 55-year-old Susan Berman in her Benedict Canyon home Dec. 24, the questions naturally began. The person who shot her once in the head apparently hadn't used force to get in or taken anything.
'Growing up with the mob'/Los Angeles Times”/January 2001
LA-Other allegations of corruption have further stained the state's reputation. In 1994, a Louisiana company that prosecutors said was a Mafia front was charged with skimming profits from the state's video poker machines. More than two dozen convictions resulted.
'Gaming’s arrival brings problems along with cash'/Mike Brunker/3.2.??/MSNBC/
FL-Police on Thursday were investigating the mob-style shooting of the Seminole tribe's (own casinos) lead attorney at his upscale home. Seminole Tribal General Counsel Jim Shore, 55, who is blind, was sitting or lying on his couch in the family room of his Emerald Hills home around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday when he heard several loud noises, said Lt. Tony Rode, spokesman for the Hollywood Police Department. 'He heard noises and felt blood running down his body,' Rode said. 'He was unaware he was shot.'
'Hollywood police probing mob-style shooting of Seminole tribal counsel'/1.10.02/
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The NIGC last year rejected Seminole Management Associates' contract to run the tribe's Hollywood hall because some of the company's shareholders did not pass background checks. SMA ran the hall for 17 years and faced repeated allegations of corruption and mob influence. 'We always knew the mob was there,' said Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, who was the sheriff of Broward County when the Seminoles' Hollywood hall opened. 'We just couldn't prove it.' A 1995 FBI document also showed a connection between the Seminoles' bingo hall and the Larocca mob and the Genovese crime family in New York City. In a September conference call with Glogau, Tadd Johnson, the newly appointed chairman of the NIGC, and enforcement director Alan Fedman, did not dispute that there may be mob influence with tribal casinos.
'Regulators have ties to Seminoles'/By BRAD GOLDSTEIN & JEFF TESTERMAN/
St. Petersburg Times
IL - At the time, the board alleged that Emerald executives Donald and Kevin Flynn had lied to Gaming Board investigators and that some shareholders had ties to the mafia. Emerald is fighting the decision both in an administrative proceeding and in court. Under the proposed settlement, Emerald's shareholders would pay $250 million to the state. Donald and Kevin Flynn would pay an additional $50 million. Anyone identified as having connections to organized crime would be barred from receiving more than their initial investment.
'Emerald urges settlement'/Nicole Ziegler Dizon/4.17.02/Associated Press
IL - In letters hand-delivered to officials of Emerald Casino Inc., the Illinois Gaming Board laid out its case against the investors. It alleged the group was unfit to run a casino because some shareholders had ties to organized crime while others had lied to board investigators about backroom ownership deals. The letters identify for the first time the investors that board investigators contend have mob ties: Nick Boscarino, a former Teamsters official and former business partner of Rosemont Mayor Donald E. Stephens, and Joseph Salamone, the owner of Fair Share Foods, an Oak Park grocery on Roosevelt Road.
'Illinois pulls license held by Rosemont casino group'/Douglas Holt/3.7.01/
Chicago Tribune
IL - Wayne Johnson, who now tracks the mob for the crime commission and used to do it at the Chicago Police Department, says 'no.' 'You put a casino anywhere near Chicago, and it will attract the Outfit,' Johnson said Wednesday. 'They'll buy restaurants, buy bars and set up shop in close proximity to the casino.'
'Expert: Mob would taint any casino'/Shamus Toomey and Ames Boykin/ 2.1.01/
Daily Herald
AZ - The FBI has joined the investigation of a suspected loan-sharking ring at Casino Arizona amid reports that individuals with links to organized crime may be involved, the Tribune reported Wednesday. 'Further investigation revealed some of the patrons involved in those transactions have been linked by law enforcement agencies to organized crime. Some of these patrons have also been excluded by other gaming jurisdictions for loan-sharking.'
'FBI to enter investigation of Casino Arizona'/AP/5.3.00/Las Vegas SUN
Canada - Eight Ottawa men have been arrested in connection with an illegal gambling ring following a massive police sting this week throughout Ontario and Quebec. Police say the operation is allegedly tied to the Rizzutto criminal organization and controlled a $200-million-a-year bookmaking operation in the Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal areas.
'Local gambling ring rolls snake eyes'/By NATHALIE TREPANIER/Ottawa Sun/4.12.01
Canada- Earlier this month, members of an Asia-based crime gang pleaded guilty to running a loan-sharking operation at Casino Rama near Orillia, Ont. Despite a state-of-the-art security system and police officers deployed on-site, the gang operated at the casino for at least two years. Extending loans of between $2,000 and $10,000, the men charged huge interest rates and, according to police, threatened the physical safety of those at risk of default. Contrary to repeated government assurances that Canada's casinos would not attract organized crime or contribute to other unlawful behaviour, they have done exactly that -- in spades. In Windsor, it became known in 1996 that dozens of employees at the local casino had criminal records, and that some had connections to organized crime. Newspaper advertisements for escort services -- many of which are run by gangs -- tripled during the casino's first year of operation.
'Heads they win, tails we lose'/Donna Laframboise/3.22.01/National Post Online
Jerusalem-The chief suspect in the huge Trade Bank fraud scandal, Esther Alon, testified yesterday at Jerusalem's District Court that she gave her brother Ofer Maximov tens of millions of shekels to pay off two Jerusalem underworld figures to whom he owed gambling debts. Prosecutors claim that the two defendants, Yossi Malcha and Yitzhak Bar Moha, held Maximov at a Jerusalem hotel in order to force him to pay off gambling debts owed to a casino they owned.
'Alon: 'I stole for my gambling brother'/Moshe Reinfeld/11.25.02/www.haaretzdaily.com/