Fourteen people were charged for their roles in a mob-linked, multimillion-dollar illegal sports betting ring that involved university students and former college wrestlers, New Jersey authorities announced this week.
The operation, which used online, offshore betting sites, was allegedly headed and financially backed by Lucchese crime family soldier Joseph M. “Little Joe” Perna, of Fairfield, New Jersey, Attorney General Matthew Platkin told reporters at a news conference Thursday.
The bust is eye-opening in that sports betting — historically operated by organized crime — has been legal and run by legitimate casinos and race tracks in New Jersey since 2018, Platkin noted.
“Organized crime families seem to have a hard time breaking this old habit,” Platkin told reporters. “So we’re gonna break it for them.”
According to the attorney general, Perna’s son, Joseph R. Perna, 25, ran the day-to-day operations of the betting ring. The operation, he said, relied on young gamblers and sports book “agents” who were recruited from among the junior Perna’s high school and college friends.
Among those charged were former Rutgers University wrestlers, Michael Cetta, 23, of North Haledon, and Nicholas Raimo, a 25-year-old former two-time state wrestling champion from East Hanover, NJ.com reported.
The younger Perna’s brother, stepbrother, and cousins were also indicted, according to prosecutors.
The announcement comes in the wake of recent stunning revelations of rigged sports betting involving athletes in the professional ranks.
Late last month, four Mafia families were accused of being part of game-fixing and poker-rigging schemes that allegedly involved NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier.
Earlier this week prosecutors with New York’s U.S. Attorney’s office charged Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase with rigging individual pitches that led to the bettors winning hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal sports betting sites.
Platkin had some advice for college students who might come in contact with young bookies offering action on illegal sports books.
“You should not be gambling in a mob-backed operation,” he said. “That’s free parental advice.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.