With regard to the illegal betting on sports, police have arrested five people in the city of Michigan. The police believe that this arrest will go a long way in breaking the gambling ring which was growing by the day.Amongst the five people arrested for, one of them was a former city councilman.
David J. Biela served the city of Michigan as a city councilman some twenty years ago and more recently again tried running for the city council and the county council for LaPorte, only to be unsuccessful on both the fronts.
Biela, now 71 is charged with five counts, all for felonies in the LaPorte superior Court with respect to the promotion of professional gambling and engaging in corrupt business practices. Similar charges were levied against his accomplices Gregory Czizek, James Liverman, John Greene and Stanley Mazur all belonging to Michigan.
Indiana Gaming commission started with theinvestigation in the year 2010 in order to identify the presence of any illegal betting in college and professional football games. This investigation was stopped for a brief period but again revived in the year 2013 when there were leads about the bookies according to the documents presented in the courts of the Michigan city area.
According to the probe, Biela would print parlay cards which would list the upcoming weekly games and the odds surrounding them. The cards would be picked up by Biela from his print shop which was located on the Kentucky Street on western side of the city or from his home in Michigan. These cards would then be distributed at the restaurants and bars to allow the customers visiting them to place a bet.
During the probe in October, it was also observed that Biela used to print more than three thousand cards per week for his other four accomplices and had been doing so since quite a long time. The ring members would then pay a visit to the businesses who had received a parlay card for collection of payouts and for receiving additional cards for the upcoming games.
The investigation also revealed that the officers having a search warrant against Biela and who visited his home in October for collection of proof heard continuously ringing phones having interested individuals wanting to place a bet on the other end. While this was being identified, for further collection of evidence, gaming commission officials went undercover to purchase parlay cards in 2014 at multiple establishments.
Numerous illegal gambling items like betting records, bank bags and ledgers were recovered from the homes of the ring members. However, further proofs and disclosures were not provided by the supervisor for investigation, Mr. Rob Townsend as the case was stillpending in the courts of law.
