Five people, including three who live in Westchester County, were indicted Wednesday for their alleged roles in overseeing and operating an illegal online gambling operation under the protection of the Luchese crime family.
Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said the gambling business, known as Rhino Sports, had been in operation for more than 15 years and used an offshore website and dozens of bookmakers in the New York area to take millions in illegal sports bets.
Four of the defendants were arrested at their residences. They were identified as Anthony Villani, 57, of Elmsford, an alleged Luchese crime family soldier; and his associates Louis Tucci Jr., 59, of Tuckahoe; Dennis Filizzola, 58, of Cortlandt Manor; and James Coumoutsos, 59, of the Bronx. They were arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne L. Mann in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.
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The fifth defendant, Michael Praino, 44, of the Bronx, an alleged bookmaker, was arrested in West Palm Beach, Florida, and was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court there.
“As alleged, this demonstrates how members of La Cosa Nostra continue to engage in illegal gambling operations and money-laundering, money-marking schemes that lead to threats of violence against anyone who stands in their way, and has resulted in millions of dollars in profits for the Luchese crime family,” Peace said in a statement released by his office.
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“Members of the mafia are not giving up the tried-and-true methods of criminal behavior, even in the face of the burgeoning world of legal gambling,” Driscoll added.
Rhino Sports allegedly was in business from 2004 to December 2020. According to prosecutors, it regularly took bets from between 400 and 1,300 bettors each week, most of them based in New York City and the metropolitan area.
The indictment unsealed Wednesday charges Villani with racketeering in connection with participation in various criminal schemes, including illegal gambling, money laundering and attempted extortion. He is alleged to have received more than $1 million a year from the business.
Tucci and Filizzola allegedly were used as runners to assist in operating the business.
In one example of money laundering cited by prosecutors, Villani and Filizzola used gambling proceeds to purchase U.S. Postal Service money orders disguised as rent payments to a property owned by Villani.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, the Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter @MikeRandall845.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Mafia gambling bust: Three Westchester men arrested in Luchese scheme