Surviving the Mob - Dennis Griffin [102]
The February 7th Queens County indictment was particularly interesting, because it detailed the Gambino gambling setup, much of which involved online betting. It appeared Nicky and his boys had gone high-tech.
The indictment was on charges of operating highly sophisticated illegal-gambling enterprises in Queens County and elsewhere that booked nearly $10 million in wagers over a two-year period on professional and college basketball and football, professional baseball and hockey, and other sporting events. Twenty of the defendants were in custody and six were being sought. Nicky Corozzo was one of the latter six.
The defendants were alleged to have gone online, supplementing traditional wire-room and street-corner bookie operations with offshore-based Internet websites designed for sports betting and casino-style gambling. Toll-free telephone numbers were established, through which numerous gambling accounts were managed and out of which criminal proceeds were collected and distributed throughout the New York City metropolitan area. The computerized wire rooms operated around the clock and handled a large volume of bettors at any one time, allowing the defendants to increase their illicit profits without having to bother with the time-consuming record-keeping aspects of a more traditional paper-based bookmaking operation. The Gambino crime family allegedly took in millions of dollars each year through the illegal gambling scheme.
The defendants were charged with enterprise corruption—a violation of New York State’s Organized Crime Control Act—as well as promoting gambling, criminal usury, grand larceny, and conspiracy. They faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
The specifics of the indictment filed in Queens County Supreme Court alleged that the gambling ring promoted illegal sports betting in Queens County and elsewhere and that the defendants were involved in traditional gambling wire rooms located at 85-50 Forest Parkway in Woodhaven, as well as nontraditional computerized wire rooms in Costa Rica.
Six of the defendants were also being sued civilly and named as respondents in a $9.8 million civil-forfeiture action filed in Queens Supreme Court by the District Attorney’s Special Proceedings Bureau, which alleged that they engaged in a criminal enterprise that promoted illegal-gambling activities and generated illegal wages.
The criminal enterprise was generally known as the “Nicky Corozzo Crew of the Gambino Crime Family” and allegedly handled thousands of wagers each month that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly gross revenue, or approximately $9.8 million between November 6, 2005, and January 8, 2008.
Authorities believed the operation relied on modern technology, including toll-free telephone numbers and four known gambling websites, BETMSG.com; BETALLSPORTS.com; BETWSI.com; and BETOFFSHORE.net, which served as computerized wire rooms through which the enterprise conducted much of its illegal gambling activity. Account information was typically stored on computer servers outside the United States—often in such Central American countries as Costa Rica—which “bounced” their data through a series of server nodes in efforts to evade law-enforcement detection through traditional methods.
According to the indictment, Nicholas Corozzo was the boss of the enterprise. He controlled and oversaw the entire operation and profited from each criminal pursuit by the other members. Corozzo was also alleged to have benefited from a prostitution ring to the tune of $500 per week.
Nick was in big trouble.