Gambling Probe Discovers Drugs, Fireworks, Costa Rica Wire Room
Suffolk County, Long Island gambling probe uncovered more than just money
from illegal gambling proceeds. Newsday reports that Suffolk District
Attorney Thomas Spota stood yesterday before a table covered with more than
$1 million in neat stacks of hundreds and several large bags of marijuana,
and said that the seized loot may be just a hint of "three major criminal
enterprises" uncovered by Suffolk investigators. "Spota announced the
results of a yearlong investigation that began as a sports gambling sting,
but grew to uncover multimillion-dollar marijuana and illegal fireworks
trafficking rings operating in Nassau, Suffolk and Queens."
17 suspects were taken into custody on assorted gambling and conspiracy
charges, and continue to search for one more - a Freeport attorney charged
with helping run "hundreds of pounds" of pot from California to Long Island,
according to Newsday. Among those arrested were Salvatore Gerrato, 45, of
2337 Hampton Ave., Seaford, who authorities said ran all three rings; Frank
Lonigro, 33, of 745 Terry Rd. in Hauppauge, who helped run the marijuana and
gambling operations, and accountant Stephen Tarnofsky, 59, who Spota said
earned $6,000 a week running a Costa Rican wire room for the gambling ring.
The arrests come just one month after a heavily publicized gambling raid by
the Queens District Attorneys office, considered the "biggest of its kind".
While both cases have connections to the offshore gambling world (call
centers and servers based in both Costa Rica and St. Marten, respectively),
the two organizations are widely viewed as thriving in the shadows of an
otherwise legitimate billion dollar online gambling industry. These types
of businesses, which thrive primarily on the use of "agents" employed within
the United States to collect and pay out customers who bet via credit, are
not representative of the online gambling industry as a whole. Law
enforcement agencies throughout the US have orchestrated investigations into
these types of operations long before the advent of the World Wide Web. But
with the new technology, "criminal enterprises" have fully capitalized
through the creation of websites for gambling purposes. Local US law
enforcement has especially begun cracking down on "gambling call centers"
that claim not to handle any gambling cash transactions but rather act as
facilitators to manage local bookmaking businesses offshore, similar to that
of US corporations utilizing inexpensive call center contract employees in
countries such as India. Unlike the arrests involving Florida resident
James Giordano and other alleged co-conspirators, the Long Island case would
not require extensive jail time - 1 1/2 to 4 years maximum (Giordano is
facing close to 10 years in prison and has not been able to make bail).
Spota said prosecutors will convene a special grand jury "to conduct a much
more extensive investigation" and likely bring more serious charges,
according to Newsday. "Spota said 30 search warrants uncovered computer and
paper records indicating that the criminal operations go far deeper than
investigators knew. "Spota said nine tons of illegal fireworks, transported
from Maryland to Long Island, were seized in May, and that the gambling ring
alone took in an average of $165,000 a week in bets. During one trip, the
marijuana traffickers were found on their way to California with $300,000
cash in a Winnebago recreational vehicle - much of it in a hidden "trap"
compartment. "The owner of the vehicle, Jeffrey Ackerman, 43, of 9 Trapper
Lane, Levittown, was charged with conspiracy. His attorney, Edward Burke Jr.
of Sag Harbor, declined to comment.
"Spota said during each trip, the suspects returned with marijuana worth $1
million to $1.5 million on the street. "Investigators used phone and
electronic surveillance, including a first-of-a-kind in Suffolk computer
wire tap to collect data from suspects' computers that uncovered "details
that we've never seen before" on a sports betting operation."
from illegal gambling proceeds. Newsday reports that Suffolk District
Attorney Thomas Spota stood yesterday before a table covered with more than
$1 million in neat stacks of hundreds and several large bags of marijuana,
and said that the seized loot may be just a hint of "three major criminal
enterprises" uncovered by Suffolk investigators. "Spota announced the
results of a yearlong investigation that began as a sports gambling sting,
but grew to uncover multimillion-dollar marijuana and illegal fireworks
trafficking rings operating in Nassau, Suffolk and Queens."
17 suspects were taken into custody on assorted gambling and conspiracy
charges, and continue to search for one more - a Freeport attorney charged
with helping run "hundreds of pounds" of pot from California to Long Island,
according to Newsday. Among those arrested were Salvatore Gerrato, 45, of
2337 Hampton Ave., Seaford, who authorities said ran all three rings; Frank
Lonigro, 33, of 745 Terry Rd. in Hauppauge, who helped run the marijuana and
gambling operations, and accountant Stephen Tarnofsky, 59, who Spota said
earned $6,000 a week running a Costa Rican wire room for the gambling ring.
The arrests come just one month after a heavily publicized gambling raid by
the Queens District Attorneys office, considered the "biggest of its kind".
While both cases have connections to the offshore gambling world (call
centers and servers based in both Costa Rica and St. Marten, respectively),
the two organizations are widely viewed as thriving in the shadows of an
otherwise legitimate billion dollar online gambling industry. These types
of businesses, which thrive primarily on the use of "agents" employed within
the United States to collect and pay out customers who bet via credit, are
not representative of the online gambling industry as a whole. Law
enforcement agencies throughout the US have orchestrated investigations into
these types of operations long before the advent of the World Wide Web. But
with the new technology, "criminal enterprises" have fully capitalized
through the creation of websites for gambling purposes. Local US law
enforcement has especially begun cracking down on "gambling call centers"
that claim not to handle any gambling cash transactions but rather act as
facilitators to manage local bookmaking businesses offshore, similar to that
of US corporations utilizing inexpensive call center contract employees in
countries such as India. Unlike the arrests involving Florida resident
James Giordano and other alleged co-conspirators, the Long Island case would
not require extensive jail time - 1 1/2 to 4 years maximum (Giordano is
facing close to 10 years in prison and has not been able to make bail).
Spota said prosecutors will convene a special grand jury "to conduct a much
more extensive investigation" and likely bring more serious charges,
according to Newsday. "Spota said 30 search warrants uncovered computer and
paper records indicating that the criminal operations go far deeper than
investigators knew. "Spota said nine tons of illegal fireworks, transported
from Maryland to Long Island, were seized in May, and that the gambling ring
alone took in an average of $165,000 a week in bets. During one trip, the
marijuana traffickers were found on their way to California with $300,000
cash in a Winnebago recreational vehicle - much of it in a hidden "trap"
compartment. "The owner of the vehicle, Jeffrey Ackerman, 43, of 9 Trapper
Lane, Levittown, was charged with conspiracy. His attorney, Edward Burke Jr.
of Sag Harbor, declined to comment.
"Spota said during each trip, the suspects returned with marijuana worth $1
million to $1.5 million on the street. "Investigators used phone and
electronic surveillance, including a first-of-a-kind in Suffolk computer
wire tap to collect data from suspects' computers that uncovered "details
that we've never seen before" on a sports betting operation."
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