It wasn’t ‘Ocean’s 11,’ but these cheaters took $1.2M from Bellagio — and landed in ‘Black Book’
Four men made off with $1.2 million from Bellagio by pulling off a scheme that went undiscovered for months at the casino’s craps tables.
Now, all four of them — all believed to be living in Las Vegas — are on Nevada’s List of Excluded Persons, the so-called “Black Book” listing of people who are not permitted to enter the state’s major casinos.
Mark Branco, 52, James Russell Cooper, 53, Anthony Grant Granito, 58, and Jeffrey Martin, 48, were a part of the notorious Bellagio craps team that was only caught after Nevada Gaming Control Board investigators and MGM Resorts International, Bellagio’s owner, determined that the foursome defied 452 billion-to-1 odds to win as much money as they did.
To prove the group’s involvement in the scheme, investigators reviewed hundreds of hours of surveillance video showing Branco, Cooper, Granito and Martin at Bellagio’s craps tables. Granito and Martin placed the bets and Branco and Cooper took the action between August 2012 and July 2014.
It took the Nevada Gaming Commission seven months to land all of them in the “Black Book” because each took different paths in their regulatory hearings.
An inside job
The scheme that cost Bellagio hundreds of thousands of dollars was an inside job.
Branco, a former Bellagio craps dealer who led the scheme, worked with fellow dealer Cooper to pull off the theft. Granito and Martin were the outside conspirators who placed the bets during random trips to the casino.
Cooper eventually cooperated with authorities and explained before a grand jury how the scam worked.
Cooper and Branco would have to be working the same table, according to Cooper’s grand jury testimony. As a craps shooter tossed the die, Granito or Martin would mumble something that sounded like a “hop bet” — a verbal wager that specific numbers would come up on the next roll — and one of the dealers would pay out as if they had correctly wagered on whatever fell.
At the time, the felt on the craps tables at Bellagio had no designated spot for such bets.
The team also lost thousands of dollars on fair wagers they placed to divert attention from the scam, but they always walked away with a profit because of the phantom bets.
Granito, Cooper, Martin and Branco were convicted of theft and cheating at gambling in 2016 in Clark County District Court and sentenced to prison.
Branco was the last person to be released from prison, and when Granito, Cooper and Martin were placed on probation, the Control Board took action to list them for exclusion.
Granito and Cooper declined a commission hearing, and a unanimous determination to list them was reached at its November 2018 meeting. Neither of them appeared before the commission.
Martin, who admitted to having a compulsive gambling disorder, opted for a hearing, which was scheduled a month after Granito and Cooper were listed. It was the first time then-Commission Chairman Tony Alamo had ever conducted such a proceeding.
‘I did it all’
“It’s funny because I’m standing here as a recovering compulsive gambler asking you to not keep me out of a casino,” Martin said in his appearance before commissioners. “It seems so silly to say out loud, but it’s true because I feel like everything you’ve read and has been said, other than the part about being a part of the planning of this crime, I did. I did it all.”
Martin said it was Branco, his brother-in-law, who invited him to participate in the scheme.
Martin, who had the right to an attorney but chose to speak on his own behalf, said he wanted to avoid being placed on the list because he wanted to continue to be able to go to shows, eat at casino restaurants and enjoy “staycations.” Regulations require that casinos ban people on the list from all amenities.
In the hearing, Deputy Attorney General John Micheala summoned one witness, Control Board investigator Ken Yurgelon, to corroborate details of the investigation and his contact with Martin that led to his confession, conviction and sentencing.
Then-Commissioner Philip Pro, a former federal judge, said Martin wasn’t a notorious character like a defendant who once appeared before him — Anthony “The Ant” Spilotro — but that Martin’s actions were reason enough to place him on the list.
It was a unanimous vote.
Alamo left Martin with one ray of hope: that regulations allow him to petition for removal from the list.
The last Bellagio craps team member to be listed was Branco, who was released on probation shortly after Cooper, Granito and Martin were listed.
Branco’s commission hearing occurred in May 2019. He did not appear, and the commission voted unanimously to place him on the list.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
