12 men arrested on the latest crackdown on internet gambling in the US
On the latest example of US authorities’ crackdown on internet gambling, 12 men who helped run a multi-million dollar Costa Rica-based sports betting website were arrested and charged with illegal gambling and money laundering.
The US attorney in the Southern District of New York, which charged the group, said that the websites had gathered millions of dollars a year from hundreds of bookies since at least 2005.
The internet gambling operation was run by Carmen “Buddy” Cicalese, who remains at large, the US attorney said. His accomplices included men with a list of colourful pseudonyms, such as Louis “Lou the Shoe” Santos, Marc “Box” Group, and Carl “Sheepshead” Muraco. The case has been handled by the organised crime unit of the US attorney’s office.
The indictment claims the men were collecting fees from sports book-keepers within the US. The bookies would register their clients with the sites for a fee of $15-$30, and gamblers could then placed bets by phone or over the internet, via sites such as betwestsports.com, the indictment said. Sports betting, with a few exceptions such as horse racing, is illegal in the US outside of Nevada.
“If everything is done offshore, there is still a grey area,” said Joe Kelly, a law professor at Buffalo University. “If you are dumb enough to do anything in the United States, you are asking for trouble.”
