14 Charged in Large Scale Sports Betting Operation

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe today announced the arrests of 14 individuals on charges of unlawfully operating a sports betting enterprise that stretched from Rockland County to New York City and from Bergen County, New Jersey to Palm Beach, Florida. It is estimated that the ring took in millions of dollars a month over a 16-month period by accepting wagers on a wide variety of sporting events – ranging from professional football, basketball, hockey and baseball to college basketball, among others.

District Attorney Zugibe said, “The defendants are accused of operating an incredibly lucrative gambling operation – taking in millions of dollars a month. Such unlawfully earned profits are commonly diverted to more insidious criminal enterprises. In fact, the investigation uncovered evidence that the enterprise had links to organized crime.”

The defendants - who range in age from 27 to 74, are charged with Promoting Gambling, Possession of Gambling Records, Money Laundering and other offenses. Based on information obtained during the probe, there were approximately 60 court authorized search warrants in New York, New Jersey and Florida. To date more than $3 million dollars in cash and other properties have been seized.

The defendants arraigned before Clarkstown Town Justice

• Patsy Capolongo, 8210 Spyglass Dr, West Palm Beach, Florida charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree.
• Carmine Potenza, 93 N. Pilgrim, Pearl River, NY charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree.
• Harry Floershiem, 6 Mountain View Dr, Tompkins Cove, NY charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree.
• Thomas Feeney, 6 College Rd, Nanuet, NY charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the firs tdegree.
• Brian E. Kelly, 23 Carlton Rd, Pearl River, NY charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the second degree
• Richard Simko, 5 Herbet Ct, Tomkins Cove, NY charged with Promoting Gambling in the second degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the 4th degree
• Richard Lacava, 622 Pelhamdale Ave, Pelham Manor, NY charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree
• Eric Wachter, 2430 Stuart St, Brooklyn, NY charged with Money Laundering in the Fourth degree
• John Tognino, 3191 Ampere Ave, Bronx, NY charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree.
• Robert Wisiak, 7356 196th St, Queens, NY charged with Promoting Gambling in the First degree and possession of gambling records in the first degree.

The crackdown was the culmination of a 16-month probe led by the District Attorney’s Organized Crime Unit with the assistance of the New York State Police Special Investigative Unit, the Clarkstown Police Department, the Ramapo Police Department, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the Queens District Attorney’s Organized Crime Division, the NYPD Asset Forfeiture Unit, the Department of Homeland Security, the Broward County Sheriff’s Department, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI.

"Illegal gambling is not a victimless crime. Those who participate in these criminal enterprises often use threats, intimidation and even physical force to collect debts and regularly charge usurious interest rates on outstanding debts. In addition to our local and state partners, I want to thank our federal law enforcement colleagues and out-of-state police authorities for their cooperation and
efforts in this sweeping probe,” said Zugibe.

All of the defendants were arraigned before Clarkstown Town Justice Rolf Thorsen. All defendants were released on their own recognizance.

This is an ongoing investigation and it is anticipated that there will be further arrests.

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Investigations to Proceed on #OperationChokePoint

As reported last month, a coalition of congressional representatives led by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer  (R-Mo.) had requested internal investigators at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to conduct formal inquiries into Operation Choke Point, as well as any officials and staff involved in the program. Rep. Luetkemeyer is now reporting that those requests have been granted. According to his press release announcing the decisions, “The correspondence I received from the FDIC and DOJ is a great first step in ensuring that those responsible for Operation Choke Point are held accountable and that Congress and the American people receive details and answers they deserve.”

Over the past year, the NRA has reported at length on the abuses of Operation Choke Point, an enforcement program involving DOJ and FDIC (among other agencies) that claims to target financial fraud, but in reality is being used to choke off banking services to legitimate, although politically-disfavored, businesses. These businesses include retailers of firearms and ammunition, a number of which have found their banking relationships abruptly severed with little or no explanation and without reference to anything the individual businesses did or did not do. Earlier this year, a congressional report based on examination of nearly 900 internal DOJ documents found that the operation's adverse effect on legitimate businesses was not merely an unintended side-effect but the outcome of a deliberate attempt to target entire business sectors that, while legal, were deemed objectionable by regulators.

Many questions about the program remain, including who decided which business sectors should be targeted, the extent of coordination between the agencies involved, and who within the Obama administration knew of or encouraged the activity. The forthcoming investigations should hopefully shed light on these and other important issues. What is clear is that DOJ and FDIC have a lot of explaining to do.

The NRA remains committed to shedding light on the abusive practices of Operation Choke Point. While other attempts to reign in Choke Point are underway -- including legislation and litigation by affected members of the financial services industry -- the ultimate solutions to such rank abuse of investigative and enforcement authorities is to ensure they are clearly revealed for what they are and to pinpoint the decision-makers and planners involved. Legislation and court orders, while beneficial and certainly indicated in addressing Operation Choke Point, are no substitute for integrity, sound discretion, and professional ethics.  In this regard, Operation Choke Point may have more to say about the character of those administering the system than about the soundness of the system itself.

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Black Hand CEO, Charles “Chaz” Williams Files Second Lawsuit Against BET, @BETNETWORKS

Black Hand CEO, Charles “Chaz” Williams has filed a five million dollar ($5,000,000) lawsuit against BET Networks for tortious interference, defamation, and unfair business practice. The lawsuit, filed in Queens County, Supreme Court on September 24, 2014 is based on BET’s action in including Mr. Williams in a feature on its website under the title “INFAMOUS MUSIC MANAGERS”. Mr. Williams was named alongside other music managers including Pebbles, Jerry Heller, Lou Pearlman, Chris Stokes, Maurice Starr, and others. The story went on to state, “in 2003, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson accused him of participating in a 2000 shooting that almost killed the rap star.” Something to which Mr. Williams has never been legally implicated, charged, or convicted.

Mr. Williams alleged that BET acted with reckless, negligent, and malicious intent by printing unsubstantiated and false information about a criminal offense involving the attempt murder of 50 Cent. Mr. Williams stated, “I absolutely had nothing to do with the 50 Cent shooting. I have never been charged with or convicted of any offense against 50. There is no evidence or legal documentation in any federal or state court, nothing presented to a grand jury, or in any law enforcement file that support’s BET’s article…”

In the state lawsuit, it is also alleged that BET acted in retaliation for an earlier $20.5 million dollar copyright infringement lawsuit filed in federal court in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in 2013, against BET, A&E Networks, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, and Best Buy. That lawsuit is based on the unauthorized use of material Mr. Williams registered for copyright with the Library of Congress in 1999 and which BET incorporated in an episode of its American Gangster series featuring Mr. Williams, (CHAZ WILLIAMS, ARMED & DANGEROUS), and later distributed, licensed, and sold by the others named in the lawsuit. The copyright was filed by Mr. Williams just prior to a one (1) year story rights option film deal with Roc-A-Fella Films, a company once owned by Jay Z and Dame Dash. Mr. Williams went on to state, “…this is an ongoing thing with BET, another example of big business flexing and profiting off someone’s story without proper compensation. I’ve had issues with them in the past and they don’t stop. But let’s be clear, 50 Cent has never implicated me in any criminal activity in any court of law or to any law enforcement; to say otherwise, is irresponsible reporting on BET’s part.”

Mr. Williams and BET are scheduled to appear in both federal and state court in December

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5 things you might not know about JFK's assassination

This year will mark 51 years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Whether you were alive at the time or not, you probably know that Lee Harvey Oswald killed the President, only to be fatally gunned down by Jack Ruby two days later.

You probably also know there are hundreds of conspiracy theories about who was behind the assassination, and whether Oswald was the lone gunman or if there was another shooter on the infamous grassy knoll.

Here are five things you may not know about the assassination of the 35th president of the United States:

1. Oswald wasn't arrested for JFK killing

Lee Harvey Oswald was actually arrested for fatally shooting a police officer, Dallas patrolman J.D. Tippitt, 45 minutes after killing Kennedy. He denied killing either one and, as he was being transferred to county jail two days later, he was shot and killed by Dallas nightclub operator Jack Ruby.

2. Assassinating the president wasn't a federal crime in 1963

Despite the assassinations of three U.S. presidents -- Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield and William McKinley -- killing or attempting to harm a president wasn't a federal offense until 1965, two years after Kennedy's death.

3. TV networks suspended shows for four days

On November 22, 1963, at 12:40 p.m. CST -- just 10 minutes after President Kennedy was shot -- CBS broadcast the first nationwide TV news bulletin on the shooting. After that, all three television networks -- CBS, NBC, and ABC -- interrupted their regular programming to cover the assassination for four straight days. The JFK assassination was the longest uninterrupted news event on television until the coverage of the September 11 attacks in 2001.

4. It led to the first and only time a woman swore in a U.S. president

Hours after the assassination, Vice President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president aboard Air Force One, with Jacqueline Kennedy at his side, an event captured in an iconic photograph. Federal Judge Sarah Hughes administered the oath, the only woman ever to do so.

5. Oswald had tried to assassinate Kennedy foe

Eight months before Oswald assassinated JFK, he tried to kill an outspoken anti-communist, former U.S. Army Gen. Edwin Walker. After his resignation from the U.S. Army in 1961, Walker became an outspoken critic of the Kennedy administration and actively opposed the move to racially integrate schools in the South. The Warren Commission, charged with investigating Kennedy's 1963 assassination, found that Oswald had tried to shoot and kill Walker while the retired general was inside his home. Walker suffered minor injuries from bullet fragments.

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Al Sharpton Investigation Finds Millions in State and Federal Taxes owed by @TheRevAl, his non-profit company @NationalAction, and his for-profit company Raw Talent and Revals Communications

An investigation by The New York Times found that Rev. Al Sharpton owes more than $4.5 million in current state and federal taxes.

The figure includes taxes from Sharpton's personal income as well as from his for-profit company, Raw Talent and Revals Communications. Sharpton apparently owes more than $3 million in personal federal tax liens and $777,657 in state tax liens. Raw Talent and Revals Communications, meanwhile, owe another $717,329 in state and federal tax liens.

Sharpton's non-profit company, the National Action Network, has apparently underpaid the government federal taxes as well. The National Action Network's tax liability increased from $900,000 in 2003 to almost $1.9 million in 2006.

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