Robert Iannelli and his son Rodney Iannelli were busted again for running a large scale illegal sports betting and lottery operation in Pittsburgh.
According to reports state police and the attorney general’s office began an investigation into the scheme back in 2015. Investigators were able to take down the criminal operating with the help of a confidential informant along with surveillance and wiretaps. Thirteen people in all were charged by the statewide grand jury with various gambling crimes according to the indictment. It also alleges the Iannelli’s used an Allegheny County restaurant named Chub’s Place to meet customers and exchange money.
The father and son duo have been involved in illegal gambling for years. Robert “Bobby I” Iannelli is an alleged associate of the once powerful Pittsburgh crime family. The 88-year-old has been convicted of running various illegal sports betting rackets over the years dating all way back to 1969. His son Rodney plead guilty to related illegal gambling charges as recently as 2014 which were part of an investigation called Operation Pork Chop. It got him a year’s probation and an order to repay thousands of dollars in restitution.
All of the defendants in the case are going to be in court sometime next week for preliminary arraignments. The Pittsburgh Mafia once known as the LaRocca crime family was a highly profitable and influential family in its heyday. The Cosa Nostra family is now just a shell of its former self and considered by most to be all but defunct.
