AURORA Toronto Hells Angel Billy Miller and five alleged associates face a
string of gambling charges after police busted an invitation-only Super Bowl
party for more than 2,000 at a Markham banquet hall.
York Regional Police Supt. Paul Pedersen says almost $2.5 million in cash was seized after more than 400 officers executed search warrants across the Greater Toronto Area and as far away as London, Ont.
Pedersen says about 2,300 people had gathered at the hall, which had been turned into an illegal gaming house — the eighth year the hall has hosted the massive Super Bowl party.
He says the people found in the hall were allowed to leave without charges, except for the six, whom police allege were profiting from the gaming operation.
He says 20 computers were seized at the banquet hall “where online offshore gaming was taking place, along with cellphones and business records.”
Miller, 49, was president of the London, Ont., Hells Angels chapter and earned the nickname “Velcro” after swapping patches from the Outlaws to the Banditos and Banditos to the Hells Angels motorcycle clubs. He and the others are all connected to Platinum SB, an offshore betting site — which police say is illegal — in Costa Rica with an active client base in the GTA, police said.
While the company web server is offshore, its muscle is in the GTA and southern Ontario through its biker and mob connections, police said. “What makes it local is how you collect the money,” Acting Supt. Keith Finn of the RCMP said on Monday morning. “You need to be able to back up the threats.”
The firm’s debt collections have sometimes had very public, very bloody, repercussions. In 2004, Platinum SB debt collector Antonio (Jelly) Borrelli paralyzed GTA mother of three Louise Russo with a stray bullet when he fired into a North York sandwich shop at a mobster who owed the betting company $240,000.
Sunday’s Super Bowl gambling bust, broke up the party before halftime at 7 p.m. at Le Parc Banquet Hall, near Leslie St. and Regional Rd. 7; it was the largest gambling bust in memory in the GTA, Finn said.
Police also collected a heavy safe full of an undisclosed amount of cash as they executed nine search warrants in the GTA and London, Ont.
Supt. Paul Pederson of York Regional Police said funds from illegal gambling are funneled into criminal rackets such as drug trafficking, extortion and prostitution.
The bust was made by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), a multi-force unit dedicated to fighting organized crime.
Police confiscated almost $2.5 million in cash and say plenty more would have been made by the organization through online bets. The ring took wagers on everything from the outcome of the game to who won the opening coin toss, police said.
Calls and hits on the website were diverted to police. “As of early this morning over 17,000 hits were registered at this website from illegal gamers trying to collect on their bets,” Pederson said.
The Platinum SB site, at least in Canada, has been taken down by authorities. The parties, which have cash raffles of a motorcycles, have been a regular Super Bowl event at the banquet centre, police said.
“This would have been the eighth year,” Finn said.
Facing charges of engaging in bookmaking, participation in a criminal organization, keeping a common gaming house and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence are William Miller, 49, Arno Thomsen, 45, and Shlomo Buchler, 40, all of Toronto; Martin Spruce, 45, of Vaughan; and David Hair, 44, and Andrew Bicelli, 48, both of London, Ont.
http://www.thespec.com/sports/football/superbowl/article/881121--police-scoop-2-5-million-off-tables-in-gta-super-bowl-party-bust
York Regional Police Supt. Paul Pedersen says almost $2.5 million in cash was seized after more than 400 officers executed search warrants across the Greater Toronto Area and as far away as London, Ont.
Pedersen says about 2,300 people had gathered at the hall, which had been turned into an illegal gaming house — the eighth year the hall has hosted the massive Super Bowl party.
He says the people found in the hall were allowed to leave without charges, except for the six, whom police allege were profiting from the gaming operation.
He says 20 computers were seized at the banquet hall “where online offshore gaming was taking place, along with cellphones and business records.”
Miller, 49, was president of the London, Ont., Hells Angels chapter and earned the nickname “Velcro” after swapping patches from the Outlaws to the Banditos and Banditos to the Hells Angels motorcycle clubs. He and the others are all connected to Platinum SB, an offshore betting site — which police say is illegal — in Costa Rica with an active client base in the GTA, police said.
While the company web server is offshore, its muscle is in the GTA and southern Ontario through its biker and mob connections, police said. “What makes it local is how you collect the money,” Acting Supt. Keith Finn of the RCMP said on Monday morning. “You need to be able to back up the threats.”
The firm’s debt collections have sometimes had very public, very bloody, repercussions. In 2004, Platinum SB debt collector Antonio (Jelly) Borrelli paralyzed GTA mother of three Louise Russo with a stray bullet when he fired into a North York sandwich shop at a mobster who owed the betting company $240,000.
Sunday’s Super Bowl gambling bust, broke up the party before halftime at 7 p.m. at Le Parc Banquet Hall, near Leslie St. and Regional Rd. 7; it was the largest gambling bust in memory in the GTA, Finn said.
Police also collected a heavy safe full of an undisclosed amount of cash as they executed nine search warrants in the GTA and London, Ont.
Supt. Paul Pederson of York Regional Police said funds from illegal gambling are funneled into criminal rackets such as drug trafficking, extortion and prostitution.
The bust was made by the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU), a multi-force unit dedicated to fighting organized crime.
Police confiscated almost $2.5 million in cash and say plenty more would have been made by the organization through online bets. The ring took wagers on everything from the outcome of the game to who won the opening coin toss, police said.
Calls and hits on the website were diverted to police. “As of early this morning over 17,000 hits were registered at this website from illegal gamers trying to collect on their bets,” Pederson said.
The Platinum SB site, at least in Canada, has been taken down by authorities. The parties, which have cash raffles of a motorcycles, have been a regular Super Bowl event at the banquet centre, police said.
“This would have been the eighth year,” Finn said.
Facing charges of engaging in bookmaking, participation in a criminal organization, keeping a common gaming house and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence are William Miller, 49, Arno Thomsen, 45, and Shlomo Buchler, 40, all of Toronto; Martin Spruce, 45, of Vaughan; and David Hair, 44, and Andrew Bicelli, 48, both of London, Ont.
http://www.thespec.com/sports/football/superbowl/article/881121--police-scoop-2-5-million-off-tables-in-gta-super-bowl-party-bust