Million$ found in bet raids

JOSEPH "JOE VITO" Mastronardo Jr., 60, son-in-law of late Mayor Frank Rizzo, easily might have made his $1 million bail yesterday after his arrest for allegedly heading one of the largest high-tech illegal sports-betting operations in the country.

All he would have had to do was dig up his shrubbery.

But Montgomery County and federal authorities got there first with shovels and a backhoe on Wednesday. They found more than a million bucks stuffed inside 18-inch PVC pipes with caps on both ends under his lawn in the Meadowbrook section of Abington Township.

They also seized the contents of the bookmaking office in his sprawling home, taking computers, monitors and records.

Another $1 million - described as "standing capital" - was seized in 13 other locations in the Philadelphia area and in Boca Raton, Fla. In all, 46 search and seizure warrants were executed by the FBI, Montgomery County detectives and numerous police agencies, which targeted homes, vehicles, bank accounts and safe-deposit boxes.

Mastronardo's computerized list of bettors was described by a source close to the investigation as including captains of industry, major sports figures and other wealthy clients in and outside the U.S. who bet $500 to $1,000 at a time - and sometimes much more - on professional and college football, baseball, golf and other sports.

They used computers, the Internet, BlackBerries, PDAs (electronic personal data assistants) and other devices to bet just before games.

This was the second Montgomery County probe targeting the Mastronardo organization in four years; $2.7 million in cash was seized in 2006. In a deal to avoid prosecution of relatives in the case, Mastronardo and his brother, a onetime Villanova football star who once tried out for the Eagles, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges and the county kept the money.

In a 1987 case, authorities accused Mastronardo of operating a $50-million-a-year illegal sports-gambling business but could not prove that money had been laundered through the Shearson-Lehman brokerage firm.

This time, Mastronardo and his brother and partner, John Vito Mastronardo, 54, of Blue Bell, were held on $1 million bail each after their arraignment on 17 counts, including operating corrupt organizations, bookmaking, dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activities and criminal use of communications.

Montgomery County authorities said that this conspiracy dates from 2008, but authorities believe that it never ceased operation from the 2006 case, for which John got up to 23 months in prison and his brother house arrest. The brothers were then put on probation until 2014. Both also were charged Wednesday with probation violations.

A preliminary hearing is set for April 9, which is likely to be postponed. There's no date for a hearing on the probation violations.

Even if the brothers could make bail, First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele said, there are detainers on them, preventing them from leaving Montgomery County Prison.

Like many others close to the case, the brothers' longtime defense attorney, Dennis Cogan, said he expected that the case will be adopted by the feds because of interstate activities. And he's already enlisted attorneys Ed Jacobs, Christopher Warren and Lisa Mathewson to represent them.

Cogan described the brothers as "professional gamblers" who "pay their taxes."

Outside Joseph Mastronardo's manor yesterday, evidence abounded of the previous day's big dig.

Mud tracks gouged by large vehicles marred the otherwise verdant, sloping lawn, and most of the extensively landscaped bushes, daffodils and other plantings were piled in mounds.

A woman who answered Mastronardo's door politely declined to comment to a reporter.

But one neighbor said the Mastronardos were "wonderful, generous, kind people" whose bookmaking business was an open secret.

"Joe is very vocal about his dealings," said neighbor Marilyn Uchitel, 68, who declined to elaborate.

Uchitel called the raid "nothing unusual," because authorities had swarmed the property and dug, hunting for evidence, a few years ago.

A 41-page affidavit released yesterday called the Mastronardo bookmaking enterprise "substantial, extremely profitable and involving bets to sub-books and bettors in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Florida."

But "Joe Vito" might debate the "extremely profitable" characterization, based on numerous conversations that were intercepted on five cell phones and detailed in the affidavit, in which he whined that he wasn't making any money.

With the "economy collapsed," he complained that his many wealthy bettors became deadbeats, unable to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost wagers and that he also feared that his own business would collapse.

One wealthy gambler, unable to pay up, "p----d away two million dollars" over the years, he said.

Known as the "Gentleman Gambler," Mastronardo also complained that his own bookmakers and sub-books were unwilling to collect the gambling debts and he was disgruntled about their record-keeping.

In fact, Mastronardo's pals were complaining that "the whole industry is collapsing in America."

Unlike the Mafia's relation to bookmakers, Mastronardo did not send enforcers to pressure his clients. He merely cut them off from gambling.

In many conversations, Mastronardo repeatedly complained about his health. Hospitalized three times, he has been battling throat and tongue cancer for 15 years.

In the mid-1980s, Mastronardo's operation was so big and respected in gambling circles, according to a source close to the investigation, that he created his own betting line, "Vito's Line," which was used around the country until Las Vegas took over setting the betting line.

The affidavit identified five alleged co-conspirators of the criminal enterprise: Eric Woehlcke, an office worker and Mastronardo's righthand man; Patrick Tronski and Edward J. Feighan, who handled "sub-books"; Mastronardo's father, Joseph Mastronardo Sr., who was responsible for a portion of the Florida operation; and Harry Daugherty Murray, who played a significant role in Florida.

Mastronardo complained about his brother, who said he's been supporting for 40 years, according to the affidavit.

"I bought him his first car. I bought him every car," he said.

Referring to the 2006 case, Mastronardo complained to Murray that his brother was "so embarrassed to admit he was in the gambling business, he was in a hurry to give up my money with the f------ bust. It's all about his ego.

"I'm on probation right now, so if I get caught, I'm going to get a couple years. Think about that," he added, laughing.

In another conversation, Woehlcke suggested that James Visco, a driver responsible for collecting money from agents, sub-books and bettors, drive back from Clearwater, Fla., to Philadelphia with money that Mastronardo Sr. made from the operation he ran there.

Mastronardo told his father on March 21 that he was coming to Boca Raton, where he set up a "satellite office" to collect bets on sports games.

Meanwhile, Montgomery County detectives and FBI agents monitored their activities at a Howard Johnson Hotel in Deerfield Beach, Fla.

In one of his last calls, on March 27, Mastronardo told Murray, appeared to be feeling much better about his business.

"Times like this, I'm happy I'm still a bookmaker."

Staff writer Regina Medina contributed to this report.