80-year-old organised crime boss sent to jail on sports betting offences

Charges which originated in the 2007 bust of an illegal multi-billion dollar New Jersey sports betting ring culminated this week with a three year jail sentence handed down to the alleged boss of the ring, eighty-year-old Joseph DiNapoli.

Prosecutors alleged that DiNapoli, who entered a guilty plea in February this year on racketeering charges flowing from a gambling operation that reportedly grossed $2.2 billion during a 15-month period in the mid-2000s, was associated with the Lucchese organised crime family.

New Jersey State Superior Court Judge Salem Vincent Ahto sentenced DiNapoli in Morris County after hearing from prosecutors that the defendant’s illegal sports betting ring accepted bets through password-protected Costa Rica-based websites.

In addition to overseeing the sports betting gambling ring, investigators claimed that DiNapoli orchestrated a scheme that brought together a corrections officer and high-ranking member of a street gang. Together, the conspiracy smuggled drugs and prepaid cell phones into the East Jersey State Prison.

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