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| | | April 4 - A former Assemblyman has joined the list of New Jersey residents
charged in what has been called 'Operation Thunderbird', a local and federal
crackdown on an illegal online gambling ring specializing in college and
professional sports betting.
Raul Garcia, former Assemblyman and mayor of Union City, was charged on Friday
last week in connection with allegedly promoting online gambling and collecting
bets within the New Jersey area.
Since March 28th this year, over 300 local, state and federal US law enforcement
officials have cracked down on more than 70 sites throughout New Jersey to
arrest suspects, carry out searches, freeze assets and gather evidence against
the illegal operation that has processed over $500 million between August 2006
and February this year.
Of the half a billion dollars, the operation has thought to have pocketed more
than $35 million. The operation, which has been running out of a 'wire room' in
Costa Rica, encouraged bettors to place wagers online once they had acquired a
username and password from calling special 0800 numbers.
While the operation was run out of Costa Rica, literally dozens of 'runners',
'agents', managers' and 'controllers' based in New Jersey were responsible for
taking and collecting bets.
As yet no actual bettors or users of the site have been detained or charged.
Said State Police Lt. Col. Gayle Cameron, 'While illegal online gambling is
perceived as a quality-of-life crime that seems harmless, it is often run by
organized and even violent criminal enterprises. This operation was directly
involved in racketeering and, as such, paid no taxes.'
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