A professional poker player from North Bellmore who three years ago won more than $360,000 at the World Poker Tour's Borgata Open pleaded guilty Wednesday to running an international betting ring, prosecutors said.
Anthony Argila, 52, is expected to receive probation when Nassau County Judge Phillip Grella sentences him Oct. 15 on 17 counts of promoting gambling, said his lawyer, Denis Lemke of Mineola.
District Attorney Kathleen Rice also filed a lawsuit against Argila seeking $4 million, the estimated amount of money wagered with the organization each year, her spokesman said.
According to prosecutors, Argila's organization took bets through dozens of Long Island bookmakers and runners, then placed the bets through a "wire room" in Costa Rica.
Bettors either would collect their winnings or pay their losses through the operation's local intermediaries in Nassau, prosecutors said. Wagers also could be made through a Web site or through toll-free phone numbers, prosecutors said. Customers wagered on sporting events and online casino games, prosecutors said.
Each Monday, Argila and his associates would meet in hotel rooms on Long Island to discuss the week's wins and losses, prosecutors said.
Lemke said his client did not go to trial to spare his co-defendants - Angelo LePore, 58, of Oceanside, and Alan Wayne, 52, of Las Vegas and Seaford - the pain and expense of going to trial with him. Prosecutors would not consider separating the cases, Lemke said.
"I can respect his decision to protect his friends," Lemke said.
LePore and Wayne, who were runners with Argila's organization, both pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy. Each was fined $1,000 and received a conditional discharge.
Extensive physical surveillance was conducted through photographs and global positioning system devices, and Rice's office sought and obtained a court-ordered phone tap on LePore's telephone.
"This operation was as high-tech and elaborate as it gets, so to bring him down we had to match him not only in effort but in sophistication," Rice said.
In 2006, Argila made it to the final table of the World Poker Tour's Borgata Open, finishing fourth in the tournament. Playing with his 3-year-old son by his side for part of the $648,010 prize pool, Argila made the final table and eventually took home $366,660, according to his Web site.
Anthony Argila, 52, is expected to receive probation when Nassau County Judge Phillip Grella sentences him Oct. 15 on 17 counts of promoting gambling, said his lawyer, Denis Lemke of Mineola.
District Attorney Kathleen Rice also filed a lawsuit against Argila seeking $4 million, the estimated amount of money wagered with the organization each year, her spokesman said.
According to prosecutors, Argila's organization took bets through dozens of Long Island bookmakers and runners, then placed the bets through a "wire room" in Costa Rica.
Bettors either would collect their winnings or pay their losses through the operation's local intermediaries in Nassau, prosecutors said. Wagers also could be made through a Web site or through toll-free phone numbers, prosecutors said. Customers wagered on sporting events and online casino games, prosecutors said.
Each Monday, Argila and his associates would meet in hotel rooms on Long Island to discuss the week's wins and losses, prosecutors said.
Lemke said his client did not go to trial to spare his co-defendants - Angelo LePore, 58, of Oceanside, and Alan Wayne, 52, of Las Vegas and Seaford - the pain and expense of going to trial with him. Prosecutors would not consider separating the cases, Lemke said.
"I can respect his decision to protect his friends," Lemke said.
LePore and Wayne, who were runners with Argila's organization, both pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy. Each was fined $1,000 and received a conditional discharge.
Extensive physical surveillance was conducted through photographs and global positioning system devices, and Rice's office sought and obtained a court-ordered phone tap on LePore's telephone.
"This operation was as high-tech and elaborate as it gets, so to bring him down we had to match him not only in effort but in sophistication," Rice said.
In 2006, Argila made it to the final table of the World Poker Tour's Borgata Open, finishing fourth in the tournament. Playing with his 3-year-old son by his side for part of the $648,010 prize pool, Argila made the final table and eventually took home $366,660, according to his Web site.
