In a number of taped conversations, Graziano talks of the opportunity that online sports betting presents to people willing to take some risks, claiming to be making two million dollars per year and to have 50 people on his payroll. One of the people indicted, Joseph Graziano, is believed to be the owner of the website. The FBI recorded hundreds of phone conversations, but also convinced a number of individuals, including customers of the online sportsbook and sub-agents, to collaborate with the investigation and wear wiretaps when they met with members of the organization to discuss sports betting and repayment of gambling debts.Ī player that owed tens of thousands of dollars to a sportsbook agent part of the organization even accepted to introduce an undercover FBI agent, who pretending to be a sports betting enthusiast started placing bets with the illegal bookie. Attorney Paul Fishman.Īmongst the countermeasures used by the law enforcement in this investigation, wiretaps proved to be extremely prolific.

Law enforcement will use countermeasures that are just as sophisticated to bring these criminal enterprises to justice,” said U.S. The new wrinkle here is the use of off-shore sites and the Internet for processing bets. “The acts alleged in this criminal complaint show that traditional organized crime continues to pursue its bread and butter: illegal gambling and loan sharking. Players normally accepted to repay them under the (express or veiled) threat of violence from the Genovese family. If bettors were unable to pay, their gambling debts were converted into loans with exorbitant interest rates tacked on. While bettors placed their bets online through the web site based in Costa Rica, to collect their winnings or settle their losses they met with members of the organization that acted as agents in New Jersey. In New Jersey, two years after Operation Heat that led to the arrest of members and associates of the Lucchese crime family that ran a Costa Rica sportsbook, 14 members of the Genovese crime family have been charged for running an illegal gambling and loan sharking operation that used as its online sportsbook. Pay Per Head sportsbook services under fire in the United States.

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