Opinion ID: 2170567
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Sufficiency of the State's Evidence

Text: Primarily, the State's case against the appellant consisted of currency seized from the appellant. The currency in question consisted of a number of dollar bills on which various notations had been made. These notations had been made in a form of code. A sergeant of the Vice Squad testified that in ten years' experience as a member of the Vice Squad he had learned the meaning of the code. He testified that the cryptic notations represented the recording of 14 horse bets in the amount of the bills on which they were recorded. We think the evidence was properly received and that the sergeant had properly qualified himself as an expert in the field; particularly in view of the fact that it has been judicially recognized that the ingenuity of bookmakers produces a sparsity of recorded indicia of their unlawful trade. Cf. State v. Fiorello, 36 N.J. 80, 174 A.2d 900. Under the circumstances of this case, we have no doubt but that the appellant was a bookmaker.