LAPD officer allegedy involved in Super Bowl betting ring

The US has seen reports of gambling crime and other related news in a number of states over the past week.

Police in California released the name of an L.A. Police Department (LAPD) officer charged with running an illegal gambling operation connected to the National Football League (NFL)’s 2021 Super Bowl.

bettors placing illegal “high-dollar” wagers on Super Bowl LV

A statement published April 11 on the department’s website names LAPD officer Robert Felix, 50, among three men who allegedly orchestrated an operation involving bettors placing illegal “high-dollar” wagers on Super Bowl LV.

The LAPD said the arraignment of Felix, Francisco Martin Del Campo, and Gabriel Martin Del Campo on multiple felony charges of bookmaking will take place in a Pomona court in California on April 22. Thirteen-year LAPD veteran Felix, lately of the department’s Transit Services Division, is “currently assigned home with no police powers.”

The LAPD did not disclose the amount of money involved in the bets or any other details of the operation.

Trump-pardoned judge re-elected in Illinois

Meanwhile in the Midwest, voters in the small Illinois village of Mettawa last week re-elected a mayor charged by federal authorities in a gambling investigation in February 2020. Casey Urlacher, brother of ex-Chicago Bears NFL linebacker Brian Urlacher, later received a pardon by former President Donald Trump in January of this year.

Urlacher’s re-election comes as Matthew Namoff, 25, became the sixth of ten original defendants to plead guilty in the case last week.

Along with the other suspects, federal authorities charged Urlacher last year for his alleged role in an offshore sports gambling ring that raked in millions of dollars. Urlacher pleaded not guilty and got his pardon before Trump left office.

Urlacher was allegedly signing up bettors to Del Giudice’s operation and getting a cut of their subsequent losses. The Mayor of Mettawa, who claimed he did not know Del Giudice, was looking at a jail term sentence of up to ten years.

Urlacher was allegedly signing up bettors to Del Giudice’s operation and getting a cut

Speaking to the Lake County News-Sun after his re-election, Urlacher said Mettawa “residents really rallied” for him. Urlacher added: “There were a lot of people working behind the scenes. I’m honored to be elected for another four years.”

More trouble down south

On Friday in Northeast Alabama, the FBI and local law enforcement authorities seized illegal gambling machines, guns, and drugs. The operation saw officers serving ten search warrants on nine properties around Calhoun County.

One of the local law enforcement bodies involved in the sting, the Anniston Police Department, posted a press release on Facebook. It stated that “approximately 75 gambling devices were seized along with over 100 additional items”:

The press statement also mentioned a previous murder, shootouts, two armed robberies, multiple assaults, an overdose, and “people drugged and their wallets stolen” at some of the nine locations raided on Friday.

“These are only the incidents that have been reported to us,” the local police department added.