Gaming ring at casino charged

A mob-linked, multimillion-dollar gambling ring dismantled yesterday used a high-stakes poker room at one of Atlantic City's top casinos as a base of operations, authorities said.

The ring took bets and collected, paid out and laundered money, all from the gaming floor of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram said. She called the operation "startling and brazen," but said investigators might not have noticed the ring if not for a tip they received last year.

Since March 2006, the ring has been accused of taking in more than $22 million in bets on college and professional basketball and football - doing so under the eyes of a casino surveillance system that monitors the gaming floors 24 hours a day. Unlike Nevada, New Jersey does not allow sports booking in the casinos.

"We simply will not tolerate this type of behavior in our casinos," Milgram said.

A Borgata spokesman stressed the suspects merely were accused of using the poker room as a base and cover for their transactions.

"It had nothing to do with our casino operation, nor did it ever compromise the integrity of our gaming activities," said the spokesman, Rob Stillwell.

He said that investigators alerted the casino to the problem and that the Borgata cooperated with them.

David Schwartz, the director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, said it appeared the Borgata did nothing wrong in this case, "but it's definitely not a good day for them."

"Anytime you have 'mob' and the name of your casino in the same sentence, that's bad for P.R.," said Schwartz. "It's the first time I've ever heard of anything of this magnitude. . . . With the industry already taking a beating, between losing customers to the smoking ban and [Pennsylvania] slots, it's the last thing you want."

State police called the gambling operation "an organized criminal group," but authorities shied away describing any of the suspects as members of the Mafia. But, federal law enforcement sources identified two of the men arrested yesterday - Anthony Nicodemo and Michael Lancellotti - as "made" men, formally initiated in the Philadelphia crime family.

The mob has had a long history in Atlantic City, but organized crime has not been known to have penetrated the casinos themselves. Casinos involved in crime could lose their licenses.

In all, 23 people were charged, including five Borgata employees and one from the Tropicana Casino Resort. Five suspects were arrested, and the rest were issued court summonses. Most faced gambling, money laundering and conspiracy charges.

Investigators described Andrew Micali, 32, of Ventnor, as the leader. They said Micali relied on a network of agents to bring in the bets, and he and his partner, Jack M. Buscemi Jr., 50, of Mullica Hill, took home a percentage of the proceeds.

The bets were collected in the Borgata poker room and then forwarded to one of two "wire rooms" in Philadelphia, where the operation was based, said Gregory A. Paw, director of the state Division of Criminal Justice. "There were no minimums on the bets, and we estimate the take was about $200,000 a week," he said.

Investigators said the ring operated by word-of-mouth, and large bettors soon learned that members of the ring could be found conducting their business at the Borgata.

Some bettors were forced to accept loans to cover their losses at annual interest rates of more than 50 percent, authorities said.

Fredric Gushin, a former New Jersey gaming prosecutor, said the regulatory system set up to keep criminals out of the casinos appears to have worked in the long run.

"But it seems to me there are a lot of questions that need to be raised about how this started," said Gushin, now the managing director of Spectrum Gaming, a consultant firm. "The Borgata will have to go back and look . . . why weren't they picking any of this up?"

Two of the casino employees charged were poker room supervisors, said Borgata spokesman Stillwell. Milgram said the employees probably were "lured" into the ring after they began working there.

The employees were accused of looking the other way while members of the gambling ring and bettors exchanged cash and casino chips. Casino employees are required to report suspicious transactions and any exchange larger than $10,000 - laws intended to combat money laundering at the gaming tables.

Stillwell described them as "rogue employees" and said workers charged with a crime typically were fired.

Last year, state police took down another illegal, multimillion-dollar betting ring run by a former state trooper and former NHL hockey star Rick Tocchet. Both pleaded guilty.

In addition to Micali, Nicodemo and Lancellotti, police yesterday arrested Vincent Procopio, 41, of Brigantine, and Joseph Wishnick, 42, of Brigantine. Wishnick was a Borgata poker room supervisor.

The state froze Micali's bank account, which had more than $200,000, and seized more than $40,000 in Borgata chips and cash from his safe deposit box at the casino.

An additional $20,000, along with gambling records and computers, was seized from three houses in Philadelphia, including the two wire rooms.