By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, January 12, 1992
The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03
Executing simultaneous warrants in an investigation that began when an informant came to Rutherford police a month ago, authorities have arrested 11 people described as members of a New Jersey-New York sports betting operation.
The crackdown on Friday put an end to more than $500,000 in betting each month, authorities said, in a ring that operated in Bergen, Hudson, and Essex counties and the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island. The office of Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy coordinated the investigation.
All those arrested were charged with gambling conspiracy.
Described as linchpin of the operation was John E. Pflug Jr., 48, of 222 Jay St., Wood-Ridge, who Fahy said was the link between New Jersey and the New York portion of the operation. He was being held Saturday in $35,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.
Also being held in the jail in bail of $25,000 apiece were Frank Ingram, 48, of 9 Roosevelt St., North Arlington, and Michael C. Sears, 24, of 188 Teaneck Road, Ridgefield Park.
“Sears and Ingram took bets and contacted Pflug,” Fahy said. “Pflug would then deal with bookmakers in New York.”
Fahy said it is sheer coincidence that the crackdown took place just before football’s Super Bowl, the busiest betting time of the year. The informant who approached Rutherford detectives gave them the opportunity to start the investigation in December, he said.
Authorities mounted surveillances of the suspects homes, and a picture of the operation’s scope began to emerge.
“This was a big operation,” Fahy said. “We did an awful lot of surveillance. We are very grateful to the Rutherford Police Department, because they supplied us with the manpower. Their entire detective unit was involved.”
Authorities found $4,500 and a computer that was used to maintain gambling records at Ingram’s house when he was arrested, Fahy said. That money, plus $22,000 seized in Pflug’s home and $1,300 confiscated from Sears is subject to forfeiture to the county, authorities said.
Pflug’s 1985 Cadillac and Sears 1987 Cadillac also have been seized, and authorities are looking into the possibility of confiscating the homes where the suspects were arrested, Fahy said.
Among those arrested in Manhattan were John Caruso, 49, of 1155 Emerson Ave., Teaneck; Robert Lee, 43, of Jersey City; James Girolamo, 51, of Bloomfield; and John Casullo, 39, and Richard Chirco, 30, both of Woodbridge.
ID: 17365802 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)
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