Major Gambling Operation Raided in Norwalk [Updated]

[Editor's Note: References made to Giaccone Storytellers have been removed from this article due to an error made by the Norwalk Police Department.]

Police broke up a major gambling operation in Norwalk early Thursday morning where tens of thousands of dollars exchanged hands each week, according to the commander of the operation.

With a search and seizure warrant in hand, 29 officers in full body armor – members of the department’s Special Services Unit and Emergency Services – rammed open two doors simultaneously and burst into the Casino Royalle on the third floor of an office building at 94 East Ave.

The only game played there was Texas Hold’em poker said Lt. James Walsh, commander of Special Services.

Walsh said the gambling den had existed for at least seven years, and police have had it under observation for three years.

Walsh said it took a long time to development the resources to conduct the raid, included renting a U-Haul truck to carry away the room’s furnishings and gambling paraphernalia, including five card tables, a safe, a TV, a refrigerator, and detailed records identifying the operation’s customers and amounts owed in gambling debt.

There were 23 patrons in the room, Walsh said, none of who were arrested.

After police hit the doors, one patron jumped out a window and fell approximately 35 feet, suffering critical injuries. The 53-year-old Monroe resident was flown to Yale-New Haven Hospital for treatment.

All six employees in the room were arrested, charged with gambling, conspiracy to commit gambling, operating a gambling premise and conspiracy to operate a gambling premise.

Among those arrested were Pedro Couto, 34, of 21 Wordings La., Trumbull, who police identified as the manager of the operation; and Andre Rodriguez, 32, of the Bronx, who police identified as the pit boss.

Police identified the four other people arrested as dealers. They were: Veronika Drozdova, 22, of 325 Lafayette St., Bridgeport; Fernando Marin, 21, of 74 Strawberry Hill Ave., Stamford; Daniel Rehm, 22, of New Rochelle, NY., and Kevin R. Mollow, 32, of 32 Glasser St.

Drozdova was also charged with interfering with an officer since she resisted being place in handcuffs, police said.

Walsh said the casino was a regional operation that had customers from out of state. He said people on their way to Connecticut’s update casinos or returning home would stop at Casino Royale.

He said you had to be known by management to get inside. Customers would knock on the door, and an employee would view them using a surveillance camera in the hallway.

He said the casino went to great lengths to hide its activities, including having curtains and drapery on all of the windows.

Besides the gambling parlor, the casino had a money room with a safe, and a kitchen with a juice bar and snacks. Patrons were expected to pay for drinks and snacks on the “honor system,” Walsh said.

“It was an ideal location for this type of operation,” Walsh said.

There was no alcohol, guns or drugs on the premises, Walsh said.

He said the casino was open five nights a week. On Friday and Saturday nights, he said, it would usually at open at around 10 p.m. and close at 3 of 4 in the morning.

Walsh said the casino’s managers earned $4,000 to $5,000 a week in cash.

Walsh said officers are continuing to investigate the casino’s operations, including trying to determine if it was connected to organized crime. Also, it’s unclear if the building’s management or owner knew about the casino.