Four plead guilty in mob gambling ring
Ex-Shea groundskeeper indicted for organizing over $360 million in bets
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NEW YORK - Four men who prosecutors said were part of a mob-controlled bookmaking enterprise that reached inside Shea Stadium pleaded guilty to felony charges Friday.
Their guilty pleas, entered in a Queens courtroom, were among nine made this week by defendants in a gambling operation that allegedly processed $360 million in bets in two years.
Queens County District Attorney Richard A. Brown said the 36 people charged in the case were part of a ring that handled wagers at wire rooms in Queens and Costa Rica and benefited the Bonanno crime family.
Among those indicted was Dominic Valila, a former head groundskeeper at Shea, where the New York Mets play. He pleaded guilty earlier this week to a charge of promoting gambling and was sentenced to probation.
Prosecutors said Valila took bets by telephone at the stadium. There were no alleged connections to Mets players.
On Friday, four men pleaded guilty to charges of enterprise corruption.
The ring’s alleged leader, Christopher Bruno, 34, pleaded guilty earlier this week and was scheduled to be sentenced in November to three to nine years in prison.
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