Gambling News by Gambling Headquarters

Rhode Island police have arrested a dozen people in a sports betting ring that allegedly generated about $675,000 in illegal wagers in just two months, all under the watch of a man whom detectives call a ranking member of a New England Mafia family. The man accused of being the ring leader, Edward Lato, 59, of North Providence, is a longtime member of the Patriarca crime family, a syndicate that traditionally dominated criminal rackets in Providence, Boston and beyond, said Maj. Stephen O'Donnell, a spokesman for the Rhode Island State Police."He's as high as you can go before you get to the bosses," O'Donnell said Monday.Investigators said they gathered evidence using court-approved wiretaps that allowed them to listen to telephone calls and read text messages sent between accused ring members.Charged with racketeering, organized criminal gambling, conspiracy and bookmaking, Lato was released Monday after posting bail.The arrest alone could land Lato behind bars. He was sentenced in 1999 to five years, 10 months in prison after admitting that he made extortionate loans to gamblers and businessmen, then hired strong-arms to collect debts.Freed from federal prison in 2004, Lato is still serving three years of supervised release. Getting arrested again violates the terms of that release, although authorities at U.S. District Court in Providence haven't decided whether to detain him, said Barry Weiner, the court's chief probation officer.An attorney for Lato could not immediately be reached for comment.O'Donnell said police arrested Lato in a home as he was examining betting records with Rocco Falco Jr., 59, of Smithfield, who was sentenced to more than four years in prison during the same extortion case that earlier snared Lato.Detectives accuse Falco and Gary Cedroni, 38, of North Providence of serving as underlings for their alleged Mafia boss. Both men are charged with racketeering, criminal gambling and bookmaking. Ring members largely solicited bets from around Rhode Island, although Texas authorities arrested 39-year-old Kevin Lisi of Houston as part of the probe. He's now held in a Texas jail pending extradition to Rhode Island, where he's charged with gambling offenses.

During raids, police seized roughly $20,000 in cash in bills as small as $2 and as large as $1,000. They also confiscated an ounce of cocaine, Vicodin pills, steroids and syringes, gambling ledgers and six vehicles.