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Local Providence, Rhode Island news station WPRI obtained search warrants revealing that an illegal sports betting ring run throughout the state allegedly had a net value of $2.4 million.
17 individuals, including a Major League Baseball player with the Arizona Diamondbacks, were charged last week with Organized Criminal Gambling and Conspiracy for their role in running what police say was a Mafia-connected illegal sports betting ring dubbed “Operation Free Roll”. Other arrests are still possible, according to Rhode Island state police.
A number of businesses and two Costa Rica-based websites, VIPBettors.com and BetCapri.com, are alleged to have had ties to the organization.
According to the documents, Cozy Grill owner Thomas Pilderian oversaw 80 betting customers. Police ntercepted 69 calls and texts for which 46 were said to be incriminating. The Cozy Grill was among the establishments raided last week.
One search warrant obtained by WPRI details a conversation regarding a Providence College basketball game while another between Pilderian and his brother had to do with bets on a NASCAR race.
Thomas Pilderian: “He wants better odds, he’s gotta put it in.”
Jason Pilderian: “I don’t know, nothing about this [expletive] racecar [expletive]”
Thomas Pilderian: “It’s the same thing as anything, same thing as betting the football game.”
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Sean W. Furney, 24, who signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, was among those named in the complaint. Others arrested included former state High School star athletes as well as a man drafted to the Boston Red Sox but who never signed with the team.
The sting also resulted in the bust of a $1.5 million marijuana operation. The documents revealed one text exchange with an order for 15 pounds of the drug.
Most of those arrested will appear before a judge in June for a hearing.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
