Gambling Ring Leader Giordano Won't Plea: Others Start Serving Time21 out of 24 in the James Giordano Gambling case have entered into plea bargains, it has been revealed to Gambling911.com. James Giordano - himself looking at a 4 1/2 to 9 year jail sentence - is not one of those who has plead "guilty" and expects to go to trial.
The charges made public by the DA's office are felony violations of the Penal Law (Article 460 Enterprise Corruption), and (Article 225 Gambling Offenses).
Authorities said they broke the case wide open last year when New York Police Department investigators secretly hacked into a laptop computer that James Giordano had left in a Long Island hotel while attending a wedding.
Giordano, 52, was arrested Nov. 15 by FBI agents who scaled the walls of his fortress-like Florida compound. He was indicted along with 26 others, including three family members, on charges of running an online gambling scheme that rivaled casino sports betting.
Prosecutors allege that since 2004, Giordano had run a $1 billion-a-year operation involving tens of thousands of bettors and 2,000 bookies.
One of Giordano's attorneys says the numbers derived at by investigators is "mathematically incorrect".
Attorney Sandy Becher tells Gambling911.com: "There are areas where they (The Queens DA's office) are misguided: The calculation of numbers; who was actually earning money from wagering activity, who was simply providing support services while not intending to be engaged in any type of illegal activity, and the extent to which they think the Giordano's themselves were involved in any type of illegal gambling is completely inaccurate."
DA Richard Brown serious about keeping gambling establishments out of Queens
Giordano's son-in-law, Danny Clarin, has begun to serve a 2 1/2 year sentence. An individual who acted as Clarin's "money man" is said to be living it up in Costa Rica. He was not among those indicted.
Most of the other co-defendants are looking at reduced time or no time at all provided they can pay a very steep fine.
"It makes no sense for the Queens DA to lock up a lot of these guys who are first offenders when they can get money out of them, hopefully to fix roads," a source told Gambling911.com.
But for some co-defendants, it's a matter of serving up to two years in prison or risk losing every asset they have.
"It's a catch 22 because the state prisons are brutal."
The Giordano case was originally going to be federal but the US government learned that the Queens DA's office had already begun an investigation.
"It's first come, first serve," discloses our source.
For James Giordano, the steeper sentence is derived not only from his involvement, but from a prior conviction in the early 90's - also out of Queens, New York.
A new prosecutor in the Queens DA's office means further delays. This will be the new prosecutor's biggest case to date assuming it ever gets to trial.
Recent gambling busts have resulted in numerous instances of guys "ratting on one another", Gambling911.com has learned, and this is likely to lead to further arrests, though our sources in the New York City area say things are relatively quiet for the time being.
"It's a ripple effect," a New York source tells us. "These guys don't know when to shut up. You (the investigator) don't even have to ask them questions. They start blabbing out their life stories."
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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com
Originally published June 1, 2007 11:03 am ET
