By MIKE WISER, Rockford Register Star
ROCKFORD — Odds are good that federal and local investigators gleaned dozens, if not hundreds, of bettors’ names from their five-year investigation into an alleged Rockford-area bookmaking operation.
But federal prosecutors indicted only nine men this week they say ran the enterprise for about 20 years.
Which begs the question: “Are the customers going to get nailed, too?”
The short answer is no.
Reasons why run from philosophical to legal to practical.
“There’s no federal law that purely prohibits betting,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Scully, lead prosecutor in the case against the nine men.
But federal laws prohibit gambling businesses that operate for more than 30 days, involve more than five people and earn more than $2,000, as long as such businesses would be illegal in the state in question.
“If you’re running a book in Vegas, since it’s not illegal in that state, then it’s not in violation of federal law,” Scully said.
The men charged Wednesday are accused of running such a business that netted “well in excess of $500,000,” according to the federal indictment. Eight of the suspects, who range in age from 27 to 69, were in federal court Wednesday and were released on recognizance bonds. The ninth suspect is in prison on an unrelated charge.
If found guilty, they face prison sentences of up to five years and could be fined $250,000. Authorities also seek the home of at least one of the men and cash prosecutors say are the proceeds of illegal bets.
While the people who placed bets with this alleged bookmaking ring might have nothing to worry about from federal prosecutors, they could be charged with state crimes.
While there are exceptions in state law — such as the state lottery, bingo, fundraising raffles and gambling boats — betting that takes place in Illinois violates state statute.
“We’re not going to go after nickel-and-dime Friday-night poker games,” Winnebago County First Deputy State’s Attorney Chuck Prorok said. “We look at everything on a case-by-case basis.”
As a practical matter, interim Police Chief Dominic Iasparro said, police don’t go after the people placing bets. Mostly they’re small-time and there are simply too many of them.
“Our target in this investigation wasn’t the people placing the bets, but the organization taking the bets,” he said. “I can’t give you a definitive answer that someone won’t be interested in who placed the bets, but that wasn’t the target of the investigation.”
He likened going after a gambling operation to a drug ring. Police will arrest people who are in possession of drugs when they find them, but they concentrate most of their efforts at going after the suppliers.
In the same vein, taking out a sports bookmaker probably would do more to stop the spread of illegal gambling than trying to catch every person who places $5 on the Steelers to win the Super Bowl this weekend.
Still, depending on what evidence the police and federal authorities amassed in the case — they apparently have 6,000 documents and more than 50 hours of conversations recorded from wiretaps — it seems like it wouldn’t take too much effort to bust some bet-makers.
Then again, there’s the law.
“As far as this investigation goes back ... for the folks placing bets, it’s only a misdemeanor,” Prorok said. “With the statute of limitations, that gives us 18 months to prosecute them.”
However, those who may have bet with any bookmaker could find themselves on the hook for some pain if the law takes an interest.
“All I can say is that in similar cases to this one, individuals who have placed bets are sometimes called to testify in court,” Scully said.
“We’ll do what we need to do to present the best evidence we have in the case.”
Contact: mwiser@rrstar.com; 815-987-1377
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ROCKFORD — Odds are good that federal and local investigators gleaned dozens, if not hundreds, of bettors’ names from their five-year investigation into an alleged Rockford-area bookmaking operation.
But federal prosecutors indicted only nine men this week they say ran the enterprise for about 20 years.
Which begs the question: “Are the customers going to get nailed, too?”
The short answer is no.
Reasons why run from philosophical to legal to practical.
“There’s no federal law that purely prohibits betting,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Scully, lead prosecutor in the case against the nine men.
But federal laws prohibit gambling businesses that operate for more than 30 days, involve more than five people and earn more than $2,000, as long as such businesses would be illegal in the state in question.
“If you’re running a book in Vegas, since it’s not illegal in that state, then it’s not in violation of federal law,” Scully said.
The men charged Wednesday are accused of running such a business that netted “well in excess of $500,000,” according to the federal indictment. Eight of the suspects, who range in age from 27 to 69, were in federal court Wednesday and were released on recognizance bonds. The ninth suspect is in prison on an unrelated charge.
If found guilty, they face prison sentences of up to five years and could be fined $250,000. Authorities also seek the home of at least one of the men and cash prosecutors say are the proceeds of illegal bets.
While the people who placed bets with this alleged bookmaking ring might have nothing to worry about from federal prosecutors, they could be charged with state crimes.
While there are exceptions in state law — such as the state lottery, bingo, fundraising raffles and gambling boats — betting that takes place in Illinois violates state statute.
“We’re not going to go after nickel-and-dime Friday-night poker games,” Winnebago County First Deputy State’s Attorney Chuck Prorok said. “We look at everything on a case-by-case basis.”
As a practical matter, interim Police Chief Dominic Iasparro said, police don’t go after the people placing bets. Mostly they’re small-time and there are simply too many of them.
“Our target in this investigation wasn’t the people placing the bets, but the organization taking the bets,” he said. “I can’t give you a definitive answer that someone won’t be interested in who placed the bets, but that wasn’t the target of the investigation.”
He likened going after a gambling operation to a drug ring. Police will arrest people who are in possession of drugs when they find them, but they concentrate most of their efforts at going after the suppliers.
In the same vein, taking out a sports bookmaker probably would do more to stop the spread of illegal gambling than trying to catch every person who places $5 on the Steelers to win the Super Bowl this weekend.
Still, depending on what evidence the police and federal authorities amassed in the case — they apparently have 6,000 documents and more than 50 hours of conversations recorded from wiretaps — it seems like it wouldn’t take too much effort to bust some bet-makers.
Then again, there’s the law.
“As far as this investigation goes back ... for the folks placing bets, it’s only a misdemeanor,” Prorok said. “With the statute of limitations, that gives us 18 months to prosecute them.”
However, those who may have bet with any bookmaker could find themselves on the hook for some pain if the law takes an interest.
“All I can say is that in similar cases to this one, individuals who have placed bets are sometimes called to testify in court,” Scully said.
“We’ll do what we need to do to present the best evidence we have in the case.”
Contact: mwiser@rrstar.com; 815-987-1377
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