14e42049   
   XPost: can.politics, alt.true-crime   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   London men arrested in gambling raid   
      
      
   Cops boast big coup   
      
      
      
   A high-ranking member of the London Hells Angels whose clean record   
   has kept his strip club operating is facing charges in an multi-   
   million dollar illegal gambling ring.   
      
   Rob Barletta, 43, joins three other London men charged in connection   
   with the bust of Internet-based Platinum Sports Book.   
      
   Two of them — Andrew Bielli, 49, and David Hair, 45 — were charged in   
   early February after about 400 officers swooped down on a Superbowl   
   party in Markham and shut down the site.   
      
   Barletta and a fourth, Christopher Rutledge, 36, were charged this   
   week in a second set of arrests by the province’s Combined Forces   
   Special Enforcement Unit, which includes the RCMP, OPP and several   
   Toronto-area police forces.   
      
   All four face charges of committing a crime for a criminal   
   organization and bookmaking.   
      
   Bielli and Hair faces charges for failing to comply with the orders   
   that set them free without bail after the first arrest.   
      
   Bielli has been charged with possessing the proceeds of crime, and   
   Hair with possession of property obtained by crime.   
      
   Rob Barletta is the former president of the London Hells Angels and   
   his club, Famous Flesh Gordon’s, is the subject of a potentially   
   precedent-setting liquor licensing hearing.   
      
   The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario’s (AGCO) registrar wants   
   to pull Barletta’s liquor licence because of his connections with the   
   Hells Angels and has taken the battle to the Ontario Court of Appeal,   
   the province’s highest court.   
      
   Ontario’s liquor law bans anyone from owning a licence if their “past   
   or present conduct” suggests they won’t carry on business with   
   “integrity and honesty.”   
      
   A victory for the AGCO could allow the province to go after the   
   licences of other businesses owned by members of the Hells Angels.   
      
   But the AGCO has failed to make its case in two earlier hearings,   
   largely because Barletta has no criminal record.   
      
   A spokesperson for the AGCO couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.   
   The AGCO is still waiting to see if its appeal of the earlier rulings   
   will be upheld by the appeal court.   
      
   The illegal Internet gambling site provided the Hells Angels and their   
   partners in traditional organized crime groups with millions of   
   dollars, police said. Those millions fueled other crimes, such as   
   human and drug trafficking, and anyone who ran out of credit with the   
   gambling site operators faced violence and extortion, police said.   
      
   The arrests of six people in February, including two Londoners and   
   another former head of the London Hells Angels, was just the first   
   part of the police operation.   
      
   Those six were let go without bail, allowing police to see if the   
   operations would continue and other managers could be arrested.   
      
   Oficers from the OPP, RCMP, Toronto area and London police swooped   
   down on 10 locations Tuesday, including several in London. Records   
   list the resident of one house as as a member of the Barletta family.   
      
   Police contend millions were bet through the Costa Rica-based Platinum   
   Sports Book website, which was run through a call centre in the U.S.   
   by Ontario suspects.   
      
   randy.richmond@sunmedia.ca   
      
   THIS WEEK’S BUST:   
      
   13: Search warrants at 10 locations, including London, Barrie and GTA   
      
   3: London residences searched   
      
   $1.6M: Seizures in cash and vehicles   
      
   19: People charged for committing crime for, or participating in   
   criminal organization, bookmaking and other offences   
      
   Londoners charged: Rob Barletta, 43, Christopher Rutledge, 36.   
      
   Others arrested from Barrie, Toronto and Toronto area   
      
   FEBRUARY BUST   
      
   $2.5M: seized.   
      
   20: Computers confiscated   
      
   6: People charged.   
      
   Londoners charged: Andrew Bielli, 49, and David Hair, 45.   
      
   London connection: Also charged, William “Bill” Miller, 49, of   
   Toronto, former head of London Hells Angels.   
   http://www.lfpress.com/2013/03/06/former-president-of-london-hel   
   s-angels-chapter-arrested-in-illegal-gambling-crackdown   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)