Opinion ID: 3001485
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Sale of the Grand Palace to Bingo Partners

Text: Useni’s ownership of the Grand Palace did not last long. Just eleven months after purchasing the hall, Useni sold it in May 1996 to Bingo Partners, Inc. (“Bingo Partners”), a group of veterans consisting of Mariani (the organizer), Trombetta, James Sarno, Rosario DiMarco, Sam Lenoci, and Michael Riccio. Mariani testified that Useni had said that he needed to sell “right away.”4 According to Johnson, right before Useni sold the Grand Palace to Bingo Partners Useni told Johnson not to talk to anyone who came into the Grand Palace in a suit because Useni thought that might be an FBI agent. Useni also told Johnson that he thought the hall was bugged. Useni and Cozzo, 4 The record does not disclose whether Useni or Cozzo had actual knowledge of an FBI investigation of the Grand Palace in 1996. Coincidentally, however, the FBI obtained an order authorizing the interception of oral communications in May 1996, the same month that Useni sold the Grand Palace to Bingo Partners. 12 Nos. 06-1978 & 06-2107 along with Johnson, began shredding the pull-tabs, both the winning and losing tickets, placing the remains in opaque green bags. The sale to Bingo Partners did not end Useni’s and Cozzo’s involvement with the Grand Palace. In addition to a $120,000 payment up front in exchange for the Grand Palace, Bingo Partners promised Useni and Cozzo further payments in a series of installments. Mariani testified that Cozzo and Useni repeatedly called Bingo Partners looking for those payments, which were made out of the money collected from the pull-tab machine. Trombetta testified that Cozzo and Useni lent Bingo Partners the money to operate the games to help Bingo Partners get established. Trombetta also testified that Useni promised to let Bingo Partners use his provider’s license in exchange for $1000 a week. In addition, Mariani testified that Bingo Partners received help from Bingham, from whom Mariani sought advice on several occasions as to how to operate the hall. Although Bingo Partners was now in charge, the operation of the Grand Palace did not differ significantly from when Useni owned the hall. Bingo Partners continued to pay the workers in cash and run the same games as the previous regime. A big change, however, was that the FBI began electronically monitoring the back room of the Grand Palace. As a result, the FBI was able to uncover evidence that the veterans comprising Bingo Partners were diverting a substantial portion of the proceeds from the gambling into their own pockets. At the height of operation, Trombetta testified that each member of Bingo Partners took $800 to $1000 per week from the proceeds of the gambling. In order to prevent discovery of the skimmed proceeds by the state, the number of patrons attending the bingo sessions was significantly Nos. 06-1978 & 06-2107 13 under-reported. As a consequence, the amount of proceeds from the bingo games went substantially underreported. Bingo Partners also did not report to the state the proceeds from the pull-tab machines or the raffles; instead, the members of Bingo Partners pocketed those funds.