Two Rochester men have been convicted for their roles in an illegal sports betting ring.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 42-year-old Louis Ferrari, the second, and 40-year-old Dominick Sprague were convicted of conspiracy to transmit betting information in interstate commerce and to conduct an illegal gambling business. Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford sentenced them to three years’ probation, including 10 months of house arrest. In addition, Ferrari was forfeited $150,000 and Sprague about $92,000 of their gambling earnings.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meghan K. McGuire and Melissa M. Marangola, who handled the case, alleged that between April 25, 2019, and April 17, 2021, Ferrari and Sprague conspired with Anthony Amato, Tomasso Sessa, Joseph Lombardo, Jeffrey Boscarino, James Civiletti, and others to finance, manage, and own, in whole or in part, an illegal bookmaking business with gross daily revenue of approximately $2,000.00. In furtherance of this conspiracy, Ferrari and co-defendant Amato set up accounts for Sprague, Boscarino, and Lombardo on “sport700.com,” a website for placing and tracking bets on sporting events. Sprague, Boscarino, and Lombardo called and texted Ferrari to place, edit, and remove bets on sporting events for individual bettors on sport700.com. Ferrari also called Amato and sent him text messages asking him to create accounts, change passwords, and place, edit and remove bets for Sprague, Boscarino, Lombardo and individual bettors on sport700.com.
Ferrari, Sprague, and Lombardo collected money from individual bettors and money owed to individual bettors in cash and through online payment applications such as CashApp, PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle. After collecting money from individual bettors, Sprague and Lombardo kept a portion and paid the rest to Ferrari. Sessa and Civiletti also collected money from individual bettors in cash and through online payment applications and then paid it to Sprague and Ferrari.
The convictions are the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Matthew Scarpino, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Thomas Fattorusso, the New York State Police under the direction of Major Miklos Szoczei II, the Greece Police Department under the direction of Chief Michael Wood, and the Rochester Police Department under the direction of Chief David Smith. Additional assistance was provided by the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
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