More Allegations of Mafia Involvement in BetonSports

Vexed online gambling site BETonSPORTS has been linked to a second New York organized crime family.

Last week BoS was outed for sharing offices and phone lines in Costa Rica with a now-defunct sports betting company called Safe Deposit Sports (SDS), which U.S. prosecutors allege is part of a multi-million-dollar illegal gambling ring controlled by one of the five main organized crime families in New York, the Bonnano family.

State prosecutors in Florida have now linked BoS to a sports betting Web site called Bestlinesports.com that employed a father and son team in Florida who were allegedly associates of New York's most powerful crime family, the Gambino family, to collect debts. Bestlinesports.com was one of a number of sites "belonging to or controlled by" BoS and affiliated people and companies, according to the indictment filed by the US attorney's office in Missouri. It is also one of the Web sites placed under a Federal Court restraining order that has barred BETonSPORTS from operating in the US since July 17.

The father and son duo, Joseph "Boca Joe" Fafone and Joseph Fafone Jr., were arrested in 2002 following a two-year undercover police sting operation called "Operation Goodfellas."

The Fafones were prosecuted after helping an undercover detective place bets through Bestline Sports by phone and on the Internet, and then collecting debts owed and delivering winnings. The two were convicted in 2003 on illegal gambling charges.

A BoS spokesman confirmed the company had a relationship a few years ago with Bestline Sports, but claimed it was no more than a landlord-tenant relationship. He added that he was unsure whether the relationship continued.

Bestline Sports allegedly cut all ties with BoS when the company moved to Panama in the summer of 2004 and began operating out of the former premises of failed Betpanam.com.

Bestline Sports has recently changed ownership and denies any involvement in the previous owners' activities.

"We have been under new ownership since March 2006." Bestlinesports.com Eddy Robins told TheOnlineWire.com. "We were shocked when we heard about our company being mentioned by the British media as part of BETonSPORTS. We have nothing to do with BETonSPORTS and the allegations reported by the British media are related to facts that happened well before BLS moved from Costa Rica to Panama in 2004."

David Carruthers Bail Update

Former Chief Executive of BoS David Carruthers, will reportedly be forced to stay in a Lincoln County, Mo. jail cell until at least the end of this week, as his lawyers and family struggle to raise $1 million bail and find a suitable place for him to live upon his release.

Carruthers' lawyer Tim Evans and U.S. prosecutors reached an agreement last week at Carruthers' arraignment hearing that will allow him to reside in the St Louis area, under bail conditions, such as GPS surveillance.