WISEGUY WIRE: Soprano’s audition canceled in Jersey

  While legislators in New Jersey and Delaware have been contemplating
legalizing sports betting to take advantage of the potential tax
revenues the activity might generate, New Jersey law enforcement
continues to investigate and arrest mobbed-up illegal bookmaking
operations. Witness the recent bust of 34 men in what is being
described as a “large-scale illegal sports gambling enterprise” with
connections to the Genovese crime family.

  Although the seizure of $1.4 million in cash sounds like a lot, it’s
a fraction of what was lifted locally from the Jelinsky brothers when
they were busted last year in a multi-jurisdictional raid. For a real
bookmaking operation, $1.4 million is coffee fund cash. (Have the
Jelinskys reported to prison yet?)

  What should catch the eye of students of the genre is the connection
between the Jersey boys and some as yet unnamed Caribbean sports
books. The poorly kept secret in illegal sports betting is that the
Caribbean is riddled with mob-connected bookmaking operations.