Illinois Gaming Board revokes license of Cicero video playing operator, alleging mob ties

The Illinois Gaming Board has revoked the license of an allegedly mob-connected operator of a video playing license at a Steak’n Egger diner in Cicero.

The board revoked the license of Firebird Enterprise Inc., owned by Jeffrey Bertucci, which operates the restaurant at 5647 W. Ogden Ave. The video playing machines had been disabled Friday, a day after the ruling, a board spokesperson stated.

The board rejected the discovering of Administrative Law Judge Michael Coveny, who really helpful that Bertucci must be allowed to proceed working, regardless of admitting in court docket to prior unlawful playing.

Bertucci has by no means been convicted of a state playing cost, however in 2000, he was arrested on a cost of illegally working a coin-operated amusement machine, the board acknowledged in its ruling.

A federal grand jury subpoena in 2004 prompted him to take away the gadgets, however he testified that he reinstalled them in 2006, and illegally operated them via a minimum of 2009, the board acknowledged. He additionally admitted to submitting false tax returns, and to giving false testimony to federal investigators and a grand jury, the board wrote in its order.

That testimony got here years later within the trial of Michael Sarno, alleged chief of the Cicero road crew of the Chicago Outfit, who was sentenced to 25 years in jail for racketeering. Bertucci testified that he maintained unlawful playing machines at Steak’n Eggers in Cicero and Chicago, in response to the board findings.

When requested about his 2000 arrest in 2018 by Gaming Board investigators, Bertucci admitted illegally working the machines for 5 – 6 years within the 2000s, saying he was in his 20s and plenty of different enterprise house owners had been doing it, so he did it to make some more money, the board order acknowledged. But his case was thrown out, in response to the board, and he stated he’d by no means once more engaged in such exercise.

Gaming brokers didn’t ask Bertucci about his trial testimony or additional unlawful gaming, and he didn’t point out it, the board discovering acknowledged. The board then licensed Firebird for video gaming in 2019.

Later in 2019, a letter on an unrelated matter from the regulation agency of Fox Rothschild, which represents Bertucci, knowledgeable the board that Bertucci had testified on the Sarno trial.

In 2023, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Bertucci had testified about getting his playing terminals from a corporation linked to former Chicago mob boss James Marcello, and from Casey Szaflarski, whom federal authorities stated ran the mob’s video poker operations.

Shortly thereafter, Gaming Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter proposed revoking Bertucci’s license.

Gaming Board guidelines prohibit making false statements in a license software, and authorizes self-discipline for any trigger that might have induced the board to reject an applicant.

The board concluded that Bertucci partnered with identified members of organized crime to have interaction in unlawful playing. His testimony discredits the gaming trade, the board acknowledged, and would have induced the board to reject his license software had they identified about it.

Bertucci’s lawyer didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however beforehand claimed he was a sufferer of selective prosecution, since different scofflaws have remained licensed. But the board acknowledged that there was no discrimination, since he was handled the identical as different contributors within the Sarno trial.