Four from Queens Netted in Gambling Ring Bust

Four Queens residents and another from the Bronx have been indicted after being netted in an illegal gambling ring bust, the Queens district attorney said.

Queens residents arrested include Ridgewood’s Benny Maldonado, 60, Woodhaven’s Rosa Rincon, 56, and Ozone Park’s Saul Montalvo, 44, and Veronica Montalvo, 40. One Bronx resident, Juan Arisa, was also arrested, while Corona’s Daniel Montalvo, 26, was still being sought by police.

“Today’s indictment will send a clear signal that when it comes to illegal gambling in Queens, all bets are off,” Queens DA Richard Brown said.

The gambling operation was brought down by police following a six-month investigation that utilized wiretaps and physical surveillance.

Brown called the organization a “family-operated” gambling ring that allegedly ran an “old-fashioned numbers racket” complete with betting parlors, wire rooms, runners and collectors.

Members of the ring handled approximately $3,000 a day in bets and as much as $1 million per year.

The defendants are awaiting arraignment in Kew Gardens’ Queens County Supreme Court on charges of enterprise corruption, promoting gambling and possession of gambling records.

If convicted, each defendant faces up to 25 years in prison, the DA said.

The investigation began in February 2013 when the NYPD’s Queens Narcotics Division looked into an illegal gambling operation allegedly being operated out of a central wire room on Sutter Avenue in Brooklyn.

A number of fax machines in the room allegedly received betting slips from more than 30 betting parlors throughout Queens, Brooklyn and Nassau County.

Rincon allegedly ran a second wire room from a home in Woodhaven. Daniel Montalvo and Maldonado were alleged to have collected and distributed money to the betting parlors.

A total 19 other individuals have been arrested on various charges stemming from the gambling ring.

Police have recovered more than $120,000 in cash, gambling records, fax machines, hundreds of narcotics pills and weapons.