Thu, Dec 12, 2013

http://www.lohud.com/article/20131211/NEWS/312110040/Yonkers-cop-faces-charges-Fla-betting-money-laundering-ring?nclick_check=1

A veteran Yonkers cop is facing racketeering charges in Florida after undercover investigators said they busted an illegal betting and money laundering ring.

Christopher Dellacamera, 45, was arraigned on a Florida arrest warrant late Tuesday in Westchester County Court. He was released without bail on the condition that he surrender to Florida authorities within 10 days.

The yearlong investigation, spearheaded by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, was dubbed “Operation Gotham City” and targeted a ring that investigators said took sports bets and laundered money through various banks in Florida, New York, three other states and Central America. The alleged ringleader, Adam Green of Boca Raton, was arrested Thursday along with six other Florida men. Four other arrests are expected.

A spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office declined to discuss the specific allegations against Dellacamera, who joined the Yonkers Police Department in 1997. He was charged with racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering.

According to an affidavit for one of the arrest warrants in the case, Dellacamera seemed to have a relatively minor role in the ring. The hierarchy of the “Bookmaking Enterprise Organization” showed Green as the bookmaker with five “Super Agents” and 10 “Agents,” including Dellacamera. Four of the Super Agents had more than a dozen “clients” from whom they regularly took bets. The Agents each had up to 10 clients. Dellacamera had just one, the affidavit said.

Dellacamera was caught on wiretaps discussing with the others how much had been won or lost and how and when accounts would be settled, according to the affidavit.

Dellacamera’s lawyer, Andrew Quinn, could not be reached for comment.

Lt. Patrick McCormack, a Yonkers police spokesman, said Dellacamera turned himself in to Yonkers Internal Affairs detectives on Tuesday after the department was notified by Florida authorities and New York state police about the warrant.

Dellacamera, who had been assigned to patrol, was placed on modified duty pending an investigation by Internal Affairs. He will continue to be paid his salary, which this past year was $85,976.

His older brother, Frank, is a former Mamaroneck town police officer who was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty in 2006 to drug and stolen property charges. Frank Dellacamera had been arrested the previous year in a sting operation in which he was caught on tape offering to sell cocaine to an undercover officer posing as a drug addict. He also paid $2,000 to an undercover officer for what he thought was stolen electronic equipment.

In Christopher Dellacamera’s case, the affidavit says Green’s crew was infiltrated by an undercover agent who got access to the online betting site GAMETIME88.com and placed about $160,000 worth of bets with them. The investigation was carried out by the sheriff’s organized crime unit, with assistance from Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale police.

In addition to Green and Dellacamera, those already arrested are Jordan Brown, 24, of Coral Springs; Emilio Colon, 32, of Margate; Mark Ruggiero, 42, of Pompano Beach; Sean Barnes, 34, of Delray Beach; Rehan Kazi, 45, of Pembroke Pines; and Eric Spinosa, 36, of Boca Raton.