A Staten Island mortician could face up to 16-months behind bars after he was found guilty of operating an illegal gambling den in New York.
Did you hear the one about the firefighter, the cop and the mortician?
Let me explain.
This week, a Brooklyn Federal Court has found Joseph Fumando, 42, guilty of operating an illegal gambling den in Staten Island. The jury took just 20-minutes to come to a decision and Fumando could now face up to 16-months behind bars.
The Staten Island mortician carried the nickname ‘The Undertaker’ but it’s unsure whether he made his entrance to the game whilst carrying an urn, rolling back his eyes, and marching to the sound of the graveyard song?
The illegal game, was known as ‘The Press’, due to its association with the building it was housed it, which was a former printing press, and Fumando’s legal team tried to argue that he was simply a player and a not the organizer of the game.
They didn’t carry a persuasive enough argument.
The boys in blue started investigating The Press back in 2010 after Queens’s district attorney’s office overheard a wiretap where an NYPD undercover narcotics cop talked about the game.
It’s believed they sent an undercover agent to infiltrate the club, and 12-months later 13-suspects were subjected to the long arm of the law, including Fumando, current and former members of the NYPD and two firefighters.
One does wonder the type of disguise the undercover agent was handed to infiltrate the game? Was it earphones and a hoody, or did they make him dress up in a multi-colored tracksuit, slap a dodgy looking moustache under his nose and make him play around with a little plastic shark?
The feds even managed to persuade one of the dealers to turn into a double agent, although from what we have read, the only vital information Deborah Berardi seems to have provided is the game featured hot food, prizes and waitresses who rubbed the players shoulders to help relieve stress.
One doubts that Molly’s Game author, Molly Bloom, will be too worried about this one being turned into a future piece of outstanding literature.
