By Jeremy Walsh
A reputed Genovese organized crime family soldier from Middle Village was sentenced last week to up to three years in state prison for having headed up a Queens−based illegal gambling enterprise, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Victor Colletti, 72, was convicted of enterprise corruption July 17 after a 10−day jury trial. He was sentenced Oct. 15 by Judge Arthur Cooperman to between one and three years behind bars, Brown said.
The gambling operation took bets on horse racing, numbers and college and professional sports contests, including the Final Four NCAA basketball tournament, Brown said.
The alleged joint operation between Genovese and Bonnano crime families handled illegal betting action of nearly $200,000 a week, totaling about $12.5 million over the 15−month span covered by a 2005 indictment, the DA said.
“Illegal gambling has always been the bread−and−butter money maker for organized crime because of the huge profits it generates, which can then be used to fund other more insidious forms of criminal activity, such as labor racketeering, drug trafficking, prostitution, auto theft, insurance fraud and loan−sharking,” Brown said in a statement. “This case sends a clear signal to all who involve themselves in illegal gambling that law enforcement will keep up the pressure and not allow them to operate.”
Colletti and 16 others were named in a 24−count enterprise corruption indictment filed in Queens Supreme Court in April 2005 as members of a mob−run gambling ring that operated out of at least three Queens bars, as well as other locations in Bronx, Kings and Westchester counties, Brown said.
The bars included the Clubhouse Sports Bar at 61−21 Fresh Pond Road in Maspeth; the First German Sports Club at 60− 60 Metropolitan Avenue in Flushing and Tee−Dee’s Tavern at 64−31 Cooper Avenue in Ridgewood, Brown said.
The DA said all but one case has now been concluded. Of the 16 cases completed to date, all but one has resulted in a felony conviction.
Reach reporter Jeremy Walsh by e−mail at jwalsh@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 154.
