Florida Sheriff Seeks Civil Forfeiture of $1M+ Seized in Illegal Gambling Probe

A sheriff inwards South Sunshine State wants to keep back to a greater extent than $1.2 meg in cash, along with other items. The bounty was seized earlier this twelvemonth during searches tied to an illegal bookmaking investigation that has in time to bring on any malefactor charges.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Thursday that the Office of the Statewide Prosecutor has told tetrad men they are under investigation. While none currently have got been indicted, royal court records show Broward County Sheriff St. Gregory of Nazianzen Tony first-class honours degree sought-after(a) to prehend the money on May 7, tierce weeks after searches at Little Joe locations. The drag included niner $1,000 stove poker chips and 25 gilded coins with an estimated note value of more than $44,000.

Tony then filed an amended petition on Aug. 23.

Like all other US states, FL has polite forfeiture statutes that tolerate practice of law enforcement to keep assets taken during searches or stops. According to FindLaw.com, Florida’s statute only when requires that jurisprudence enforcement demonstrate “beyond a sane uncertainty that the property is linked to a crime.”

According to an Orlando Sentinel article, Everglade State law of nature enforcement officials seized to a greater extent than $265 billion in cash in and personal dimension inwards 2018. That was more than any other commonwealth in the country.

According to the Institute for Justice, land and federal natural law enforcement agencies have used civil forfeiture laws to claim to a greater extent than $68.8 billion, according to the Institute for Justice.

Investigation Started Three Years Ago

According to Tony’s petition, his office’s Organized Crime Unit got a bung from a Crime Stoppers call up inward December 2018. The message was that a piece named William Cascioli was part of a mathematical group running an illegal gambling and money laundering annulus inward South Florida.

“The tout farther advised that members of the system operate an illegal sports betting surgery comprised of multiple partners and that the organisation receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in proceeds weekly,” the complaint stated.

After the call, sheriff’s officers began to rail Cascioli. During that time, the officers noted Cascioli held several meetings in Davie, a Broward County community. He was also found picking upwards an unidentified whiteness manlike with a rucksack from Terminal 3 of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The ii drove chisel off, but returned proceedings later to the Terminal 1 leaving building. There, the terra incognita manful exited the car with the backpack.

From the airport, the civic forfeiture petition says officers saw Cascioli go to a CVS Pharmacy, where he purchased ii Yahtzee get on games. Less than an 60 minutes later, he went to a FedEx location to ship the Yahtzee games. One went to TX and the other to California.

While in line of products with the clerk, Cascioli was overheard utilizing his cellular gimmick communicating with an item-by-item he referred to as ‘Stevie Boy’ and discussing the tip spreads, odds on the Super Bowl, and gymnastic horse racing,” the complaint states.

FedEx officials would open the boxes as constituent of the company’s policies against merchant marine illegal contraband. They found more than $200,000 inwards immediate payment in both Yahtzee boxes.

That money was eventually seized, and farther investigating found that the illegal bookmaking ring was allegedly prevalent in Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, Collier, and Dino Paul Crocetti counties.

Civil Forfeiture Attempt Fought

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office also alleges the annulus used a website, betbigcity.ag, to extend its operation, with an account naturalized by Cascioli. The complaint states that 23 agents of the ring had accounts, with 115 clients using the site.

This past times April, the sheriff’s office staff filed for hunt warrants for Cascioli’s Palm Beach County place and for residences of trio other people, Sir Alexander Robertus Todd Schettino, Joel Chandler Harris Steinhart, and Steve Martin Zarcadoolas. Warrants were also filed for accounts connected to Zarcadoolas, Cascioli, and Voehringer Realty LLC.

The sheriff’s petition alleges that Zarcadoolas was a high-ranking fellow member of the organization, and accounts inward his name were used to “conceal the proceeds of their illegal bookmaking activity.”

Among the property seized from Zarcadoolas included the gold coins and stove poker chips, as fountainhead as to a greater extent than $183,000 from a closet safe at his residence. Law enforcement also confiscated several electronic devices, such as a MacBook, a Chromebook, iPads, and cell phones, and men’s Breitling, Cartier, and Rolex watches.

Bank seizures from Zarcadoolas included nearly $600,000 from an accounting at Salmon P. Chase Bank, and to a greater extent than $165,000 from a Bank of America account.

Zarcadoolas has denied his involvement inward the illegal play ring. Margaret Court documents demonstrate he has fought efforts to experience his possessions seized through civil forfeiture.

“The seizing law enforcement office effectuated an unconstitutional look of Zarcadoolas’ place inward violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Everglade State Old Ironsides and the United States Constitution,” Zarcadoolas’ response to the amended complaint states.