New York online sports betting ring busted

The New York Daily News reports that six local men were arrested Thursday for conducting an online gambling operation that prosecutors claim generated over $13 million between September 2015 and this week through a Costa Rica-based site identified as Stakestake.com.

Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said in a press release: “We’ve now shut down this illegal enterprise that was controlled by organized crime and will fully prosecute those who have been indicted.”

Prosecutors cited the ring-leader as Eugene (Boopsie) Castelle (56), a reputed member of the Lucchese crime family. It is alleged that Castelle has a criminal record for racketeering and that he spent over a year in federal prison after being convicted in that case.

The six defendants face a 37-charge indictment with charges ranging from enterprise corruption to money laundering. They were granted bail orders of between $25,000 and $250,000 depending on their records and extent of involvement by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun.

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