http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/book29.html

7 charged in sports betting ring

April 29, 2000

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH STAFF REPORTER

Seven Chicago area men are accused of running a sports betting ring that netted $2 million over three years.

At least two of the men have been convicted of mob-related crimes. All have colorful nicknames, such as "Hotdogs," "Sponge," "Rags" and "Baldy."

The men used cell phones to relay bets to Las Vegas on pro and college football, basketball, hockey and baseball games, said U.S. Attorney Scott Lassar and Kathleen McChesney, special agent in charge of the Chicago FBI office.

Six of the seven men appeared in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Friday. Five were released on $50,000 bail each, charged with racketeering and gambling.

The sixth, Anthony R. "Seymour" Dote, 48, formerly of Elmwood Park, remains in custody from a 1995 conviction for running a similar illegal sports bookkeepping enterprise. He was the organizer and leader of this one from 1994 until he went to prison in 1996, prosecutors said.

The seventh man, Francis Patrick "Cosmo" Mazza, 48, also formerly of Elmwood Park, remains in jail for bank robberies in 1991 in Berwyn and Saugatuck, Mich. Mazza allegedly managed the enterprise from 1994 to 1996, when he went to prison, getting the point spreads from Las Vegas and leaving the information on telephone answering systems.

With Dote and Mazza in prison, Donald F. "Sponge" Scalise, also known as "Rags," 61, of Wood Dale and Dote's brother Carl, 51, of Elmwood Park took over the operation, which lasted through 1997, prosecutors said.

The others appearing in court Friday included Jack "Baldy," Cozzi, 44, of Chicago; Sherman "Hotdogs" Goldman, 70, of Glenview, and Frank J. "Captain" Adamo of Chicago.

Cozzi and Goldman took the bets, and Adamo kept the books and reported the results via fax to the other members, prosecutors said.

Asked if all seven men were mobsters or if the bookkeeping operation was a venture of organized crime, Lassar said, "That's not alleged."

Prosecutors hope to use forfeiture laws to recoup the $2.1 million from the men's bank accounts, real estate holdings and other sources, Lassar said.

-- Maya (Maya@eck.is), April 29, 2000

Answers

Maya,

In the kindest sense, don't get upset over this bit of news out of Chicago.

This to me is a "yawnnnner"

Being born and raised on the North Side of Chicago, lake front, as a kid, there wasn't a cigar store going that didn't have a Bookie in the back room and run numbers. And, there was a "Cigar" store every few blocks. Everyone knew it, no one paid any attention, even the cops that hung out in these stores.

But, every few years, there was a big crackdown, and in a week or so, it was back to business as usual.

-- Richard (Astral-Acres@webtv.net), April 30, 2000.

Okay Richard. Thanx for the info.

-- Maya (Maya@eck.is), April 30, 2000.