You’ll recall that Tribeca Spa of Tranquility was raided by law-enforcement authorities the other day, and I was cagey about why. Good thing I didn’t post the reason I had heard—the actual allegations are far less salacious. (And, no, the reason I had heard had nothing to do with happy endings.) Here’s the press release from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, trimmed slightly. The owner of Tribeca Spa of Tranquility is Gary Latawiec; the spa is run by Latawiec’s wife, and to the best of my knowledge, it’s still open.

Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced today the arrests of 29 individuals and the execution of 42 search warrants in Bergen, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Essex, Union, Ocean and Monmouth Counties, New Jersey, as well as New York. These search warrants resulted in the seizure of 2 vehicles and approximately $800,000. The arrests and search warrants are for crimes relating to an illegal sports gambling enterprise operating in and around Bergen County that netted approximately $3,000,000 during a 12-month period by accepting wagers on various sporting events.

The investigation began in February 2014 and centered on illegal gambling and money laundering activities occurring in and around Bergen County. The investigation focused on several individuals who operated a large scale illegal gambling ring primarily in New Jersey and New York. The investigation revealed the illegal gambling was controlled by GARY LATAWIEC and ANTHONY PINTABONA. The investigation further revealed that PATRICK CAPORIZZO and JAMES ROBERTS, acted as mid-level managers for LATAWIEC. In turn, CAPORIZZO and ROBERTS had a large network of operatives or “agents” that ran individual gambling “packages” on their behalf. These “agents” were paid a commission, or, percentage of the profits made by the organization. These “agents” were responsible for meeting with individual bettors to pay out winnings, or collect losses. The ring used non-traditional “wire rooms,” in the form of off-shore, Internet based gambling services-such as beteagle.com, 119green.net, betritz.com, playhere24/7.com, thewagerrplace.com, betcris.com, used by bettors and agents to actually place their wagers. It is alleged that members of the enterprise used the off-shore wire rooms to maintain the gambling accounts of numerous agents through the Internet websites in an effort to evade traditional law enforcement detection methods.

“Bettors” as well as “agents” were given code names and passwords with these off-shore wire rooms in an effort to prevent law enforcement from identifying them and would use them when communicating with the wire rooms. The investigation, which is still ongoing, also revealed that the wagers placed through the various wire rooms were estimated to exceed $50,000,000 in a twelve-month period.

Bail was set for all defendants by the Honorable Liliana S. DeAvila-Silebi, P.J.S.C., with no ten percent cash alternative.

Prosecutor Molinelli states that these charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

And there was this, from cliffviewpilot.com: “Latawiec, a 72-year-old Clifton resident who once owned the Carousel Lounge in Hawthorne, spent time behind bars for running a gambling crew from prison in the mid- to late-1990s.”

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