Feds Bust Illegal Gambling and Betting Ring in New York

The defendants are believed to have been running an illegal gambling ring which operated in several verticals. The suspects are said to have facilitated various betting and gaming operations, including illegal poker games in Rochester and black market bets for sports betting events accepted through a website they had registered and worked with.

Multiple Suspects Helped Run the Illegal Business

The probe that led to their arrest was originally launched in October 2020 and culminated with the arrest of Louis P. Ferrari II and Dominic Sprague alongside co-conspirators Anthony Amato, Joseph Lomardo, Joseph Boscarino, James Cilvetti, and Tommaso Sessa.

Ferrari and Sprague are charged with running the illegal gambling ring whereas the other five defendants are said to have been charged with transmission of wagering information and other offences. Thomas Loewke, the state trooper involved, is accused of having tipped off the criminals about the ongoing probe against them.

Ferrari will also face charges of money laundering on top of the other charges brought against him. The culprits participated in the running of illegal gambling activities without a license, even though sports gambling has been licensed in person in various locations across the Empire State since 2019.

Ferrari and Sprague are named as the co-owners of the activity, whereas the other participants worked with the owners in various capacities. Sessa, for example, was charged with helping run the day-to-day operations at the location where the illegal ring operated from.

Ferrari was also involved in running the underhand bookmaking operation through an illegal online sportsbook called sport700.com. Lombardo and Boscarino are allegedly sub-agents for the website, whereas Amato is the alleged administrator. The investigators presented the infringement of each individual in detail, the result of the hard work put into locating and bringing a solid case against the entire operation.

Sinuous Network of Money Laundering and Illegal Gambling

To make sure that the losses of bettors were remitted back to the conspirators, Ferrari used his excavating business to launder the illegal proceedings. Before Ferrari would launder the proceedings, though, Sprague used his own pawn shop business to remit winnings to players and cash payments of gambling losses from bettors. Cilvetti was employed at the pawn shop.

The complaint brought against the defendants and Ferrari specifically highlights the discrepancies in the amounts registered by the business and the amounts paid out to people in cash, to the tune of $765,908 against cash revenue of only $97,232. The period of the payments and revenue covered April 2019 through January 2021.

The network was pretty impressive. Amato is believed to have operated 128 sub-agent accounts that were in charge of 1,789 individual bettors. More than $8,945,629 were placed in total wagers while the first account by Amato was set up in April 2016. The last wagers reported were placed in January 2021. The base of operation of the illegal gambling ring also hosted poker games without a license.