Monday, April 02, 2007

Four dozen people charged in connection with what authorities said is a
multimillion-dollar illegal sports betting ring made their first appearance
in state Superior Court Thursday morning. The two women and 46 men were
handcuffed and wearing jail-issued jumpsuits. Most were chained together in
small groups as they filed into Judge Paul F. Chaiet's courtroom. The
roundup of defendants began Wednesday morning following a 16-month
investigation led by State Police and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's
Office, authorities said. Federal agents and a number of other county
prosecutors and local police departments took part. Joseph Pasquale, 51, of
Brick, Richard Crossan, 48, of Hillsborough, and Ralph Santoro, 52, of
Bridgewater, described as the principals in an operation that grossed $500
million - and kept $35 million - over a 19-month period from 2005 to 2007,
were among those in court. All 48 defendants were served with complaints in
court by Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutors Michael Wojciechowski, Hoda
Soliman and Thomas Campo. They are charged with conspiracy to commit money
laundering, racketeering, promoting gambling and conspiracy. Pasquale,
Crossan and Santoro have also been charged with money laundering, while
Crossan is also charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled dangerous
substance. Bail for the three alleged ringleaders was set at $1 million
each; bail for the rest of the defendants is $100,000 each. Most of the
defendants were either represented by attorneys in court or told the judge
they would be seeking private counsel. But two of the men qualify for
representation by a public defender, the judge said. Pasquale's attorney,
Susan Lavelle, declined to comment after the brief court appearance. But
Brian Neary, who represents Pasquale's wife, Carol, who was also arrested
Wednesday, said "just because the state brings in a lot of defendants, that
doesn't mean they have a strong case." Neary said he expected his client
would be released on a $100,000 bond by Thursday afternoon.

He said he provided authorities with "more than sufficient evidence" that
legitimate funds would be used for her bail bond, so the Prosecutor's Office
waived a "source hearing" for his client.

Prosecutors had requested the hearings to show that bail money was
legitimate for all the defendants, but would consider waivers on a
case-by-case basis, Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin said.

The judge told attorneys he would hear motions to reduce bail on Tuesday, as
long as they filed the required paperwork by 4 p.m. today.

Thomas Cammarata, who represents Santoro, said he plans to defend the case
aggressively.