Multimillion Dollar Sports Betting Pyramid Scheme In Las Vegas Busted #OnlyVegas

Two Las Vegas residents made their initial court appearances in U.S. District Court for charges in connection with a multimillion dollar investment fraud scheme, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich of the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse of the FBI.

A federal grand jury returned a 14 count indictment, charging John Frank Thomas III, 75, and Thomas Joseph Becker, 72, both of Las Vegas, with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 13 counts of wire fraud. Thomas is also known as “John Frank,” “Johnathan West,” “John Frank Rodgers,” “John Marshall,” and “John Edwards.” Following their arrests, Thomas and Becker made their initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy J. Koppe, who scheduled a jury trial for January 4, 2021.

“Nevada has earned a worldwide reputation as the gold standard in gaming integrity,” said U.S. Attorney Trutanich. “Our office will continue working with our law enforcement partners and the gaming industry, including the FBI, to maintain Nevada’s reputation — which reflects the efforts of hardworking Nevadans across our state — by investigating and prosecuting violations of the law, and by helping enhance compliance programs.”

According to allegations in the indictment, from September 2010 to August 2019, Thomas and Becker maintained — and advertised to investors as supposed investment funds — the following entities: Sports Psychometrics; Vegas Basketball Club; Vegas Football Club; Einstein Sports Advisory; Quantum Sports Advisory; Wellington Sports Club; and Welscorp, Inc. Thomas and Becker made false representations to investors that they would use their sports betting skills and strategy to make sports bets with the investors’ money:

• For example, Thomas and Becker told investors that their “‘special insights’ and ahead-of-the-curve strategies… can generate an Average-Profit-Per-Bet of +140% per $100 bet… and possibly as high as +180% or plus $180 per $100 bet. In essence, unlimited riches.” 
• Similarly, they advertised a “perfect investment opportunity,” offering “quick access to funds – funds that can be withdrawn by wire or transfer in only one day” and “exceptionally high yield – we achieved a +10.75% ROI per betting day during 2014 Football Season.”
  

Thomas and Becker also allegedly misrepresented to investors that their accounts were multiplying in value due to successful sports betting, when in fact no such betting occurred. And when investors tried to cash out their investments, Thomas and Becker ignored their calls and emails, and made various excuses for why they could not distribute the money, ranging from purported medical reasons to issues with banks and sportsbooks. To the extent any investors were paid out, those payments came from money deposited by other investors, rather than successful sports bets.

Thomas and Becker induced more than 600 individuals to deposit money —from less than $10,000 to over $500,000 — into their purported investment funds, for a total of at least $29 million. The estimated loss amount to investors is alleged to be at least $9 million dollars. Thomas and Becker spent investors’ funds on personal expenses, including dining, housing, home improvement, and transportation.

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Second City Sinners - True Crime from Historic Chicago's Deadly Streets #BookRecommendation

Countless crimes have riveted Chicago and its surrounding communities throughout history. Second City Sinners offers front-row seats to the Haymarket Riot that exploded across the city in 1886, then bleeds through the historic back alleys, skirting past a murderous butcher, the Black Hand, Tommy O'Connor's jailbreak, and John Dillinger's final flick at the Biograph Theater. In the courtroom, witness Clarence Darrow in 1894 as he defends the man who murdered Chicago's mayor, and then again in 1924 as Darrow attempts to save the young men who tried to plot the perfect crime.

Many of the voices of these historic characters come from the journalists of their era, reporting on life and death in Chicago. Chicago Sun-Times journalist Jon Seidel takes readers back in time to the days when H. H. Holmes lurked in his "Murder Castle" and guys named Al Capone and John Dillinger ruled the underworld. Drawing upon years of reporting, and with special access to the Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun-Times archives, Jon Seidel explains how men such as Nathan Leopold, Richard Loeb and Richard Speck tried to get away with history's most disturbing crimes.

Second City Sinners: True Crime from Historic Chicago’s Deadly Streets, is published by Lyons Press and is available in hardcover, on Kindle or Nook, or as an audiobook.

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Mafia Boss Don Pauly Learns about being #Woke in Crime #BillBurr @SNL

A lot has changed in the organized crime landscape since a mafia don (Bill Burr) spent 20 years in prison, so much so that his loyal crew of capos and consiglieres have to spend their reunion dinner explaining just why, exactly, chastising his mafia family as “a bunch of queers” is grounds for swimmin’ with the fishes. But yeah, shooting people in their skulls is still totally fine and encouraged.

“Representation is very important, even in crime,” he’s advised about embracing a new Wokefather persona. “We got slammed on Twitter for our lack of diversity.” One of the capos, triggered by a comment, even gets so worked up that he leaves to “take a mental health day and work from home.” For his sake, we hope his home is adjacent to the Hudson River.

Thanks to Devon Ivie.

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Rage, the new book from @realBobWoodward, is an unprecedented and intimate tour de force of new reporting on the Trump presidency facing a global pandemic, economic disaster and racial unrest

Bob Woodward’s new book, Rage, is an unprecedented and intimate tour de force of new reporting on the Donald Trump presidency facing a global pandemic, economic disaster and racial unrest.

Woodward, the #1 international bestselling author of Fear: Trump in the White House, has uncovered the precise moment the president was warned that the Covid-19 epidemic would be the biggest national security threat to his presidency. In dramatic detail, Woodward takes readers into the Oval Office as Trump’s head pops up when he is told in January 2020 that the pandemic could reach the scale of the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed 675,000 Americans.

In 17 on-the-record interviews with Woodward over seven volatile months—an utterly vivid window into Trump’s mind—the president provides a self-portrait that is part denial and part combative interchange mixed with surprising moments of doubt as he glimpses the perils in the presidency and what he calls the “dynamite behind every door.”

At key decision points, Rage shows how Trump’s responses to the crises of 2020 were rooted in the instincts, habits and style he developed during his first three years as president.

Revisiting the earliest days of the Trump presidency, Rage reveals how Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats struggled to keep the country safe as the president dismantled any semblance of collegial national security decision making.

Rage draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand witnesses as well as participants’ notes, emails, diaries, calendars and confidential documents.

Woodward obtained 25 never-seen personal letters exchanged between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who describes the bond between the two leaders as out of a “fantasy film.”

Trump insists to Woodward he will triumph over Covid-19 and the economic calamity. “Don’t worry about it, Bob. Okay?” Trump told the author in July. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get to do another book. You’ll find I was right.”

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The mafia has hijacked images of the Virgin Mary in an attempt to convince people that they are doing God's work

The Pope addressed a letter to a new Vatican think tank, which was launched by the Pontifical Marian Academy which was launched at a "Liberating Mary from the Mafia" conference on Friday, Sept. 18.

The mafia has commonly used images of the Virgin Mary due to its close ties with the Catholic Church. A number of mobsters also hijack images of Mary and other Catholic figures to claim that God is on their side.

Pope Francis, however, is attempting to put a stop to this and, speaking at Friday's conference, he said that religious and cultural images of the Madonna "must be preserved in its original purity."

The Pope additionally said that any displays of devotion to Mary "must conform to the message of the Gospel and the teachings of the church."

Francis said that mobsters simply can't live Christian lives because their lifestyles and their actions "blasphemes" God, according to the Associated Press.

Pope Francis's message to the think tank was dated Aug. 15, a major Catholic feast day devoted to Mary.

The recently-established think tank is made up of clergymen and law enforcement experts with experience fighting organized crime.

The Argentinian Pope is following the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, who previously tried to put an end to the mafia's associations with the Virgin Mary, warning mobsters that they needed to change their ways or face the wrath of God.

In 1993, John Paul II famously visited the island of Sicily after two highly-publicized killings of anti-mafia prosecutors.

The Catholic Church has historic ties with the mafia in Italy. Some priests have openly supported the mafia, facing criticism and police interest for holding elaborate weddings, funeral and celebrations of other sacraments for mafia dons in addition to accepting mafia donations. Other priests have publicly opposed the mob and paid for it with their lives.

The mafia reportedly exploits popular veneration of the Virgin Media to foster a culture of obedience to its own authority.

Mafiosos commonly fund huge religious processions where a statue of Mary is made to "bow" to a mafia boss.

This tradition is used to send a political message to local Catholics that the mafia is doing God's work and working for the good of the community.

The notorious ’Ndrangheta crime group in Southern Italy has also conducted councils at Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Polsi, in the Calabrian mountains.

Thanks to Shane O'Brien.

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