Monday, November 20, 2006

A former part-time scout for the Washington Nationals who was arrested
Wednesday on charges of taking part in a major sports gambling operation was
not in position to affect Major League Baseball games, prosecutors in the
case said yesterday. The scout, Frank Falzarano, whose contract with the
Nationals was not renewed last month, was one of 27 people charged in what
New York prosecutors and police said was a lucrative, wide-ranging gambling
and money-laundering operation headed by Florida-based poker player James
Giordano. "I have no reason to believe that Frank Falzarano was in a
position to fix games based on his job with the Washington Nationals,"
Queens County District Attorney Richard A. Brown said through a spokesman
yesterday. Falzarano, 52, was charged with multiple "B" felonies, according
to Queens County prosecutors. Police said two handguns were seized from
Falzarano's Long Island home at the time of his arrest.Falzarano posted
$500,000 bail yesterday in Queens County Supreme Court. He faces a minimum
of one to three years and a maximum of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison if
convicted. Prosecutors said Falzarano was known as a "distributor," or
"super runner," in the sprawling gambling operation that included betting on
football, baseball, basketball, golf, horse racing and hockey. "I can tell
you he entered a plea of not guilty and is looking forward to defending
himself in court," said Peter Tomao, Falzarano's attorney. "There's no
allegation in the indictment that he was fixing games." Nationals officials
yesterday referred to a statement issued by the club Wednesday evening. That
statement said Falzarano "was a part-time scout who worked for an area
scout, who is no longer with the club. Falzarano's contract with the
Nationals expired on October 31 and was not renewed." Falzarano also had
served as a scout for the San Francisco Giants and Florida Marlins,
according to law enforcement sources. Rich Levin, a spokesman for MLB, said
yesterday that the league had just learned of Falzarano's arrest and was
looking into it.

The Nationals' scouting staff numbered around 30 last season, according to
the team's media guide. The team recently added an additional 10 scouts.
Falzarano was not listed in the media guide, and the date of the start of
his association with the club could not be learned yesterday.

Falzarano had been a small-time scout, known as a "bird dog," with the
Nationals organization until his contract expired, according to team
sources. Former Nationals president Tony Tavares, who left the club in July
when local businessman Theodore N. Lerner bought the team, said he had never
heard of Falzarano.

"I don't know him," Tavares said yesterday. "He might have been a stringer
but was not on the payroll."

Prosecutors allege Falzarano supervised several "runners" who collected bets
from individuals. Falzarano then passed that money along to a bookmaker.
When bettors won, according to prosecutors, Falzarano passed money from the
bookmaker to the bettors. When bettors lost, Falzarano shared the winnings
with the bookmaker. Prosecutors said he was very active in the operation and
participated in the collection of millions of dollars per week from gamblers
throughout the country.