ROCHESTER – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging seven individuals for their roles in an illegal gambling business headquartered in Rochester, NY. Named in the indictment are:
- Louis P. Ferrari II, Dominic Sprague, and Tomasso Sessa are charged with two counts of conspiracy, one count of transmission of wagering information, and two counts of operating an illegal gambling business.
- Anthony Amato, Joseph Lombardo, Jeffrey Boscarino, and James Civiletti are charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of transmission of wagering information, and one count of operating an illegal gambling business.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan K. McGuire, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment and a previously filed complaint, the defendants conspired to operate illegal poker games at 565 Blossom Road and an illegal sports betting operation through the website sport700.com. Defendants Ferrari and Sprague co-owned and operated the illegal poker games at 565 Blossom Road, and Ferrari operated the illegal sports betting book through sport700.com, managing individual bettors and overseeing sub-agents, including Sprague, who had their own books of individual bettors. In addition, Ferrari owns and operates Ferrari Excavating on Steel Street in Rochester, where he collected cash payment of gambling losses from players and then laundered the illegal proceeds through the Ferrari Excavating business. Sprague also owned and operated a pawn shop on Stone Road in Greece, NY, where he collected cash payments of gambling losses from bettors and paid gambling winnings to bettors.
Defendant Amato administrated sport700.com and assisted Ferrari and others in creating accounts, usernames, and passwords, and managing individual bettors and overseeing sub-agents who had their own books of individual bettors on sport700.com. Defendant Sessa managed the day-to-day operations of the illegal gambling operation at 565 Blossom Road. Defendants Lombardo and Boscarino were sub-agents under Ferrari through sport700.com. Defendant Civiletti was an employee of Sprague’s pawn shop, collecting payments of gambling losses from people on behalf of Ferrari and Sprague.
During the course of the investigation, investigators intercepted a series of calls and text messages between targets of the investigation, sub-agents and individual bettors discussing the placement of bets, collection of winnings, and payment of losses. The investigation revealed that Ferrari generated $1,241,172 in winnings, while Amato generated winnings totaling $8,945,629.
On April 17, 2021, as investigators arrived to execute a search warrant at 565 Blossom Road, they interrupted an ongoing illegal card game, which sent individuals fleeing. An unknown number of individuals successfully fled, eight were temporarily detained. Investigators seized multiple items such documents, which included gambling ledgers and timestamped website printouts of online gambling player account activities. That same day, they also seized the cell phones of Ferrari and Sprague, which both contained evidence of sports bookmaking.
Former New York State Trooper Thomas Loewke, who was charged separately in connection with this case, was previously convicted and is awaiting sentencing.
Defendants Ferrari, Lombardo, and Civiletti were arraigned this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark W. Pedersen and were released on conditions. Defendants Sprague and Amato will be arraigned on July 11, 2023, and defendants Boscarino and Sessa will be arraigned on July 12, 2023.
The indictment is the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Scarpino, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Thomas Fattorusso, the New York State Police, under the direction of Major Brian Ratajczak, the Greece Police Department, under the direction of Chief Michael Wood, and Rochester Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Smith. Additional assistance was provided by the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
