Supreme Court ruling deals blow to core business of New York mafia
The mob’s gambling racket is about to sleep with the fishes.
The US Supreme Court’s sports-betting ruling dealt a losing hand to organized crime in the New York area, legal experts said Monday.
Gambling and loan-sharking have traditionally been the mob’s “bread and butter,” and the decision will “significantly reduce” its clientele, former federal prosecutor Thomas Seigel said.
“They will definitely lose a regular source of predictable income,” said Seigel, who ran the Organized Crime and Gangs Section of the Brooklyn US Attorney’ s Office.
Defense lawyer John Meringolo, who’s represented John “Junior” Gotti and reputed Philadelphia mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, said legal sports betting “will have a detrimental effect on the mob and anyone who tries to make a living through this type of vice.”
“For what’s left of what they do, this would significantly hurt their bottom line, if not completely destroy it,” said Meringolo, also a Pace Law School professor.
“If there’s no gambling, there’s no core business.”
Seigel — who prosecuted crooked NBA referee Tim Donaghy on gambling charges — said he expected mobsters would come up with new scams, potentially involving crypto-currencies in an “analog to the penny stocks of the ’90s.”
“I wouldn’t fully count them out, because they are resilient, but it is definitely going to be a blow,” he said.
https://nypost.com/2018/05/14/mobsters-will-lose-core-business-thanks-to-legal-sports-betting-experts/
A few quick thoughts; A, winnings taxed at who knows what percentage (vs 0% in the street) gamblers are greedy B, you must have the money upfront to wager (unlike a street bookmaker)why bet the $50 you have rather than the $500 a bookie credits you for the week, C Imagining if credit cards are allowed,(lord knows what the default rate would be), D street bookmakers can alter the odds slightly (or heavily) to keep customers. I'm sure it will hurt traditional OC, but not kill it.
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