Costa Rica: Mob Figure Living Here Indicted Again for Wagers

Costa Rica: Mob Figure Living Here Indicted Again for Wagers


Special to A.M. Costa Rica


The Queens, New York, district Attorney's Office said that Carmen V. Cicalese, 77, a figure in a major bookmaking ring, is a fugitive again and still in Costa Rica.

He was one of 11 persons indicted in Queens County on allegations that they took in $13 million over a 19-month period by accepting wagers on various sporting events, including professional and
college football, basketball, hockey and baseball.

District Attorney Richard A. Brown said that the investigation leading to the new indictment began in July 2007 when the New York State Police and the Queens County District Attorney’s Rackets and
Organized Crime Bureau developed information about an illegal sports betting operation. The
investigation included physical surveillance, intelligence information and court-authorized electronic eavesdropping.

Cicalese was indicted by a federal grand jury last year in relation to the operation of a Costa Rica-based gambling Web site and telephone call center that served sports bookies in the United States. He was named as being the head of the operation despite his age. Cicalese, a close associate of the Genovese crime family, has lived in Costa Rica. He goes by the name Buddy and is believed to have directly supervised the operation here.

The Queens indictments are new although they seem to be related to the earlier allegations. They were announced last month.

According to the indictment, between Sept. 25, 2007 and April 10, 2009, the defendants conspired to make money illegally through the operation of an unlawful gambling enterprise that accepted bets, via an offshore wire room, on sporting events ranging from as little as $200 to as much as $4,000 on a single game.

Investigators who executed search warrants this morning recovered $210,100 from a safe at the North Carolina home of one of the defendants, William Jennings. The safe was found in a box of Christmas decorations. Investigators also executed a search warrant of a safe deposit box at the Bank of Smithtown in Huntington, L.I., and seized $160,000 cash. Another $11,000 in cash was recovered at the home of a defendant's father.

Cicalese was identified as the controller of this operation.