[clevfan]

Two enter guilty pleas to loan-sharking
Tuesday, July 15, 2003

By MITCHEL MADDUX
STAFF WRITER


A Rutherford man pleaded guilty Monday to charges that he ran an illegal gambling business and beat a man who didn't pay an overdue loan-sharking debt.

Ryan Otskey, 27, told a federal judge in Newark that he attacked the debtor in the parking lot of the Tick-Tock Diner in Clifton after the man refused to repay nearly $1,500 interest on an overdue "shy" loan.

Otskey was arrested in the Route 3 diner's parking lot April 25 by FBI agents who were watching and saw him attack the debtor, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald D. Wigler.

Mario Cross, 25, of West New York, also pleaded guilty Monday before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls to charges that he ran an illegal gambling business and participated in the loan-sharking conspiracy with Otskey, officials said.

Both men each face up to 25 years in prison and fines totaling $500,000 when they are sentenced Oct. 22, federal authorities said.

"The methods that were employed in this particular illegal gambling operation, which was based offshore, seems to be a growing trend in the North Jersey metro area," Wigler said.

The case grew out of a gambling business the men ran in New Jersey from September 2001 to April 2003. Telephone "sitters" took bets at an offshore call center from bettors who phoned in on toll-free numbers, Wigler told the judge.

The man who fell into debt began his betting with the organization by placing wagers on professional football games during the 2002 NFL season, Wigler said.

In a three-week period near the season's start, the man lost $34,000 in bets placed with Otskey and Cross, Wigler said. He also lost money on pro basketball games, then fell behind on payments.

At that point, Otskey and Cross converted half of the money owed for gambling to what is considered a loan-sharking debt, officials said. The pair then began to charge the man an unlawfully exorbitant rate of interest. Federal authorities said the man then was obligated to make interest payments of $200 a week on the $10,000 loan-sharking debt - a rate of 2 percent a week.

The FBI and the Organized Crime Strike Force of the U.S Attorney's Office in Newark investigated the case.

Neither Frank P. Arleo, Otskey's attorney, nor Vincent C. Scoca, the attorney for Cross, immediately returned calls for comment Monday evening.