Six people were indicted last week and charged with operating an illegal gambling ring that worked between Queens, Brooklyn and Nassau County. Authorities say the ring averaged around $3,000 in bets per day and took in more than a million dollars a year from numbers action.
The defendants were identified as Saul Montalvo, 44, of 137-30 Lafayette Street in Ozone Park, his sister, Veronica Montalvo, 40, of 90-02 97 Avenue in Ozone Park, his son, Daniel Montalvo, 26, of 99-11 57 Avenue in Corona, Juan Arias, 41, of 85 Strong Street in the Bronx; Benny Maldonado, 60, of 60-81 Myrtle Avenue in Ridgewood, and Rosa Rincon, 56, of 106-17 95 Avenue in Woodhaven.
District Attorney Brown described the operation as “an old-fashioned numbers racket complete with betting parlors, wire rooms and runners and collectors …” The arrests he said came as a result of a six-month investigation that “utilized both court-authorized wiretaps and physical surveillance” in order to dismantle this family-operated gambling ring.
The defendants were arraigned in Queens County Supreme Court and charged with enterprise corruption, first-degree promoting gambling and first-degree possession of gambling records.
Authorities confirmed that an investigation commenced in February 2013 into an operation being run by Saul Montalvo and his partner Juan Arias out of 593 Sutter Avenue in Brooklyn. The location served as a central wire room. There were fax machines on the premises which authorities say received betting slips from more than thrrty numbers rooms across the three counties. Veronica Montalvo was the manager of the Sutter Avenue location while Rosa Rincon operated a second wire room at a house in Woodhaven.
Daniel Montalvo and Benny Maldonando were responsible for collecting and distributing money to the betting parlors.
Following the arrests last week, police executed court-authorized search warrants at twelve locations, including Saul Montalvo’s Lafayette Street residence, where, according to the criminal charges, the police recovered:
• 120 Percocet, 75 Oxycontin, 35 Hydrocodone and betting slips;
• A 9mm Taurus pistol loaded with a high-capacity magazine containing 16 rounds in addition to a .45 caliber Taurus pistol, a .45 caliber Ruger pistol, both of which were loaded , and more than $90,000 in cash from a safe inside a closet in the master bedroom.
• Also found were a loaded 12 gauge Mossberg shotgun, a Smith & Wesson MP-15 assault rifle, as well three magazines all loaded with more than 10 rounds of ammunition from the laundry area.
The Mossberg shotgun and the MP-15 assault rifle are alleged to belong to Daniel Montalvo, who told police he had another MP-15 rifle at his Corona residence.
In addition to the criminal charges outlined in the indictment, Saul Montalvo and his wife, Beatriz Velez, 33, have been variously charged in criminal complaints with third-, fifth- and seventh degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second-, third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolenproperty, first-degree promoting gambling and first-degree possession of gambling records. Daniel Montalvo, was also arrested on a criminal complaint charging him with second-, third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The two Montalvos and Velez each face up to fifteen years in prison if convicted on the weapons charges. Daniel Montalvo was ordered to return to court on October 2, 2013, and Saul Montalvo and his wife Beatriz Velez’s next court appearance is scheduled for October 10, 2013.
In total twenty-six individuals were arrested on various charges.
By Samantha Geary
