Mafia associates fined $1.1M
Ten associates of the Rizzuto crime family have been fined a total of $1.1 million for a violent numbers racket that generated millions of dollars in revenues.
Investigators busted the mob-backed racket by sneaking into the illegal casino and tapping into security cameras.
Ringleader Carmelo Cannistraro and his associate, Domenico Velenosi, were sentenced to six months in prison for bookmaking and gangsterism. They'll likely be released in August, factoring in time already served.
A total of 10 mob associates were ordered to pay sums of between $15,000 and $200,000 each after police broke up a gambling house in Laval, a suburb north of Montreal.
Federal Crown prosecutor Annie Piche said the underground casino generated millions of dollars in revenues between June 2003 and November 2006. The Crown was unable to prove claims by investigators that the figure was $26 million.
Police spotted Velenosi delivering bundles of money to Rizzuto lieutenants at the crime family's north-end Montreal cafe. Officers later found $40,000 in his car.
Investigators gathered more evidence by surreptitiously entering the gambling house to install cameras and record the internal video feed.
The defendants weren't above resorting to violence to collect debts.
The court heard that one client was severely beaten after he piled up $800,000 in gambling debts. Another customer had accumulated $1.6 million in debts after the illegal casino charged him 4% interest per week.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/05/06/18113976.html
Investigators busted the mob-backed racket by sneaking into the illegal casino and tapping into security cameras.
Ringleader Carmelo Cannistraro and his associate, Domenico Velenosi, were sentenced to six months in prison for bookmaking and gangsterism. They'll likely be released in August, factoring in time already served.
A total of 10 mob associates were ordered to pay sums of between $15,000 and $200,000 each after police broke up a gambling house in Laval, a suburb north of Montreal.
Federal Crown prosecutor Annie Piche said the underground casino generated millions of dollars in revenues between June 2003 and November 2006. The Crown was unable to prove claims by investigators that the figure was $26 million.
Police spotted Velenosi delivering bundles of money to Rizzuto lieutenants at the crime family's north-end Montreal cafe. Officers later found $40,000 in his car.
Investigators gathered more evidence by surreptitiously entering the gambling house to install cameras and record the internal video feed.
The defendants weren't above resorting to violence to collect debts.
The court heard that one client was severely beaten after he piled up $800,000 in gambling debts. Another customer had accumulated $1.6 million in debts after the illegal casino charged him 4% interest per week.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2011/05/06/18113976.html
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