Norwalk Sports Bookmaker Sentenced to 4 Months in Prison

A 34-year-old Norwalk sports bookmaker—who was associated with the Gambino Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra—was sentenced Wednesday to four months in federal prison, Acting United States Attorney Deidre Daly announced.

Frank Potolicchio Jr. will also have to forfeit $100,000 and serve three years of supervised release after his imprisonment. He pleaded guilty to one count of operating an illegal gambling business.

According to Daly, Potolicchio and 19 others were involved in illegal internet sports gambling and illegal card gambling clubs in Stamford and Hamden. Between October 2010 and June 2011, the card games took in gross revenues of nearly $1.7 million.

The internet gambling mostly took place on the Costa Rica-based website 44wager.com, where Potolicchio was involved in "a large-scale sports bookmaking operation in which gamblers placed bets with offshore Internet sports-gambling websites."

The case was investigated by the FBI Fairfield County Organized Crime Task Force, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the Stamford Police Department, the Bridgeport Police Department and the Connecticut State Police.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hal Chen and Peter Jongbloed prosecuted the case.

The identities of the other 19 individuals, and the status of their cases, were not disclosed. All were charged with various illegal gambling violations.