Run From Bronx Garage
Bag Sanworkers in Lottery Ring

By REUVEN BLAU

Six veteran Sanitation Department supervisors have been arrested and charged with allegedly turning their Bronx garage into a lotto-like gambling ring by collecting bets from more than 1,000 people responding to recorded cell phone messages detailing the prizes, THE CHIEF-LEADER has learned.

A Sanitation Worker has also been nabbed and is being accused of organizing the betting scheme, which investigators said was tied to the numbers chosen by the New York State Lotto drawings and paid out thousands of dollars in awards each month.

The supervisors have all returned to work, pending the outcome of the criminal charges.

The Queens Connection

The arrests were based on a sealed complaint signed by Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent John J. Genoble Jr. According to the complaint, Sanitation Worker Keith A. Kaplan told the agent in a recorded conversation that he ran the lottery in the Department of Sanitation Bronx 12 garage and the 6A refueling station, and through a friend who referred bets from a "bunch of guys from Queens."

The Bronx 12 garage is located at 423 West 215th St. and the 6A station is at 800 E. 176th St. in the same borough.

Mr. Kaplan allegedly explained that the organizer of the lottery takes 10 percent of the total monies received, and that the runner who sells the winning ticket gets an additional 10 percent of the prize. The lottery phone was registered to Sanitation worker Joseph M. Davoli, who the complaint lists as the leader of the ring.

Special Agent Genoble said that he obtained a copy of the records used by Mr. Davoli and his cohorts. The 59-page book identified the runners and participants in the lottery. Code names were used to list the approximately 41 runners, the complaint stated. The book also listed 1,459 entries of participants in the lottery beginning Jan. 18, 2006, according to the sworn statement.

The other supervisors arrested are: Anthony T. Amore Jr., Joseph M. Iocovello, Daniel J. Kane, John A. Macchiaroli, and Denis G. Mulvey.

The phone messages on Mr. Davoli's cell were filled with inane, coarse language urging the runners to bring in more money for each lottery, the complaint said. All the arrested Sanitation employees were secretly recorded via a court-ordered wiretap placing multiple calls to the hotline, according to the FBI. Several of them also allegedly discussed the scheme with Special Agent Genoble.

Talking Trashy

The complaint detailed some of the phone messages verbatim, and stated that a Feb. 22 recording started: "Alright you mutts, 21,000 even, the next trip March 15th, now let me let me just push re re rerun here ... bring in the (expletive) money."

Mr. Genoble said that based on his investigation the message urged the runners to collect the money for the February lottery, noting that the prize for that draw was $21,000, and that the next lottery would start March 15.

During an Aug. 8 interview with authorities, Mr. Kaplan admitted to working as a runner for the ring and to speaking with Mr. Davoli to discuss the lottery winner, for whom he had collected money, according to the complaint. The case, which was initiated based on a confidential tip, is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan, which has jurisdiction over The Bronx.