Your tax dollars at work:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/18/AR2010091802277_pf.html



Fairfax County police spend big bucks in hopes of big breaks in betting cases

By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 18, 2010; 3:23 PM

It's football season, and for millions of Americans that means betting season. Yes, that stomach-churning time of year when people illegally wager money on such crucial issues as whether the Houston Texans can beat the Redskins by three points, or whether the two teams can combine to score more than 44.5 points.

It's a crime that Fairfax County police take seriously. So seriously that in one recent gambling investigation, they spent -- and lost -- more than $300,000 in cash to take down a Las Vegas-based online bookie and his group of Fairfax-based associates.

But neither the ringleader nor another man who handled bets out of the Eden Center mall in Falls Church received any jail time. Both agreed to repay the money they'd won from Fairfax police, in $200 or $250 monthly payments, which will take each man roughly 40 years. The money spent by the police had originally been seized from a bookie in a related investigation.

Police critics have long wondered why law enforcement spends valuable time and money on combating sports gambling. In Fairfax, the police rarely publicize their arrests, and the details of their investigations are little known outside the small corps of detectives in the money laundering unit. Unlike drug cases, police in Virginia are allowed to keep 100 percent of the assets they seize in state gambling cases, so other agencies or divisions receive no benefit. And the vast majority of those arrested are placed on probation.

"What a waste," said Nicholas Beltrante, founder of the Virginia Citizens Coalition for Police Accountability, a group formed earlier this year in part to combat unnecessary police spending. "The police should be utilizing their resources for more serious crimes."
Not a victimless crime

Fairfax's most notorious gambling investigation ended in disaster. In 2006, an undercover detective lost more than $5,000 while betting on NFL games with optometrist Salvatore J. Culosi -- and when the detective called in a SWAT team to make the arrest, an officer shot Culosi once in the heart and killed him.

Still, the police continue to pursue sports gamblers. Why?

"It's nowhere near a victimless crime," said Sgt. James Cox, who heads the money laundering unit. "And it's always the wrong people who get hurt."

Cox said sports bettors have been found "betting their kids' college money away. Losing their family's houses over it. You've got crimes of violence."

In Fairfax's biggest sports gambling case, the long-running operation overseen by Raj Bansal and his sons, Cox said Bansal took over a mortgage on a house lost by one of his bettors, then got the Fairfax sheriff's office to evict the bettor's family. Many bookies, including one connected to a Fairfax case in 2007, have ties to organized crime.

The process of actually making bets has gone high-tech, but it doesn't necessarily make the investigations any tougher, Cox said. Many local bookies now use Web sites run by offshore companies, which keep track of the bettors and their wagers but don't handle the actual money.

That's still done by the bookies, who collect their winnings on Tuesday and make payouts on Wednesday, Cox said. He had no estimate of how widespread sports gambling is locally, but "every year we hear about more."

The money laundering squad has investigated about 60 sports gambling cases since it was founded in 2004, and another 15 dating to the late 1990s, said Capt. Erin Schaible, head of the Fairfax police's organized crime and narcotics section. Since 2004, the squad has seized about $1 million in cash and assets annually, but some of those cases landed in federal court, where money is divided among various agencies, Schaible said.

Asked for an accounting of the cases, police provided a list of 18 defendants dating back to 1999. Of those, four were sent to federal court and received prison sentences -- including Bansal and his two sons. The other was Fairfax Station business owner Dwight Day, whose lawyer said he was a drug user and a losing bettor, not a bookie. Cox said Day took bets for an organized crime bookmaker from Philadelphia.

Of the other 14, only one served jail time (three months for a misdemeanor). One case from 2006, that of admitted bookmaker Kyle Peters, resulted in police seizing and keeping $566,940 from his bank accounts. Schaible said such funds are recycled "back into investigating cases. It's helping us resolve these and fight further crime."
A lot on the table

One such recycling was the case of Man Kit Yau, a 61-year-old Chinese national living in Las Vegas. Bettors placed wagers through a Web site called abetsports.com, and Yau had a network of "sub-bookies" in Fairfax who collected from and paid Yau's customers, as well as their own, Cox said.

"He, in turn, sent his money to China," Cox said. "We tried to get it. It's hard to get to China."

At some point, Fairfax police arrested one of Yau's sub-bookies and seized a large amount of cash. Cox declined to say how much, saying that it would expose cooperating witnesses. But that's when the recycling began, or "using bad guys' money to get more bad guys," as Cox put it.

Police began using informants to make bets with Yau, and also maintained the local sports book to keep the investigation from collapsing, Cox said. "Collections" were shipped to Yau in Las Vegas by money orders, Cox said, and Yau sometimes sent back winnings. Cox said the police also had to pay the Web site's weekly fees of $50 per player.

In the end, Fairfax police sent Yau $125,000 more than he sent back.

"I was just sort of astounded," Yau's attorney, Kenneth Robinson of the District, said during Yau's sentencing, "that the county actually spent the $125,000 that they lost betting on this."

Cox said the police weren't doing the betting, but the county did absorb the loss. Schaible acknowledged the money could have been saved and used for other purposes, but "part of our directive is to utilize assets to further investigation. So it's a very legitimate and upfront cost to us. . . . For us, it's not a profit-loss thing. It helps further the next investigation."

Yau was ordered to repay the $125,000 at $250 a month.

Another defendant in the same investigation was bookie Thuyen Chi Oo, who operated out of the Eden Center. Cox said Oo was a sub-bookie of Yau's. At his sentencing hearing, he was ordered to repay $100,000, which one prosecutor said was "generous" in light of how much Oo actually cost Fairfax police in bets and costs. Oo was ordered to make restitution of $200 per month.

Schaible declined to say how much money police lost to Oo, saying it would jeopardize the informant. Fairfax Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Gromosaik and Oo's lawyer Mike Weatherbee also declined to provide a dollar amount. Two sources familiar with the case said the amount was close to $180,000.

"That was an extreme case," Cox said of the Yau investigation. "But you had to let that case run its course. What we seized in that case overcame everything. We locked up 10 or 11 people and seized lots of money," though he would not say how much.

Sounds like the Fairfax County Police are running their own "money-laundering" enterprise. Taking the County taxpayers money, using it to bet and then converting that money into assets they seize, using that money for their unit, without any accountability or responsibility.

Brilliant, really. And they get to use the ruse of being Police Officers as a great cover for their activity. Money truly corrupts.


I wonder how much the Culosi incident will cost us, because I am sure their unit isn't going to pay for it. Another example of the lack of responsibility or accountability issue.

GMU Hokie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> "It's nowhere near a victimless crime," said Sgt.
> James Cox, who heads the money laundering unit.
> "And it's always the wrong people who get hurt."
>
> Cox said sports bettors have been found "betting
> their kids' college money away. Losing their
> family's houses over it. You've got crimes of
> violence."


If they're that addicted to gambling they'll find a way to lose money elsewhere. The enforcement seems like a waste of resources to me.

-------------------------------------------------
“We don’t have any rude, unpleasant people here. We’re different!”

Phil O'Dendrin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sounds like the Fairfax County Police are running
> their own "money-laundering" enterprise. Taking
> the County taxpayers money, using it to bet and
> then converting that money into assets they seize,
> using that money for their unit, without any
> accountability or responsibility.
>
Yo, fucktard....what part of

Quote

The money spent by the police had originally been seized from a bookie in a related investigation.

didn't you understand?

its not just that kind of crime they are paying attention to. they are paying attention to every crime. they do the same exact type of stuff when it comes to drug trade and anything else thats "against" the law. fairfax county police are doing their jobs, but their job is to screw people, who a certain small group of people believe shouldnt be here in the first place, over. so instead of focusing on the police and the small issues we should really look at our social structure and try to change that...

Highlander,
Where did the original money come from that they used to gamble with? County Funds allocated for investigations of this type. Place a $25000 bet using county funds, arrest the bookie, take the $25000 back as a seizure and get to use it on future investigations within the department. Practically the definition of money laundering.

Do I need to draw you a diagram? Or t y p e s l o w e r ? :)

Now the PD want to create a horse mounted unit. The start up costs are pretty high. 11 million is what has been proposed. I just wonder if any gambling money from wins are being used for this endeavor? Does FX PD really need a horse mounted unit? PWC has one so I guess FFX can't be upstaged.

Seems like they are just interested in the type of crimes that create big headlines or have lots of money involved. Nobody is interested in arresting the illegal immigrants cause they would just suck up their resources and they never have any money. Easier to go after a unarmed Dentist who is given large amounts of money for performing a service.

Meanwhile, I am going to go down to my 7-11 and buy a few scratch-off lottery tickets and maybe a PowerBall or MegaMillion ticket, fully sanctioned by the state.

If someone has their house "taken" from them for making bad bets, they were bound to lose it eventually. Its called an addictive personality.

They have a new Equestrian Center out in Chantilly that the County built for over 3 million. I guess they have to give it some business. What a waste that during a really hard economic year where cuts were made to places like the Library, that they invested in an Equestrian Center.

How many horse owners are there in Fairfax County? Big demand or a vanity project for some Supervisor (Frey)?

Can someone provide a website that confirms the PD is trying to start a County Mounty program? I seriously doubt that's the case-where the hell do you ride a horse around here? It's all residential and highways, no real parkland like in DC.

Was this Center approved by the voters? Hearing from the PD/BoS about the need for a mounted unit sounds like good comedy.

In my view, this entire thing is stupid. Why don't they instead go after real criminals? I see enough nutcase drivers who need to be pulled over and have their DL's revoked, we have car thefts and robberies all the time in this county, and yet they're going after someone who decides to simply throw their own money at bets?

I don't think gambling should even be a crime, and people should only be charged with crimes that might be related to it (Murder, extortion, etc.).

A friend of mine in Southern VA told me about how all of the FOP guys gamble on a regular basis, but of course they never get in any trouble whatsoever for it.

==================================================================================================
"And if any women or children get their legs torn off, or faces caved in, well, it's tough shit for them." -2LT. Bert Stiles, 505th, 339th (On Berlin Bombardier Mission, 1944).

Still no response Highlander? Did I scare you with rational thought and common sense? Fucktard indeed.

This Gambling Club is brought to you by the same folks that killed Sal Culosi. Wonder if they will gamble and get the money they need to keep fighting off the Culosi family lawsuit? Or to pay them off....

I hear the sam detective that fingered Dr. Culosi - encouraging him to bet more and more until the State Law was broken - is still trolling sports bars in FX doing the same M.O. He should be arrested for entrapment.

Culosi was not entraped into gambling by the PD. Entrapment is where the police set up the crime where the target has no choice or is forced to commit a crime. Culosi at anytime could have said no. THe PD has owned up to what happened. It is too bad that VA law will not allow for a wrongful death suit. Had Culosi had any kids under 18, they could have sued for wrongful death.

Piggy,
You are ill-informed:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/fairfax/culosi-wrongful-death-trial-se.html

The Culosi wrongful death suit is set for January of 2011. I don't know what reality you are currently in, but here and now, that court case is proceeding.

On a second matter, Websters, which probably knows a little bit more than you about definitions, defines entrapment as: ": the action of luring an individual into committing a crime in order to prosecute the person for it ".

That doesn't jive with your definition. You seem to have a lot of opinions and not many facts to back them up. Maybe just not posting anything is your best move, for you remove all doubt of your ignorance when you do post.

From your link:

Culosi's parents filed suit in federal court in Alexandria in March 2007. The case was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Leonie M. Brinkema, who dismissed the case against Fairfax County and Rohrer, but did not dismiss the case against Bullock.

Appeals of that ruling, first to Brinkema and then to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, by both the Culosis and Bullock, kept the case tied up for more than two years.
In February of this year, the federal appeals court rejected both sides, and sent the case back to Brinkema. A hearing was held in June, and the judge asked both sides to determine when their witnesses would be available to discuss the events of that night.

This is to see if the case will go forward against Bullock only. For both the County and Bullock to be sued, gross negligence must be shown. Did the County show gross negligence. No. This is why the judge dismissed the case against the County. Did Bullock? Maybe he did, and maybe he did not. The gross negligence by Bullock has not been shown or proven yet. Hence the determination hearing in 2011. Why is there not a Bevins case against Bullock? A manslaughter case?

From law.com: entrapment
n. in criminal law, the act of law enforcement officers or government agents inducing or encouraging a person to commit a crime when the potential criminal expresses a desire not to go ahead. The key to entrapment is whether the idea for the commission or encouragement of the criminal act originated with the police or government agents instead of with the "criminal." Entrapment, if proved, is a defense to a criminal prosecution. The accused often claims entrapment in so-called "stings" in which undercover agents buy or sell narcotics, prostitutes' services or arrange to purchase goods believed to be stolen. The factual question is: Would Johnny Begood have purchased the drugs if not pressed by the narc?

Before you post why don't you Miss Piggy register your fucking name so it is blue instead of black? Troll. Also posst with some sense. Dumb cunt.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2010 02:21PM by Piggy.

LowLander Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Still no response Highlander? Did I scare you with
> rational thought and common sense? Fucktard
> indeed.





So they used money allocated for that type of investigation..so fucking what? They also use money set aside to buy drugs, guns and other illegal shit to lock up the tards who sell/buy the same. Money is set aside for different investigations, depending on what that investigation is. If they want to spend $100,000 on tint meters, they will take it out of the budget set aside for traffic enforcement.

It also says in the article, the money seized stays within the county and goes to different agencies.

So, as much as you would like, the po-po ain't spending "your" money. Looks like they might actually bring in more money than they use.

Hope you didn't stare at your screen and hit "refresh" too long while waiting for my response. Go get a slurpee and enjoy the day.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2010 08:06AM by Highlander.

Agreed. I doubt the guys doing the investigation got a pay raise. At the end of the day, the money goes back into the department, which, "ideally" means they aren't raising property taxes or going on ticket campaigns to fund their initiatives. So yeah, if they have to break up underground card games to make ends meet instead of writing me a ticket, sorry guys, sucks to be you.

The department has to protect the citzens from gambling. The investigation of gambling is a complicated and dangerous assignment. Consequetly, some of the best detectives and supervisors are assigned to the unit. Most crimes can be handled by any member of the department. Seizing money from gamblers and putting the cash back into more gambling investigations takes years of training and experience.

I don't care that you can go to the 7-11 and bet on numbers games or buy markers on games of chance. The state has race track gambling and allows off track betting on horses. The gambling operations of the Commonwealth of Virgina need police protection and the public needs protection from illegal gamblers.

"Police began using informants to make bets with Yau,"

I wonder how many of these informants ripped off the cops by saying oh yeah the bets I made using government money well they all lost last Sunday.

Meanwhile the bet was never placed and the money went into the informants pocket.

Explain to me again why the Commonwealth has to protect me from gambling? That is not one of my vices, so I could really care less how other fools are parted from their money.

I do object to to the FCPD serving a white collar warrant to someone with no history of violence, with a SWAT team and killing anyone. One phone call, Dr. Culosi would have shown up at the station (probably with a lawyer) and still be alive and all this muck could have been avoided.

If Dr. Culosi wasn't breaking the law, he would still be alive and all this muck could have been avoided.

Last I checked breaking the law doesn't mean the police can carry out extra-judicial killings you stupid fucking cunt.

The Culosis will never get the public lynching of Bullock they want. Historically the courts here rule in favor of public servants and Fairfax County has paid out very little in civil suits. They should not count on a settlement for a vacation fund and get on with their lives.Theur attorneys should start looking for another ambulance to chase.

If I accidentally killed someone on the job, I am pretty sure I would have been fired or at least demoted, and that my employer would not be footing by civil defense bill either.

Well you dont work for civil service then, comes with the territory,the correct term is indemnified. No one would take a job in public service otherwise because you would be sued every time you turned around...Then again if you accidently pushed someone into the french fry cooker, you might be mopping floors.

Highlander Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If Dr. Culosi wasn't breaking the law, he would
> still be alive and all this muck could have been
> avoided.

I have to disagree. Sal Culosi was innocent until he was given a trial.

Duchess-first of all, you don't know that. For all you know, they contacted him and/or his lawyer and one/both told them to shove off. For two, yes on it's face a SWAT approach to a "white collar warrant" as you call it seems a bit excessive, but maybe they had information the guy had guns in his house. This is VA you know, where guns are pretty popular.

The fact that gambling isn't "one of your vices" means dick. Heroin isn't one of my vices, but I'm pretty happy they are trying to take heroin dealers off the street so they can't feed that shit to my kids or neighbors. The fact that it doesn't personally affect you, so what? Get your head out of the sand.

Obviously the guy getting shot was a colossal mistake and I'm sure they are gonna pay out the ass for it. Having said that, I'm not gonna sit here and Monday Morning QB what happened. I wasn't there, and I don't know what went into the decision-making process. I do know of my few involvements with FCPD, I have gotten two tickets (that I earned, I was doing 20 over both times) and one warning because I treated the cop like a human being and didn't act like she was hassling me, because she wasn't. Quit being a whiny bitch.

I'm also pretty sure if a cop acts outside of his employment, the county doesn't defend him. The cop unions might get him a lawyer, but that's on their dime, not yours.

Honestly you bitch about cops as much/more than most. If you don't like them that much, move. Try PG county out, I hear it's nice this time of year.

"Schaible declined to say how much money police lost to Oo, saying it would jeopardize the informant. Fairfax Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Gromosaik and Oo's lawyer Mike Weatherbee also declined to provide a dollar amount. Two sources familiar with the case said the amount was close to $180,000"

I am confused. Do you really need to spend almost $200,000 to figure out someone is taking sports bets?

at least nobody got hurt... oh wait, they killed an unarmed man by shooting him in the heart.

---

Josey Wales Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am confused. Do you really need to spend almost
> $200,000 to figure out someone is taking sports
> bets?

maybe that's why they killed him.


"the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Gambling should be illegal and enforcement does have to come in some form. It is not a victimless crime. Where does the gambling addict go when he owes some thug a wad of money, all the his credit cards maxed out, home gone. Money that he has no means of getting? I'll tell you, it's not thru victimless crime where he's gonna turn to get that money.

Altho.. I have always thought Culosi thing was kinda fishy. I don't care how or why the SWAT team was and is deployed, but I do think it is uncalled for to 'accidentally' shoot an unarmed man in his front yard no matter what crimes he is ACCUSED of committing. There is no dispute over the fact that he was unarmed, outside of his home, and made no furtive gestures before and when he was shot. All while talking calmly to the undercover detective for several moments before the SWAT rolled in.

And yes I do understand that the SWAT team probably does serve most felony arrest warrants in fairfax county as well as most other places in the united states. But we the citizens of the county permit them to do so because we are under the impression that they are highly trained crime fighting specialists, in a special unit of their police department and we trust that they carry out their training in a proper manor. There should be accountability in this case, because this type of accident is something we cannot afford to have happen, even once is once too many.

As for it being an accident - i dunno - when there is 200,000 dollars in cash laying around and being passed back and forth between police and suspects... who knows.

Don't really know if each Fairfax officer is bonded like the State Troopers are. If the county bonds their officers, minus gross negligence, Bullock still gets immunity which means at maximum this may only be a $100,000 pay out.

Citizens killed by Fairfax County Police over Gambling: 1
Citizens killed by Goons over Gambling debts in Fairfax County: 0

I don't think it unreasonable to look at exactly what this unit actually does and the results it achieves, considering their track record of money spent to money recovered.

It makes me nervous when some citizens start to feel too comfortable with the idea that the Police and our Government are look out themselves before its citizens.

I also wonder where the money that Dr. Culosi had (supposedly) is now and why the police did not pursue that supposed dirty money. If they had a warrant, what did it turn up, certainly no gun - the guy was unarmed.

Should have been:
It makes me nervous when some citizens start to feel too comfortable with the idea that the Police and our Government look out for themselves before the citizens.

"We locked up 10 or 11 people and seized lots of money," though he would not say how much."

That seems a strange and vague statement, you dont even know how many people you locked up? The fact that he will not say how much money was sezied leads me to believe the county spent more money than they recouped. Otherwise the police would not have a problem saying they took back more than they put in.

Are you really seizing money if the money recovered is the same money you used to make the bets in the first place. Am I alone here thinking that this is fuzzy math?

I think its the other way around - they made a LOT of money and don't want to tell just how much because Fairfax County Supervisors might want to dip into that trough.

Imagine if they said they took in a million dollars last year. A few eyebrows would definately go up and there would be more than a few interested parties asking where the money goes. Right now, its just a guessing game until some enterprising reporter with big balls files an FOIA request.