LONG ISLAND POKER PRO IN ONLINE GAMBLING RING BUST
4 September 2009
Prosecutors seek $ million in forfeitures on
17 counts of felony
Anthony Argila (52), a professional poker player from
North Bellmore, has admitted in court to being the boss
of a multimillion dollar international gambling
operation centred on Costa Rica.
Argila pleaded
guilty to 17 felony counts of first degree promoting
gambling, a felony count of first degree possession of
gambling records, and two misdemeanor counts of fifth
degree conspiracy. The charges were originally laid in
June, and Nassau County prosecutor Kathleen Rice
announced that in addition to possible jail time, Argila
still has to answer to a lawsuit by her office seeking
$4 million, the estimated amount of money wagered with
his organisation annually.
Sentence will be
passed by Judge Phillip Grella on October 15th.
The prosecution claimed that Argila’s betting ring took
bets through dozens of bookmakers and runners in Nassau
and Suffolk Counties, and then placed the bets through a
“wire room” in Costa Rica. Bettors would either collect
their winnings or pay their losses through the
operation’s local intermediaries in Nassau County.
Wagers could also be made through a sophisticated Web
site or through toll-free phone numbers, where customers
could wager on sporting events and online casino games.
Each Monday, Argila and his associates would meet in
hotel rooms across Long Island to discuss the week’s
wins and losses.
The Nassau County Police
Department’s DA Squad began investigating the ring in
August 2005, eventually infiltrating it in 2007.
Investigators were able to track the ring’s weekly hotel
meetings. Extensive physical surveillance was conducted
through photographs and global positioning system (GPS)
devices and a court-ordered phone tap on the telephone
of Angelo LePore, a runner with the gambling ring.
LePore (58) had earlier pleaded guilty to fifth
degree conspiracy and received a conditional discharge
and $1 000 fine. Alan Wayne (52), another runner,
pleaded guilty to the same charge and received the same
sentence.
In 2006, Argila made it to the final
table of the World Poker Tour’s Borgata Open, finishing
fourth in the tournament and collecting more than $366
000 in winnings.
Defence attorney Dennis Lemke
said Argila pleaded guilty so that two friends who had
worked for him could plead to lesser charges. He said
that Argila's sentence would be five years probation
instead of jail as he had no prior criminal record and
no ties to organised crime.
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
More news here.
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