Bookies keep up with the times, technology

by Gary Craig, Democrat & Chronicle

When Joseph P. Fafone drove out of his Boca Raton gated community in Florida on Sept. 25, 2012, the police were tailing him and his green Lincoln MKZ.

They followed Fafone, a former Rochester resident, to a nearby strip mall, and watched as he entered a bagel shop. Moments later, a man joined Fafone at a table, took a Fed Ex envelope from his computer bag and handed it to Fafone.

Police tracked Fafone back to his home and questioned him. He admitted there was money inside the envelope.

Indeed there was: $30,000 in $100 bills.

“Is this money from gambling?” an officer asked Fafone. “Are you still in the gambling business?”

“Yeah,” Fafone answered, according to court papers. “What’s it, illegal to have money?”

Now 74, Fafone has a history of connections to gambling and sports bookmaking, including his years in the Rochester region. And authorities allege that he is typical of a bookie who has evolved with the times and technology. He was also arrested four years ago, and accused of a role in a large Internet gambling operation managed by his son, Joseph J. Fafone, then an Ontario County resident.

The Internet is the new nexus for bookmakers and bettors, and another recent bust — the June arrests of Paul Borrelli and brothers Joseph and Mark Ruff — also alleges a multimillion-dollar gambling operation connecting the Rochester region and offshore gambling facilities. And, like Joseph P. Fafone, Borrelli has his own past in area bookmaking, dating back to the days when organized crime controlled Rochester’s illicit activities.

The case against Borrelli is less than 2 weeks old, and Borrelli could be cleared of charges. But, whatever the resolution, Borrelli, 66, is far from the first person to be accused of bookmaking crimes across the technological eras — from the days of back-room bet-placing, telephone wagering and scribbled tallies in frayed ledgers to the current wired world of online gambling through offshore connections.

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