Feds Investigate Owner of Campisi’s in Dallas as ‘Large Bookmaker’

[stubbs]

Feds Investigate Owner of Campisi’s as ‘Large Bookmaker’

Federal agents say the owner of Dallas' iconic Italian restaurant Campisi's is a large illegal sports bookie with ties to internet bookmaking websites in Costa Rica, according to a search warrant mistakenly unsealed by prosecutors and obtained by NBC 5.

According to the document, in February agents for Homeland Security Investigations and the criminal division of the IRS searched safety deposit boxes belonging to David Campisi, the restaurant owner and great-grandson of its founder.

They also searched the home of an alleged Campisi associate, Christopher "Gus" Schraeder, who has since pleaded guilty to a single illegal gambling charge.

Schraeder, who lives in Fort Worth, admitted he operated as a bookie with at least five other people in an operation that brought in at least $2,000 per day. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A sentencing date has not been set. His plea agreement with prosecutors remains sealed.

Campisi has not been charged or arrested. His attorney, Michael Uhl, said he had no comment.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Dallas declined to talk about the status of the investigation.

A call to a number identified in the search warrant as Schraeder's cellular phone was answered by a message saying his voice mail was not set up. He did not respond to a text message. His attorney, federal public defender Frank Henderson, did not return a phone call.

'Large Bookmakers'

The search warrant, signed by an HSI agent, describes Campisi and Schraeder as "large bookmakers operating in the Dallas and North Texas area" since at least 2005.

Cellphone records cited by law enforcement show the two had numerous contacts with Costa Rican telephone numbers linked to offshore internet-based sports websites.

From November 2015 until September 2018, Campisi called or texted the Costa Rican numbers 190 times and Schrader more than 300 times, the warrant said.

The investigation started after a separate 2012 probe which targeted 20 bookies linked to an illegal gambling operation that took in more than $5.4 billion from 2007 to 2011, according to the warrant. All 20 suspects in that case pleaded guilty to crimes ranging from money laundering to tax violations, according to court records.

During the course of the 2012 investigation, Campisi and Schraeder were identified as "large bookmakers operating in the Dallas and North Texas area," the agent wrote, adding that records seized at one of the suspect's homes "reflected that Campisi and Schraeder were partners in the conduct of their illegal gambling enterprise."

Past 'Mafia Mystique' and Ties to Jack Ruby

Campisi's was opened in 1946 by David Campisi's great-grandfather who had immigrated from Sicily, according to the restaurant's website. The family opened its location on Mockingbird Lane in 1950 and later expanded. Campisi's now operates seven restaurants in Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Frisco and Rockwall.

According to a 1999 story by The Associated Press, gangsters used to hang out at the restaurant and the family acknowledged that Joe Campisi was a "golfing and racetrack buddy" of New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello.

"They were friends. He just knew everybody," David Campisi was quoted as saying about his grandfather.

The younger Campisi said he regretted not capitalizing more on the restaurant's "mafia mystique."

"Today bad publicity is just as good," David Campisi told the AP. "I think to us it's more comical than anything, but the public always ate it up. We've never played off it like we should."

Campisi's own website accurately notes that Jack Ruby ate dinner at the restaurant the night before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in November 1963 and that Joe Campisi visited Ruby in jail after Ruby shot and killed assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

The meetings became fodder for unconfirmed conspiracy theories about mob involvement in the Kennedy assassination.

Nothing suggests David Campisi or anyone else currently associated with the restaurant has mafia ties.

Search Warrant Mistakenly Released

The February search warrant naming Campisi and Schraeder was obtained by NBC 5 from the federal court website known as Pacer after it was made public by mistake in early October, apparently by a prosecutor who intended to unseal an unrelated search warrant and transposed the case number.

"The document in question was unsealed inadvertently by the Northern District of Texas," said Erin Dooley, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney in Dallas. She declined further comment.

Federal prosecutors re-sealed the search warrant after NBC 5 asked about it.

[Bklyn21]

Nice Find ! That's a blast from the past name

[Bklyn21]

Raked in over 5.4 billion over the course of 4 years, That's pretty damn big IMO

[Bklyn21]

Goddamn, They must 've pulled , I figure somewhere in the range of 20 billion up until recently

[stubbs]

Raked in over 5.4 billion over the course of 4 years, That's pretty damn big IMO

I’m pretty sure that’s a typo and it was millions not billions.

[NJShore4Life]

I am not shocked at all.

People from Texas have huge hard ons for Football, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metro area is huge with a lot of affluent suburbs, and there is not legalized Sportsbooks there yet. They have almost the perfect market for big time sportsbooking, someone was going to provide this service and make an absolute killing.

[Bklyn21]

Raked in over 5.4 billion over the course of 4 years, That's pretty damn big IMO

I’m pretty sure that’s a typo and it was millions not billions.

Its definitely possible, Theres been quite a few busts over the years of people who were connected to different OC groups and non affiliated who were pulling in Billions

[Bklyn21]

Raked in over 5.4 billion over the course of 4 years, That's pretty damn big IMO

I’m pretty sure that’s a typo and it was millions not billions.

Its definitely possible, Theres been quite a few busts over the years of people who were connected to different OC groups and non affiliated who were pulling in Billions

And, It was offshore , Costa Rica . So who knows how far they're reach was, They could easily be servicing numerous countries and continents

[stubbs]

Raked in over 5.4 billion over the course of 4 years, That's pretty damn big IMO

I’m pretty sure that’s a typo and it was millions not billions.

Its definitely possible, Theres been quite a few busts over the years of people who were connected to different OC groups and non affiliated who were pulling in Billions

True, they could’ve been working as part of a bigger ring, like hooked up through the group in Costa Rica which could be backed by other LCN groups.

I misread the article, it says the 5 billion was a different investigation before this one. It says Campisi’s group was making about $2k a day... which is less than a million a year. So, a decent amount of pocket change / extra spending money (once divided up), but not massive.

[Wiseguy]

Raked in over 5.4 billion over the course of 4 years, That's pretty damn big IMO

I’m pretty sure that’s a typo and it was millions not billions.

Its definitely possible, Theres been quite a few busts over the years of people who were connected to different OC groups and non affiliated who were pulling in Billions

True, they could’ve been working as part of a bigger ring, like hooked up through the group in Costa Rica which could be backed by other LCN groups.

I misread the article, it says the 5 billion was a different investigation before this one. It says Campisi’s group was making about $2k a day... which is less than a million a year. So, a decent amount of pocket change / extra spending money (once divided up), but not massive.

The $2,000 a day figure is a generic amount (daily volume) you see in just about every sports betting case and has been around for decades. It's essentially the amount law enforcement draws the line at where a gambling operation can become a target for prosecution. It shows the Campisi operation was making at least that much.

[stubbs]

Found some more interesting articles about illegal bookmaking in the Dallas area, both of these articles are about the same case that took place about a decade ago:

The $1 Billion Plano Gambling Ring

The Rise and Fall of the Biggest Illegal Sports-Betting Ring in Dallas History

Plano is a Dallas suburb for those who aren't aware. Also, seems like some of these illegal gambling operations are much larger than I originally suspected.

This next article is from 1984, and I thought it was interesting how little law enforcement seemed to care about cracking down on the illegal bookmakers:

WANNA BET? - Being a bookie in Dallas isn’t much of a gamble

Quote from the article:

Apparently, the biggest reason bookies operate in the open in Dallas is because law-enforcement agencies are spending time on what they believe are more important things. Bookmaking is low on the priority list for local, state and federal law enforcers. The last time the Organized Crime Task Force conducted a major investigation on bookies was in 1982, when a DPS intelligence agent and an informant went undercover for six months, penetrating a number of mid-level bookmaking operations. Today, pressure from the upper echelons of the police department have switched the priorities of the metro squad to mostly narcotics and car-theft cases. And most young investigators these days have little interest in chasing bookies; those who show any interest quickly become frustrated as they see their cases go up in smoke when judges throw out search warrants and prosecutors make plea-bargain deals that result in probated sentences.

Simultaneously, the FBI has turned its attention away from bookmaking operations and is heavily concentrating on narcotics trafficking and other white-collar crimes. The last time the FBI showed any strong interest in Dallas bookies was during the late Seventies, when an extensive series of court-authorized wiretaps resulted in the bust of a major organization and sent a few big-time bookies to the federal pen. That organization was referred to in a 1979 memo written by a federal Organized Crime Task Force as “the largest in the nation. Electronic surveillance over 10 days showed that the operation handled $1.3 million in wagers during that period.”

An article from 1989 on Joe Campisi:

LOW PROFILE: The Godfather of Greenville Avenue

And lastly, an article from last year in the New Yorker on semi-legal poker in Texas:

The Perils of Semi-Legal Poker

[Patrickgold]

The Campisis have been involved in illegal activities going back years. If there is a mafia family in Dallas, it is them. Not too long ago some family members were busted for trafficking narcotics out of one of their restaurants. It was not the main one on Mockingbird. It was in the suburbs if I remember correctly.

[Bklyn21]

Found some more interesting articles about illegal bookmaking in the Dallas area, both of these articles are about the same case that took place about a decade ago:

The $1 Billion Plano Gambling Ring

The Rise and Fall of the Biggest Illegal Sports-Betting Ring in Dallas History

Plano is a Dallas suburb for those who aren't aware. Also, seems like some of these illegal gambling operations are much larger than I originally suspected.

This next article is from 1984, and I thought it was interesting how little law enforcement seemed to care about cracking down on the illegal bookmakers:

WANNA BET? - Being a bookie in Dallas isn’t much of a gamble

Quote from the article:

Apparently, the biggest reason bookies operate in the open in Dallas is because law-enforcement agencies are spending time on what they believe are more important things. Bookmaking is low on the priority list for local, state and federal law enforcers. The last time the Organized Crime Task Force conducted a major investigation on bookies was in 1982, when a DPS intelligence agent and an informant went undercover for six months, penetrating a number of mid-level bookmaking operations. Today, pressure from the upper echelons of the police department have switched the priorities of the metro squad to mostly narcotics and car-theft cases. And most young investigators these days have little interest in chasing bookies; those who show any interest quickly become frustrated as they see their cases go up in smoke when judges throw out search warrants and prosecutors make plea-bargain deals that result in probated sentences.

Simultaneously, the FBI has turned its attention away from bookmaking operations and is heavily concentrating on narcotics trafficking and other white-collar crimes. The last time the FBI showed any strong interest in Dallas bookies was during the late Seventies, when an extensive series of court-authorized wiretaps resulted in the bust of a major organization and sent a few big-time bookies to the federal pen. That organization was referred to in a 1979 memo written by a federal Organized Crime Task Force as “the largest in the nation. Electronic surveillance over 10 days showed that the operation handled $1.3 million in wagers during that period.”

An article from 1989 on Joe Campisi:

LOW PROFILE: The Godfather of Greenville Avenue

And lastly, an article from last year in the New Yorker on semi-legal poker in Texas:

The Perils of Semi-Legal Poker

Nice find