{"id":131733,"date":"2020-04-01T03:26:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-01T10:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=131733"},"modified":"2020-04-01T10:10:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T17:10:00","slug":"mafia-also-clobbered-by-coronavirus-sports-cancelations-cops-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mafia-also-clobbered-by-coronavirus-sports-cancelations-cops-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Mafia Also Clobbered by Coronavirus Sports Cancellations, Cops Say"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just the regulated sports betting industry that is feeling the pinch because of the global sports shutdown. Spare a thought in these troubling times for the Mafia, whose traditional revenue streams \u2013 illegal gambling and extortion \u2013 have been blunted by the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n

\"Mafia
Reputed acting Gambino boss Frank Cali was gunned down last year by a Mafia-obsessed conspiracy theorist. 2020 is also proving to be a lousy year for the crime family. (Image: Staten Island Advance)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Law enforcement sources told The New York Post<\/em> this week that the wholesale cancellation of sports represents a \u201chistoric\u201d blow to Mob. The Post<\/em> suggests that COVID-19 has succeeded where Bobby Kennedy and Rudy Giuliani failed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s never been a time when they weren\u2019t making money through gambling,\u201d a source told The Post.<\/em> \u201cSince the days of Lucky Luciano, when the Five Families started.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, with bars, nightclubs, and restaurants<\/a> shuttered, there are precious few businesses left for criminal syndicates to shake down.<\/p>\n

How Does the Mafia Make Money? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Of course, the Mafia has a hand in almost every criminal enterprise you can think of, from gunrunning to illicit waste disposal. But over the years, illegal gambling and extortion have proved to be its most steady and reliable revenue generators.<\/p>\n

Over the past decade, its sports betting operations have moved online<\/a>, with operations often based in Costa Rica, using the \u201cprice per head\u201d bookmaking model.<\/p>\n

This model typically employs agent-bookmakers, who give customers usernames and passwords to access the site and make wagers. No financial transactions are made online, but details of bets are stored and tracked on the site, while collections and payouts are made in person, by the agents.<\/p>\n

\n

Hard up gamblers can be \u201cpersuaded\u201d to borrow money at high interest from Mob loan sharks to keep gambling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But the cancellation of sports has already wiped out tens of millions of dollars from these businesses, a source told The Post.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people are living off that money,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n

Turning to Drugs<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Construction rackets — in which construction companies often working with large public contracts are extorted — were still bringing in the bucks in New York until Gov. Andrew Cuomo halted all non-essential projects last week, Post<\/em> sources report.<\/p>\n

All this means the syndicates are turning to narcotics supply to fill the shortfall. Law enforcement says chatter on surveillance wires — which would normally be focused on gambling — was shifting towards drugs.<\/p>\n

But even the drug trade is being been stymied by the virus, with traditional distribution channels like restaurants, bars, and strip clubs closed by order of the governor.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in hard-hit Italy, authorities report that local Mafia clans are profiting from the crisis by selling medical-grade masks originally intended for hospitals on the dark web. They also have an influence in the supply of groceries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not just the regulated sports betting industry that is feeling the pinch because of the global sports shutdown. Spare a thought in these troubling times for the Mafia, whose traditional revenue streams \u2013 illegal gambling and extortion \u2013 have been blunted by the coronavirus crisis. Law enforcement sources told The New York Post this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":131754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMafia Also Clobbered by Coronavirus Sports Cancelations, Cops Say<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mafia in New York is struggling because of coronavirus crisis as the cancellation of sports worldwide wipes out one of its major revenue streams.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mafia Also Clobbered by Coronavirus Sports Cancelations, Cops Say\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mafia in New York is struggling because of coronavirus crisis as the cancellation of sports worldwide wipes out one of its major revenue streams.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mafia-also-clobbered-by-coronavirus-sports-cancelations-cops-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-01T10:26:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-01T17:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/frankie.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mafia-also-clobbered-by-coronavirus-sports-cancelations-cops-say\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mafia-also-clobbered-by-coronavirus-sports-cancelations-cops-say\/\",\"name\":\"Mafia Also Clobbered by Coronavirus Sports Cancelations, Cops Say\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mafia-also-clobbered-by-coronavirus-sports-cancelations-cops-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mafia-also-clobbered-by-coronavirus-sports-cancelations-cops-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/frankie.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-01T10:26:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-01T17:10:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Mafia in New York is struggling because of coronavirus crisis as the cancellation of sports worldwide wipes out one of its major revenue streams.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mafia-also-clobbered-by-coronavirus-sports-cancelations-cops-say\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mafia-also-clobbered-by-coronavirus-sports-cancelations-cops-say\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mafia-also-clobbered-by-coronavirus-sports-cancelations-cops-say\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/frankie.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/frankie.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799,\"caption\":\"Reputed acting Gambino boss Frank Cali was gunned down last year by a Mafia-obsessed conspiracy theorist. 2020 is also proving to be a bad year for the crime family. 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