NJ State Commission of Investigation recommends legalizing sports betting

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N.J. commission urges new law enforcement tactics to fight organized crime

By TOM BELL
The Associated Press
5/5/2004, 4:01 p.m. ET


TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Police should make sweeping changes in their approach to organized crime, and New Jersey should consider legalizing sports betting in order to battle today's more violent and unpredictable gangs, the state Commission of Investigation said in a report released Wednesday.

The commission noted that much had changed since its last comprehensive report on the subject was issued in 1989 and that there needed to be legislative, regulatory and law enforcement changes to adapt to the new organized crime landscape.

"The changing shape of organized crime is exemplified by the rise of a vast network of heavily armed drug trafficking gangs sustained by a lucrative underground economy," the report said.

"Their presence ensures that illegal drugs, guns and other societal threats once the domain of traditional organized crime have gained a new and menacing lease in the hands of ultraviolent groups whose scope and activity pose an enormous challenge to law enforcement."

The commission said gangs such as the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings had widened their turf from the state's cities into its suburbs in recent years. It added that gangs made up of immigrants from Russia, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and South America were also involved in home invasions, business shakedowns, and involuntary servitude in their own ethnic communities.

It also said that after years of being decimated by prosecutions and internal battles, the seven La Cosa Nostra families in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia were rebuilding and looking to reclaim their turf in New Jersey. It said the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno, Colombo, DeCavalcante and Bruno organizations all have new leadership and were recruiting new members.

"Traditionally close-knit, self-involved and insular in nature, they have demonstrated an increased willingness to share personnel and other resources in the pursuit of common criminal goals," the report said.

The commission said law enforcement officials need to set new priorities and change their recruitment and training procedures in order to deal with the new threats. It called on police to do a "gut check" to make sure that its efforts and forces were deployed properly.

"The conventional one-size-fits-all response to organized crime is no longer viable," the report said.

It called drug dealing "the lifeblood" of organized crime and said local, county, state and federal agencies were too often working separately on the problem. It said the state should do a better job of coordinating the efforts.

"We'll certainly look at the recommendations," said Chuck Davis, spokesman for Attorney General Peter Harvey.

The commission said illegal gambling operations were another major profit center for organized crime and the state should look at legalized sports betting. The recommendation comes at a time when some lawmakers in Trenton have renewed a push to bring sports betting to the Atlantic City casinos.

"The Legislature should consider empanelling a task force to examine whether certain forms of illicit wagering known to be widely popular, particularly sports betting, should be legalized and regulated by the state," the report said.

The report included a number of letters from alleged crime bosses or their attorneys. By law, the commission must notify anyone it criticizes before a report is issued.

The commission received a response to its claim that Peter Gotti is the leader of the Gambino family. Gotti, who is the brother of the late "Teflon Don" John Gotti and is in prison on a racketeering conviction, denies he is the boss and that he had anything to do with an attempt to murder notorious Gambino turncoat Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano.

"Such allegations are fueled by the lies of career criminals facing significant jail time, all in an attempt to gain freedom by exploiting the Gotti name," Gotti's letter said.

Former alleged Philadelphia mob boss John Stanfa wrote a letter from prison that compared the information the commission received to the "false and misleading" claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Stanfa also criticized the government's handling of Ron Previte, a former Philadelphia mobster who testified before the commission.

"Missing from the script is the FBI handler giving Mr. Previte his `treat,' patting him on the head while he wags his tail and telling him, `Good boy,'" Stanfa's letter said.

The SCI is an independent panel formed in 1968 as part of an effort to combat organized crime and official corruption. Its members are appointed by the governor, the Senate president and the Assembly speaker.

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