The Queens District Attorney (DA) and the New York State Police last week toppled a $13 million sports betting ring, seizing luxury vehicles and piles of cash and indicting 11 people – including a retired city cop and a fugitive believed to be in Costa Rica.
Nine of the defendants were arraigned in State Supreme Court on Thursday, August 6 and could face up to 25 years in prison for enterprise corruption and a host of other charges including first-degree promotion of gambling, third-degree money laundering and fifth-degree conspiracy. In addition to the fugitive, another individual is facing extradition from North Carolina.
According to the 86-count indictment, co-bookmakers Michael Mildenberger and James A. Rossi oversaw the gambling ring – which operated in Queens County and elsewhere – that took in more than $680,000 each week for 19 months by accepting wagers on professional and college-level football, baseball, basketball and hockey games.
It is alleged that the ring used an offshore “wire room” in Costa Rica to handle bets that ranged from $200 up to $4,000 per sporting event. The wire room was accessible via a toll-free phone number and the web site wwww.perfectwager.com.
Among the defendants – whose home addresses include locations in Staten Island, Long Island, Manhattan, New Jersey and North Carolina – is Joseph R. Sofia, a 63-year-old retired New York City police officer who allegedly acted as an “agent” for the betting operation. The indictment notes that Sofia provided bettors with access codes, set limits on betting amounts and collected payments.
In a multi-million dollar gambling ring, such payments were apparently in abundance. In one instance, a defendant is alleged to have made a cash purchase of a high-end vehicle; in another, $200,000 in cash was discovered hidden in a box of Christmas decorations in the home of one defendant. In all, more than $1 million in cash was seized.
In announcing the indictment on Wednesday, August 5, DA Richard A. Brown said that the millions of dollars in cash profits from such operations “are easily diverted to more insidious criminal enterprises.” Brown noted that such crimes are “not victimless,” adding that perpetrators often use threats, intimidation and physical violence to collect debts.
The investigation, led by the Queens DA’s Rackets and Organized Crime Bureau and the state police, began in July of 2007 and included intelligence information, physical surveillance and court-authorized eavesdropping.
Mildenberger and Rossi were both ordered held on $75,000 bail, while bail for the other seven defendants was set at $5,000 each. The case was adjourned to September 2.
Brown said the collaborative action between his office and the state police “will send a clear signal that when it comes to illegal gambling in Queens County, all bets are off.”
