Soccer club shut as poker casino

CLIFTON - Police say they shut down an illegal casino late Tuesday that was holding high-stakes Texas Hold 'Em poker games while posing as a soccer club.

Forty-five law enforcement officers from several departments and agencies raided the club, located in the basement of the Styretowne Shopping Center, taking into custody about 70 people and confiscating roughly $60,000 in cash, Detective Capt. Robert Rowan said.

Three managers and six dealers were charged with indictable crimes, Rowan said. The players were questioned and checked for outstanding warrants, he said, with two players arrested on warrant charges and the others released.

The investigation is ongoing, and the police are looking into possible links to organized crime, Rowan said.

The club's alleged manager, Jose Gomez, 55, of the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, was charged with promoting gambling, maintaining a gambling resort and possession of gambling records, Rowan said.

The club's alleged assistant managers, Richard Aquino, 33, of Kearny, and Angelo Caamano, 35, of Fair Lawn, were charged with promoting gambling and maintaining a gambling resort, he said.

Each of the charges against the three alleged managers is a third-degree charge that could carry three to five years in jail, Rowan said. Six dealers were arrested and charged with promoting gambling, a fourth-degree charge that could carry 18 months in jail.

The six alleged dealers are Anthony Macaluso, 35, of Totowa; John D'Elia, 25, of Lyndhurst; his brother Joseph D'Elia, 29, of Lyndhurst; Richard Grazul, 30, of Kearny; Robert McEwen, 23, of Edison; and Patrick Plate, 22, of South Plainfield.

Jose Hernandez, 55, of Paterson was arrested on a 1995 warrant from Wayne for an assault charge, Rowan said. Hernandez also was allegedly carrying counterfeit U.S. currency.

Raphael Bacerra, 25, of Elizabeth was arrested on a 2004 warrant from Elizabeth charging criminal mischief and harassment, according to Rowan.

Texas Hold 'Em has become a national fad, thanks to professional tournaments broadcast on cable TV. Texas Hold 'Em is a style of poker in which players are dealt two cards each, facedown. They then make bets based on their hands, chosen from their two hole cards plus three of five community cards dealt faceup in the center of the table.

Members of the poker industry estimate 50 million people play poker regularly.

Law enforcement agencies have taken notice of the old game's new popularity.

Salt Lake County Utah District Attorney David Yocom told Utah newspapers last week that his county was going to start prosecuting those who host Texas Hold 'Em tournaments. The Louisiana State Police arrested two organizers of a Texas Hold 'Em tournament league last month. Illinois Liquor Control agents arrested 21 people playing the game last month at a golf clubhouse.

"I think that with them publicizing poker on TV," more clubs are opening to meet demand, said Clifton Detective Lt. Richard Berdnik.

Clifton Detective Lt. Richard Berdnik said that "I think that with them publicizing poker on TV," more clubs are opening to meet demand.

There were 628 arrests for gambling-related offenses in New Jersey in 2003, including two in Passaic County, according to the most recent Uniform Crime Report. The state does not keep statistics on what types of gambling result in charges.

The Clifton Police Department spent months investigating the club, which held games daily between 5 p.m. and 6 a.m., Rowan said. Thirty-five Clifton police officers, including members of the department's Tactical Response Team, two members of the state police Intelligence Bureau North, and eight members of the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office Gang Suppression Unit conducted Tuesday's raid, Rowan said.

Rowan would not specify the club's location, but employees of several businesses in the Styretowne Shopping Center identified the club's entrance as a door facing Allwood Road in between a bank and a chiropractor's office. The gray metal door showed signs of forced entry Wednesday, and was posted outside, "Closed by Clifton PD."

The club's managers used a surveillance camera at the door to screen visitors, allowing entry only to those who had an identification card that read "Soccer Club," Rowan said.

The club was equipped with six card tables that had green felt surfaces, padded black edges and wells for cards and poker chips. Each table could hold 10 players.

The chips had values ranging from $1 to $1,000, Rowan said. Certain tables required minimum bets of $10 to $20, $20 to $40 or no limit, he said.

Players bought into a game with a minimum of $120 in chips, and paid $5 or $7 to the house every 30 minutes, Rowan said. The house made a daily profit of $10,000 and dealers worked for tips, he said.

The club had likely been open for several months, Rowan said.

George Jacobs, a member of the Styretowne Shopping Center's management board, did not return a call for comment Wednesday. Rowan said there is no evidence the property management company was aware of the gambling club.

He also said that under state gambling laws, players are typically not charged. "We probably saved some of those players from losing their money last night," he said. "They didn't seem particularly grateful."

By BRIAN SPADORA

News Added: 14 April, 2005

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