Richard Uva and Victor Amereno both alleged members of the Gambino crime family have been sentenced for their parts in a large scale illegal gambling operation in Connecticut. Uva was said to be the second in command to Dean DePreta the head of the Gambino family operations in Connecticut according to assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Chen. Uva helped supervise a network of bookmakers for a large scale sports bookmaking operation along with illegal card playing clubs in the area. According to the FBI the illegal sports betting operation brought in a total revenue of approximately $1.7 million dollars from mid 2010 to June of 2011. Uva also admitted to being involved in an extortion scheme where he collected tribute payments on behalf of the Gambino family and New York mafia from local independent bookmakers in Connecticut.
There were twenty people in total charged in connection with the illegal bookmaking operation and 18 defendants have pleaded guilty so far and agreed to forfeit almost $1.4 million dollars. Uva was sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in prison with 3 more years of probation following his release and has to forfeit $250,000. Amereno was sentenced to six months in prison and three years of probation and has to forfeit $15,000. Earlier this month ring leader DePreta was sentenced to 71 months in prison.
