4 Staten Islanders charged in $11M illegal gambling operation – SILive.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Six men from Staten Island and New Jersey including a reputed Bonanno crime family captain have been charged with allegedly running an illegal Internet-based gambling operation that netted more than $11 million in wagers, the Brooklyn district attorney announced on Wednesday.

The alleged scheme, which ran between Sept. 2018 and March 2019, involved members of the conspiracy accepting sports wagers for professional and collegiate games from customers through various means from Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island, New Jersey and elsewhere, according to a release from the office of Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.

Illegal gambling is not a victimless crime, but an unlawful conduct that is often connected to loansharking, money laundering and to organized crime, Gonzalez said. "These defendants are charged with allegedly running lucrative gambling operations that took in millions of dollars in bets. We have now shut down their enterprises and will seek to hold them accountable.

The defendants include four Staten Islanders: Anthony Sclafani, 73, a resident of the 400 block of Englewood Avenue in Charleston; Joseph (Joe Brooklyn) Melfi, 58, of the 100 block of Wellington Court in New Springville; Petrit (Pete) Lusha, 60, of the 300 block of Buel Avenue in Dongan Hills; and Bryan (Faith) Kelly, 45, of the 100 block of Hurlbert Street in South Beach.

Sclafani was listed as a captain of the Bonanno crime family in a 2009 United States Department of Justice release. He was charged amid a set of sweeping indictments against the family in 2009.

In that case, which included an array of offenses including racketeering, conspiracy to commit assault, threatening violence, gambling and extortion, Sclafani told a loanshark victim "youre lucky we dont saw you in half and leave you in the woods, according to documents filed by prosecutors at the time.

Court records indicate that Sclafani pleaded guilty to racketeering and was sentenced to six years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for that case.

The 64-count indictments which also charged Ross Branca, 40, of Freehold, N.J., and Stephen Barone, 56, of Jackson, N.J. include charges of fifth-degree conspiracy, first-degree promoting gambling and first-degree possession of gambling records. Branca was additionally charged with two counts of second-degree money laundering.

Kelly, a South Beach native, faces 31 charges across both indictments. Lusha, from Dongan Hills, faces 22 charges in one indictment. Melfi faces 27 charges in one of the indictments.

According to Gonzalezs release, Branca allegedly acted as a master agent, controlling subsidiary agents" in this instance, Barone, Kelly and Lusha who each had their own set of clients.

Sclafani, who is charged with a single count of fifth-degree conspiracy, allegedly provided advice and assistance on logistical matters to Branca.

Members of the conspiracy allegedly accepted wagers manually and through the sports gambling website http://www.Gameday365.ag, which is operated out of Costa Rica, the investigation revealed.

The operation allegedly accepted $9,091,613 in wagers, according to the investigation, and Branca also allegedly laundered $100,000 of gambling proceeds from one of his bettors, the release said.

In Feb. 2019, Kelly also allegedly utilized http://www.playbig365.com to secure $1,928,499 in wagers.

The investigation revealed that Melfi was the master agent of that site, according to the release.

Information regarding the mens lawyers was not immediately available.

The defendants were released without bail and ordered to return to court on March 9, 2020.

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4 Staten Islanders charged in $11M illegal gambling operation - SILive.com