by Wiseguy » Sun Jun 28, 2020 11:51 am
Teddy Persico wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 12:56 am
Pogo The Clown wrote: ↑Sat Jun 27, 2020 1:08 pm
And all that video poker money amounted to little after it was all split up. First the bar and club owners got about half of the profits from the machines. Then just about every active member in Philly got a piece. For example Natale testified that in the mid 1990s the video poker money was split between 10 made members with each receiving about 1.000 per week (about 1,600 in today's money). And if any of these made guys had associates doing their collections they probably got a piece as well. Before the covid shutdown I would imagine that the video poker money is being split by even more made members considering that are more of them around than there would have been when Natale was on the street.
Pogo
It’s been a long time since I’ve read about this, but someone testified at the trial that the family could make $500-$1000 a week on a machine. The indictment initially charged 8 people with at least one count of being part of an Illegal Electronic Gambling Device Business.
https://6abc.com/archive/8146349/
There's been a lot of figures thrown out about this. Natale said an operation with 50 or 60 machines could generate profits of about $20,000 a week. Or $80,000 a month. This would be $1,300 - $1,600 a month per machine. Other sources had even bigger numbers, saying a machine in a good spot could bring in $500 - $1,000 a week ($2,000 - $4,000 a month) in profit.
Regardless of hypothetical figures, we can look at the
actual numbers involved in the case. After their warehouse was raided, and 34 machines seized, in 2001, the Philly mob moved in on machines owned by M&P, originally started by Tony Milicia and Louis Procaccini. They basically "made them an offer they couldn't refuse" - a lowball $63,000 for 34 machines in 21 locations. Procaccini understood he didn't really have a choice, even though the machines and stops were worth more than that.
In one place I read the company, which was started in the mid-1990s, also distributed video games and cigarette and snack vending machines. One article said M&P was taking in about $1 million a year. Another said the company was taking in about $70,000 a month (which would be $840,000 a year).
I don't know if Ligambi, Massimino, and Staino only took over a
part of M&P's interests or what but the Staino sentencing memorandum said the 34 machines in 21 stops they took over from M&P took in $7,000 - $10,000 a month in profit in 2001. Or about $84 000 - $120,000 a year ($125,000 - $175,000 adjusted for inflation). This would be about $200 - $300 a month per machine. Again this was profit (apparently after the split with the owner of the stop) and was mainly divided up the principals in JMA - Ligambi, Massimino, and Staino.
JMA apparently did have more more than just those 34 machines because 50 of their machines were seized from 13 locations in 2009.
[quote="Teddy Persico" post_id=157936 time=1593331004 user_id=5338]
[quote="Pogo The Clown" post_id=157905 time=1593288537 user_id=53]
And all that video poker money amounted to little after it was all split up. First the bar and club owners got about half of the profits from the machines. Then just about every active member in Philly got a piece. For example Natale testified that in the mid 1990s the video poker money was split between 10 made members with each receiving about 1.000 per week (about 1,600 in today's money). And if any of these made guys had associates doing their collections they probably got a piece as well. Before the covid shutdown I would imagine that the video poker money is being split by even more made members considering that are more of them around than there would have been when Natale was on the street.
Pogo
[/quote]
It’s been a long time since I’ve read about this, but someone testified at the trial that the family could make $500-$1000 a week on a machine. The indictment initially charged 8 people with at least one count of being part of an Illegal Electronic Gambling Device Business. https://6abc.com/archive/8146349/
[/quote]
There's been a lot of figures thrown out about this. Natale said an operation with 50 or 60 machines could generate profits of about $20,000 a week. Or $80,000 a month. This would be $1,300 - $1,600 a month per machine. Other sources had even bigger numbers, saying a machine in a good spot could bring in $500 - $1,000 a week ($2,000 - $4,000 a month) in profit.
Regardless of hypothetical figures, we can look at the [i]actual[/i] numbers involved in the case. After their warehouse was raided, and 34 machines seized, in 2001, the Philly mob moved in on machines owned by M&P, originally started by Tony Milicia and Louis Procaccini. They basically "made them an offer they couldn't refuse" - a lowball $63,000 for 34 machines in 21 locations. Procaccini understood he didn't really have a choice, even though the machines and stops were worth more than that.
In one place I read the company, which was started in the mid-1990s, also distributed video games and cigarette and snack vending machines. One article said M&P was taking in about $1 million a year. Another said the company was taking in about $70,000 a month (which would be $840,000 a year).
I don't know if Ligambi, Massimino, and Staino only took over a [i]part[/i] of M&P's interests or what but the Staino sentencing memorandum said the 34 machines in 21 stops they took over from M&P took in $7,000 - $10,000 a month in profit in 2001. Or about $84 000 - $120,000 a year ($125,000 - $175,000 adjusted for inflation). This would be about $200 - $300 a month per machine. Again this was profit (apparently after the split with the owner of the stop) and was mainly divided up the principals in JMA - Ligambi, Massimino, and Staino.
JMA apparently did have more more than just those 34 machines because 50 of their machines were seized from 13 locations in 2009.