Buffalo Man
Accused Of
Running Mob
Sportsbook In
Costa Rica
New Jersey
authorities on
Friday said
Brian Cohen was
arrested at the
Buffalo
International
airport on
Wednesday, where
he had just
arrived from
Costa Rica,
wanted for
allegedly
running an
internet based,
billion-dollar
sports betting
operation for
the Lucchese
organized crime
family.
Cohen, 61,
described by US
law enforcement
as a "computer
geek", is
charged with
money-laundering
and gambling
offences filed
by the New
Jersey Attorney
General's
Office.
Cohen, who
maintains homes
in Buffalo and
Costa Rica,
according to
authorities,
appeared at a
preliminary
hearing Friday
and was released
on $100,000 bail
and said to be
the "primary
facilitator" for
the crime
family's
offshore
gambling
operations.
The indictment
charges that the
family generated
about us$2
billion in bets
during a
15-month period
that ended in
2007.
Cohen, according
to
investigators,
ran the wire
room in San
José, and
oversaw the
mob's website
Bigactionsports.com.
The wire room
had about 20
employees who
took bets and
processed
wagers,
authorities
said.
Cohen supervised
"the acceptance
and settling of
billions of
dollars in
wagers and
ensured [that]
the website
through which
those bets were
placed remained
up and running,"
New Jersey
Attorney General
Paula T. Dow
said in
announcing
Cohen's arrest
Friday.
Stephen J.
Taylor, director
of the Division
of Criminal
Justice, said
the
investigation
had targeted the
top echelon of
the Lucchese
organization in
New Jersey and
New York.
Source: New
Jersey Attorney
General's Office
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