Three men, including an Illinois Department of Transportation employee, were charged with syndicated gambling Sunday after Chicago police busted a traveling betting parlor that netted between $50,000 and $100,000 a day on football and basketball bets, authorities said.
Terry G. Janks, 33, an IDOT emergency expressway truck driver, and Vittorio T. Lachiana, 38, both of Oak Lawn, and Joseph Gliosci Jr. of Chicago were arrested at 9728 S. McVicker Ave., Oak Lawn, the temporary headquarters used by the alleged bookies, said Chicago Police Intelligence Unit Sgt. John Kolb.
Chicago police, with the aid of an informant, had been tracking the activities of the alleged bookies for about a month.
Police followed the men to various locations in Chicago, Oak Lawn and Crestwood, where they would set up their operation in homes, apartments and vehicles, police said.
”It`s unique because they were operating a traveling wire room, which meant these people changed their wire room location on a daily basis to avoid detection and having a search warrant put on one address,” Kolb said.
”It`s also unique because it was a three-man operation. Normally, you just have one or two men working the phones.”
Police followed the three men to the Oak Lawn address and then radioed an officer at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building to obtain a search warrant for the home before arresting them, Kolb said.
Police also recovered four telephones, various gambling wagers and a
”juice book” with the names of people who owed money to the bookies and the amount they owed, Kolb said.
”It was a nice size operation, and a lucrative part-time job in their case,” Kolb said, estimating that the operation was taking in $50,000 to $100,000 in bets daily.
Lachiana is a beer truck driver, and Gliosci is a clerk at the Mercantile Exchange.
Chicago police, with help from the Cook County state`s attorney`s special prosecutions unit, were continuing an investigation to determine if more people were involved in the 2-year-old operation and if it was linked to organized crime.
”From my experience, I think organized crime would put the arm on these guys if they were making as much money as they were,” Kolb said. ”They`d want street taxes.”
Police also expect to examine the names contained in the ”juice book,”
but Kolb declined to say whether police would contact any of the people listed.
Bond and preliminary hearings are scheduled for Monday.
