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#1
05-02-2005, 08:05 AM
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Another raid at a loacl club
Raid leads to gambling charges against officers
Pair from Roxbury accused of promoting illegal action at Dover social club Monday, May 02, 2005 BY MAURA McDERMOTT Star-Ledger Staff Two police officers are accused of promoting illegal gambling at a Dover social club, law enforcement sources said yesterday. The Morris County Prosecutor's Office, supported by a helicopter with spotlights, raided the 5th Street Club on Richboynton Road at about midnight Friday, sources said. Two police officers were arrested on Saturday and charged with gambling, conspiracy, official misconduct and maintaining a gambling premise. They each posted $50,000 bail and were released from the Morris County Jail the same day, sources said. One officer’s wife also was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit official misconduct, but she was not taken to the county jail, sources said. Another man of Pennsylvania was charged with promoting gambling and conspiracy to commit official misconduct and he posted $30,000 bail. The prosecutor's office declined to release details of the raid or say how much money was involved in the alleged gambling operation, whether all four defendants were arrested at the club or elsewhere, or whether there were any other arrests. Prosecutor Michael Rubbinaccio has scheduled a news conference for this afternoon. "They're both excellent officers who perhaps got involved in areas they shouldn't have." Still, he added, "We've got 75 great guys on that force, and they're dedicated people and they do a great job as far as I'm concerned." The officer’s wife was listed as the club owner when an application was made to the Dover board of adjustment in August for a use variance to run a social club in an 8,000-square-foot space on the second floor of a vacant, two-story industrial building, said board Chairman Michael Scarneo. In testimony before the board, the club would serve up to 100 members, according to minutes of the meeting reviewed by Scarneo. With four to six employees, the members-only, 21-and-older club would offer an "amusement and recreation center" to "business-type people, after-hours executives and law enforcement officers," according to the club's application. Scarneo said he understood the club was to offer pool tables, "game nights" for chess and other board games, a computer center and separate areas for conversation, smoking, listening to music or watching television. It would serve snacks but no alcohol or cooked food. Membership would be based on referrals, and the club would charge an annual fee plus per-visit fees. "It was going to be a social club," Scarneo said. "Everyone was going to undergo a heavy screening process." The board approved the application, heartened by the notion that police officers were in charge, Scarneo said. A member of the club, Michael Rodriguez, said yesterday that the club had operated at a firehouse near Lake Musconetcong for about three years. Rodriguez said club members played poker but he insisted the games were legal and no other gambling took place. The club's operators checked with their attorney, Amato Galasso, last year before moving to Dover to make sure the poker games were legal, Rodriguez said. Galasso assured them that as long as the house did not take a cut, and as long as no player had an advantage over any other, the operation was legal, Rodriguez said. "The club didn't make one penny off the gambling," Rodriguez said. "We're not breaking any laws in the state of New Jersey." Galasso, reached at his home yesterday, declined to comment. The club had consulted an attorney about whether playing poker was legal and the owners were "under the impression that they were running a legal gambling operation," said Roxbury Township Manager Christopher Raths. According to state law, it is not criminal to take part in a poker game as long as no one makes a profit other than personal winnings. Members paid an $80 annual fee, plus $5 an hour for their time in the club, whether they played poker, ping-pong or pool, or just watched television, Rodriguez said. The players used chips, not cash, and the dealers were members, not paid staffers, he said. Players at cash tables typically bought $100 in chips and could bet as low as $2, he said. Tournament players might buy into a competition for $120. Rodriguez claimed the police officers had shed their ownership of the club several months ago and they were not at the club on Friday. There that night were about 40 middle-aged men, including lawyers and construction workers, Rodriguez said. "This is a bunch of middle-aged Americans," he said. "This isn't a Mafia staging ground." Friday was a slow night because members had heard about a raid several weeks ago at an unrelated gambling club, he said. "It scared a lot of people away," he said. Rodriguez almost got caught up in the raid himself, he said. "My timing was impeccable," Rodriguez said. "I was playing at the club, but I left at 10:30. I lost at the tables, but my luck was good in other ways." [/ QUOTE ] Staff writers Bill Swayze and Kasi Addison contributed to this report. 05/02/05 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom Sting nabs pair of law enforcement officials Authorities to reveal details of undercover probe, arrests today By Eugene Mulero, Daily Record The Morris County prosecutor's office will announce at 2 p.m. today the names of "two law enforcement officials" arrested in an undercover operation, the office disclosed in a press release on Sunday. A spokesman for the prosecutor's office, Capt. Jeffrey Paul, declined to provide additional information. The press release stated only that county prosecutor Michael M. Rubbinaccio, Chief Joseph Devine and various federal, state and county officials will address the media today on the investigation. Prosecutors would not release any further information Sunday -- however, a man who said he frequented a club on Richboynton Road in Dover to play poker said the place was raided by police authorities on Friday night into Saturday morning. MR, a contractor from Mount Olive, said authorities confiscated almost $200 in cash from him at the Fifth Street Club. Mr. R said the club was a venue for members interested in playing poker for money. It was unclear whether the alleged raid was connected to today's news conference. Paul stated he would not comment about the alleged raid when asked on Sunday. According to R., approximately 50 officers from various departments, including the state police and prosecutor's office, entered the club late Friday night. R. said the officers were armed and they told the persons at the club to stop playing poker. The authorities then proceeded to confiscate money used for gambling, R. said, during a phone interview on Sunday evening. Dover police officers said on Sunday they were not aware of any arrests at a club over the weekend. A Dover police dispatcher referred all questions about an alleged raid to the prosecutor's office. R. said he had been a member of the club since it opened in the fall of 2004. He described the place as a club where men could gamble and play other recreational activities. Several calls using the number listed online Sunday went unanswered . On Saturday, Dover First Ward Alderman Scott Miller had said it was impossible to ignore the noise from a helicopter flying low and shining multiple searchlights along the industrial complex on Richboynton Road. He also heard from residents in the North Dover area who went out onto their front porches to see what was going on, since they too, heard the helicopter not long after Friday's midnight. "It was disturbing," Miller said. "A lot of people were concerned. Everyone is talking about it." Dover police officers would not confirm if the helicopter was related to the raid. 
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#3
05-02-2005, 09:55 AM
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Re: Another raid at a loacl club
This article was lifted from the New Jersey Star-Ledger.
From the Morris County, NJ web site: "Morris County, among the fastest growing counties in the New Jersey, New York, Connecticut metropolitan region, nestles amid rolling hills, broad valleys and glittering lakes approximately 30 miles northwest of New York City."
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#4
05-02-2005, 11:14 AM
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Re: Another raid at a loacl club
[ QUOTE ]
And by local, you mean.....? [/ QUOTE ] This and this probably didn't help this situation. It's 45 minutes (with no tunnel traffic) from midtown NYC. Only 10 minutes from my NJ office, but you couldn't have paid me to play there. This joint was doomed.
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#7
05-02-2005, 11:49 AM
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Re: Another raid at a loacl club
[ QUOTE ]
That is a freakin hot dealer. Ive never seen one that cute in B&M. [/ QUOTE ]I'm with you, Dog. I don't buy the "dealers were members, not paid staffers" thing for a second. I imagine this gig was keeping her off the pole at the Bada Bing.
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#8
05-02-2005, 12:17 PM
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Re: Another raid at a loacl club
[ QUOTE ]
That is a freakin hot dealer. Ive never seen one that cute in B&M. [/ QUOTE ] I guess you havent been to NYPC lately. There is a new dealer who I'll take over any drink girl at the Borgata! Guys were winning $26 pots and tossing her a green chip...
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#9
05-02-2005, 08:30 PM
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Re: Another raid at a loacl club
I am a member. I was not there this past Friday, but actually plaid there the previous Friday, and last Monday.
The place was different than the NYPC. I played there too, until 5th Street opened (I Live about 3 miles away from 5th Street. You had to pay a member fee ($50-65). You got a membership card with your account number. When you got there, you logged in and when you leave you log out. The fee was $8 per our, whether you played poker or not. They had free food and drink, a lounge with TV's and about 5 pool tables a couple of ping pong tables, fooseball and air hockey. In the second room, they have 8 poker tables. You could start up any game you wanted, but usually a 1-2 NL, 2-5NL and a 10-20 Limit was always going on, in addition to nightly tourneys. The dealers are members and do not get paid by the club. They worked only on tips. In the article in the Star Ledger, it says poker is legal as long as the house does not benefit from the game (ie a rake/ or time at table) Does anyone know if this is correct? Technically they did not charge a rake or a fee to sit at the table, just a usaged time at the entire club. (Kind of a gray area, assuming it is legal to play poker. Any thoughts? Riddler
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#10
05-02-2005, 08:36 PM
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Re: Another raid at a loacl club
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] That is a freakin hot dealer. Ive never seen one that cute in B&M. [/ QUOTE ] I guess you havent been to NYPC lately. There is a new dealer who I'll take over any drink girl at the Borgata! Guys were winning $26 pots and tossing her a green chip... [/ QUOTE ] Time for me to start playing NL! the weekly 'home' game has a really cute Korean gal dealing. I'm busy trying to get her fixed up cause she is too cute to remain single. TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] PS: I live in NJ, but I won't play here except in AC. Too much risk.
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