Buffalo/Ontario Mob Acitivity

[Wiseguy]

Feds bust alleged gambling ring in Rochester
Sean Lahman
February 23, 2023

Federal agents have charged seven local men with running a gambling operation that took bets on sporting events and hosted illegal poker games in an office suite in the city of Rochester.

According to a criminal complaint, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies launched an investigation in October 2020 which revealed that the defendants were conspiring to operate illegal poker games in a suite at 565 Blossom Road and to run an illegal sports betting operation through a website.

Louis P. Ferrari II and Dominic Sprague, both residents of the town of Greece, and Tommaso Sessa of Spencerport are charged with operating an illegal gambling operation.

Anthony Amato, Joseph Lomardo, Joseph Boscarino, and James Cilvetti are charged with transmission of wagering information, along with Ferrari and Sprague.

All seven of the defendants are charged with conspiracy for their participation in the operation. Ferrari is also charged with money laundering.

Also charged in a separate complaint in connection with the case is former New York State Trooper Thomas Loewke, according to a spokesperson for the United States Attorney's Office. Loewke was charged with obstruction after allegedly tipping off a target of the investigation. A criminal complaint alleges that Loewke was illegally gambling on sports through the sport700.com website.

In-person sports wagering at licensed casinos has been legal in New York since 2019, and in 2022, mobile sports wagering through certain licensed platforms became legal in the state. However, unlicensed bookmaking, whether in person or online, has been and remains illegal in the State of New York.

The criminal complaint details a seven-month investigation that involved undercover officers posing as gamblers, wiretaps of phones, and subpoenas of financial records that showed how the operation worked.

The complaint alleges that Ferrari and Sprague co-owned the illegal gambling operation at 565 Blossom Road, which hosted poker games. Sessa is accused of managing the day-to-day operations at the location.

Ferrari also operated an illegal sports betting book through a website called sport700.com. Ferrari managed individual bettors and also oversaw sub-agents who had their own books of individual bettors. Lombardo and Boscarino are accused of being sub-agents under Ferrari through the website.

Amato was allegedly the administrator of the website and assisted Ferrari and others in creating accounts, usernames, and passwords. Amato also managed individual bettors and oversaw sub-agents, authorities say.

Investigators say that Sprague would collect cash payments of gambling losses from bettors and pay gambling winnings to bettors from his business, a pawn shop located on Stone Road in Greece.

Civiletti was an employee of the pawn shop. While working at the pawn shop, he collected payments of gambling losses from people on behalf of Ferrari and Sprague, the complaint alleges.

The complaint says that Ferrari collected cash payments of gambling losses from players at his excavating business on Steel Street in the City of Rochester and then laundered the illegal proceeds through the business.

"Banking records confirm that Ferrari Excavating did not generate a lot of cash as revenue," the complaint says. "Based on Ferrari Excavating’s payroll records and the information provided by the employees, it appears that $765,908 was paid to employees in cash, off-the-books from April 2019 through January 2021. Ferrari Excavating generated cash revenue of only $97,232.36 during that same time. "

Eavesdropping warrants captured calls and text messages between Ferrari and five of his co-defendants discussing details of the gambling operation. In one call, Ferrari tells Sprague he'd just gone to the home of a gambling client to collect money and physically assaulted him. According to a transcript of the call, Ferrari said he was concerned because the man's wife had called the police.

Investigators raided the Blossom Road location in April 2021 and interrupted an ongoing illegal card game. Among the documents discovered were gambling ledgers and timestamped website printouts of online gambling player account activities.

Investigators got a warrant to access the betting website and discovered that Amato first set up the account in April 2016. According to court records, Amato had 128 sub-agent accounts operating underneath his account. Collectively, these sub-agents managed 1,789 individual bettors. Throughout the lifetime of the account, from April 2016 to January 2021, Amato’s winnings totaled $8,945,629, authorities said.

The criminal complaint was filed last week before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pedersen.

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/st ... 936028007/

[Newyorkempire]

Why is this posted here? Neither Buffalo nor Ontario.

[OcSleeper]

Why is this posted here? Neither Buffalo nor Ontario.

State police sergeant tipped off owners of illegal online gambling biz about probe, feds say
Charlie Specht Jan 9, 2023

See: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... e43dd7c87d

It will be interesting to see if the names of the business owners who were being investigated will come out. Their business were in Chili near Rochester.

Huge amount of bettors really for one/two book(s)

Stop trying to bait people into arguments. You had no issue with NickleCity posting it originally a few weeks back. You're just looking to start arguments around here.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Why is this posted here? Neither Buffalo nor Ontario.

Because you can drive to Rochester from Buffalo in less time than your IQ.

Stop craving attention.

[Wiseguy]

Why is this posted here? Neither Buffalo nor Ontario.

I almost posted it in the main section but this case had already been discussed in this thread so I put it here.

Stop trying to bait people into arguments. You had no issue with NickleCity posting it originally a few weeks back. You're just looking to start arguments around here.

Glad others have noticed this.

[Newyorkempire]

Why is this posted here? Neither Buffalo nor Ontario.

State police sergeant tipped off owners of illegal online gambling biz about probe, feds say
Charlie Specht Jan 9, 2023

See: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... e43dd7c87d

It will be interesting to see if the names of the business owners who were being investigated will come out. Their business were in Chili near Rochester.

Huge amount of bettors really for one/two book(s)

Stop trying to bait people into arguments. You had no issue with NickleCity posting it originally a few weeks back. You're just looking to start arguments around here.

Just pointing out the irony of some posters actions. Seems a little hypocritical.

[Newyorkempire]

Why is this posted here? Neither Buffalo nor Ontario.

Because you can drive to Rochester from Buffalo in less time than your IQ.

Stop craving attention.

Good one actually. For once.

[Newyorkempire]

Why is this posted here? Neither Buffalo nor Ontario.

I almost posted it in the main section but this case had already been discussed in this thread so I put it here.

Stop trying to bait people into arguments. You had no issue with NickleCity posting it originally a few weeks back. You're just looking to start arguments around here.

Glad others have noticed this.

Makes sense. But the threshold to meet mob measurement for you isnt met because the FBI hasnt anyone listed as made members. Just surprised youre now sharing as it is such.

P.S. Im going to jerk off soon if youre wondering.

[Wiseguy]

Makes sense. But the threshold to meet mob measurement for you isnt met because the FBI hasnt anyone listed as made members. Just surprised youre now sharing as it is such.

Who said anything about the mob? This is Rochester we're talking about. The mob there consists of five old and inactive guys.

P.S. Im going to jerk off soon if youre wondering.

Boyfriend out of town, huh?

[Newyorkempire]

Makes sense. But the threshold to meet mob measurement for you isnt met because the FBI hasnt anyone listed as made members. Just surprised youre now sharing as it is such.

Who said anything about the mob? This is Rochester we're talking about. The mob there consists of five old and inactive guys.

P.S. Im going to jerk off soon if youre wondering.

Boyfriend out of town, huh?

Smart. If thats what it consists of you shouldnt be posting it in a "Mob Activity" thread. See the irony? Ofcourse not.

And no. Youre whore mother isnt around. Weve been over this.

[Wiseguy]

Makes sense. But the threshold to meet mob measurement for you isnt met because the FBI hasnt anyone listed as made members. Just surprised youre now sharing as it is such.

Who said anything about the mob? This is Rochester we're talking about. The mob there consists of five old and inactive guys.

P.S. Im going to jerk off soon if youre wondering.

Boyfriend out of town, huh?

Smart. If thats what it consists of you shouldnt be posting it in a "Mob Activity" thread. See the irony? Ofcourse not.

And no. Youre whore mother isnt around. Weve been over this.

Actually, in one sense, this would be the perfect thread to post it in. Since there's hardly any actual mob activity in Buffalo to speak of either.

[Newyorkempire]

Makes sense. But the threshold to meet mob measurement for you isnt met because the FBI hasnt anyone listed as made members. Just surprised youre now sharing as it is such.

Who said anything about the mob? This is Rochester we're talking about. The mob there consists of five old and inactive guys.

P.S. Im going to jerk off soon if youre wondering.

Boyfriend out of town, huh?

Smart. If thats what it consists of you shouldnt be posting it in a "Mob Activity" thread. See the irony? Ofcourse not.

And no. Youre whore mother isnt around. Weve been over this.

Actually, in one sense, this would be the perfect thread to post it in. Since there's hardly any actual mob activity in Buffalo to speak of either.

Keep it open ended. Youll never be wrong. Smart. Such a scholar. "There is", "there isnt", "hardly any", "but some", "to speak of", "one sense". Such a gaslighter. So funny.

Your journalism is better than anyone ive ever read. Please write a book.

[Wiseguy]

Keep it open ended. Youll never be wrong. Smart. Such a scholar. "There is", "there isnt", "hardly any", "but some", "to speak of", "one sense". Such a gaslighter. So funny.

Your journalism is better than anyone ive ever read. Please write a book.

Who's keeping anything open ended? The mob in Buffalo is dead. Period. It's a closed subject. I say "hardly any" because a handful of guys with loose mob connections may be considered "mob activity" by some. The distinction has been explained to you repeatedly.

[Newyorkempire]

Keep it open ended. Youll never be wrong. Smart. Such a scholar. "There is", "there isnt", "hardly any", "but some", "to speak of", "one sense". Such a gaslighter. So funny.

Your journalism is better than anyone ive ever read. Please write a book.

Who's keeping anything open ended? The mob in Buffalo is dead. Period. It's a closed subject. I say "hardly any" because a handful of guys with loose mob connections may be considered "mob activity" by some. The distinction has been explained to you repeatedly.

As has been explained many times to you a family exists until all members are dead not because you say it is. Age has nothing to do with activity. Your chart of 11 isnt even correct. Many journalists have already pointed to its functionality. A boss is appointing ranks. Former cooperating witnesses. Former cops. Theres a heirarchy. Theres deference from Hamilton and Niagara. Take away your "loose connections" theory and its still a family. Sorry

On and on and on. "Wise"guy from the BlackHandForum isnt the deciding factor. Now keep wishing you had a pic of me on your wall eating pizza and jerking off.

[Wiseguy]

Age has nothing to do with activity.

That's often true when it comes to the mob. But almost none of those in Buffalo are active.

Your chart of 11 isnt even correct.

Oh really? Is that why you (and others) can't name a single verified member? Not now. Not 10 years from now.

Many journalists have already pointed to its functionality. A boss is appointing ranks. Former cooperating witnesses. Former cops. Theres a heirarchy. Theres deference from Hamilton and Niagara. Take away your "loose connections" theory and its still a family. Sorry

Give me a break. Some local journalists have floated the theory about the family still being around. Even they don't seem fully convinced. In fact, it seems they've already largely moved on from it.

A hierarchy? A semi-active-at-best boss, an underboss from Canada who got the spot because of his pedigree and there is nobody else, a captain in Canada with no made guys under him except his brother, and a handful of inactive soldiers in Buffalo.