By:Jerry Burke
A Franklin Square man who works as a concierge at Trump Tower was one of 20 suspects arrested last week in what Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota is calling "one of the largest gambling operations" ever on Long Island.
Spota said the $21 million multistate gambling ring came to an end hours before the busiest annual wagering day in the U.S.: Super Bowl Sunday.
James Toron, 46, of Franklin Square was among those arrested. Spota said that Toron was a runner for the operation, allegedly lead by Peter Moceo, the 45-year-old owner of a specialty rice pudding store in Manhattan's Little Italy.
Spota said that Moceo ran his $420,000-a-week operation out of his Trump Tower apartment, with Toron allegedly running numbers between Moceo and his father, also named Peter, in Brooklyn. Investigators said that the Moceos took bets on football and basketball games mostly from bettors in New York but also those as far away as Florida and California.
Ten of the suspects were from Long Island. All were arrested last Thursday and charged with promoting gambling, a class E felony which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Spota was hopeful on Friday that the case would be referred to a grand jury, where more charges were likely. "From what we seized and what our wiretaps show," said Spota, "We're looking at enterprise corruption, money laundering and income tax violations."
During Thursday's sweep, investigators seized more than $1 million in cash -- $413,000 of it found in the ceiling of the elder Moceo's home in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Spota said. Police also confiscated $27,000 in cash and gambling records from the rice pudding shop on Spring Street, a store Spota said was opened with illegal bookmaking profits and used to launder the operation's proceeds.
Police said that additional records detailing the gambling were found in Moceo's condo at Trump Tower, where Toron worked. Trump International would not comment on the case or on Toron, saying only that it was cooperating with the investigation.
Others arrested in the case included John Long, 41, of Port Jefferson Station, who police say ran the Long Island component of the ring, and an as yet unidentified man who Spota said enlisted his 9-year-old son to give bettors point spreads over the phone.
Toron could not be reached for comment.
Comments about this story? JBurke@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
