"Ex-Vegas casino dealer, 2 others get prison in cheating case" Associated Press April 13, 2016
LAS VEGAS — A former Bellagio craps dealer and two friends were each sentenced Tuesday to at least four years in Nevada state prison for using phantom ‘‘hop’’ bets to cheat the Las Vegas Strip resort out of more than $1 million.
Should have went to work on Wall Street. Then they could have kept it all.
Prosecutor Jay P. Raman said the four men hatched the scheme in August 2012. When worker James Russell Cooper Jr., 44, or dealer, Mark William Branco, 43, or both were dealing at a craps table, accomplices Jeffrey D. Martin, 39, and Anthony Grant Granito, 49, would step up and mutter confusing bets amid last-second activity before the roll of the dice. They’d win no matter what the outcome....
Isn't that what the Wall Street banks did in designing those pos MBSs and such?
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Related: 8 years later, Nev. flood victims win $18.1m settlement
A much bigger jackpot, and the windfall came blowing through Alaska before punishing Texas for a day.
Also see:
"The riches from the billion-dollar gambling palaces largely never trickled down to neighborhoods, and state agencies crept deeper into the city’s business. Now, with Atlantic City on the verge of going broke — and paying its police and firefighters with IOUs — a proposed state takeover of the resort’s finances and major decision-making power is further rankling many residents, who fear they will lose what little voice they now have over their own affairs..... Atlantic City takeover threat reopens residents’ old wounds"
Speaking of which:
Witness says Lightbody was still involved in Everett land deal
Group of lawmakers call for delay in vote on Brockton casino
Church moved to make way for casino
Related: Hitting Bottom
Just did.
UPDATES:
"Key witness in trial on Wynn land deal won’t take the stand" by Milton J. Valencia Globe Staff April 21, 2016
Defense lawyers wanted to call real estate attorney Paul Feldman to the stand, saying he was an “indispensable’’ witness. But in an unusual legal development, Feldman has indicated he will not testify and instead invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Prosecutors in the case had also planned to call Feldman as a witness — with a grant of immunity from prosecution. But prosecutors changed course, saying they now believe Feldman has lied and possibly participated in Charles Lightbody’s alleged fraud scheme. Without immunity, Feldman would plead the Fifth if called to the stand.
The reversal by prosecutors has defense lawyers accusing the government of intimidating Feldman and trying to dictate what type of evidence is presented to the jury, but while defendants are entitled to due process and the right to present a defense, “that right, in my view, does not encompass putting demands on how the prosecution tries its case or which witnesses it chooses to call,” said Daniel S. Medwed, a law professor at Northeastern University.
According to prosecutors, the notes indicate that Feldman was involved in discussions with the partners about re-investing Lightbody’s profits from the sale of the Everett land — after Lightbody supposedly transferred his interest in the property....
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Related: Jurors begin deliberations in Lightbody case
Also see: Brockton casino shot down by Gaming Commission
The link to Vegas:
"Man arrested in Brockton hit-and-run that seriously injured boy" by J.D. Capelouto and Mina Corpuz Globe Correspondents April 21, 2016
A Las Vegas man accused of seriously injuring a 13-year-old boy in a Brockton hit-and-run was ordered held on $750,000 bail Thursday, prosecutors said.
Christopher Jansky, 39, pleaded not guilty in Brockton District Court to charges of leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury and driving with a suspended license, according to District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz’s office.
Jansky was arrested Wednesday at his mother’s house in Abington, according to Lieutenant Kenneth LeGrice, a Brockton police spokesman.
Police allege that Jansky hit the 13-year-old while the boy was crossing Cross Street and Winslow Avenue about 1:20 p.m. Wednesday.
He was driving a white sedan rented at Logan Airport, LeGrice said.
The boy was thrown about 57 feet from the impact, prosecutors said.
The vehicle had front-end damage, a smashed windshield, and splattered blood on the driver’s door, prosecutors said.
The car was left in a parking lot where one of Jansky’s acquaintances lived, according to Cruz’s office.
Jansky is slated to return to court May 20....
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