Connecticut Bookie Pleads Guilty to Alleged Mob Connected Website 44Wager.com

A New Haven bookie, Michael Pepe, 33, has plead guilty in a federal court Monday to two counts of operating an illegal online sports betting business with alleged ties to the Gambino crime family. 

According to the indictment handed down against Pepe, he and 19 others with ties to the Gambinos in Connecticut helped supervise offices that took millions of dollars in sports bets from gamblers while coordinating the collection of debts from gamblers. 

The men also transferred funds to pay off operators of 44Wager.com, a Costa Rican-based sports betting website that appears to now be offline. 

The Gambino family are said to have strong control over territory of southwest Connecticut since the early 1980s, federal authorities have stated.

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com