Feds Make Arrests; Defendants Allegedly Used Wireless Technology to Cheat at High-Stakes Card Games
Thomas Gelardo, photo from The Sitdown with Jeff Nadu
By Dan Murphy
Joseph Nocella, US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, unsealed an indictment last week charging 31 defendants in criminal schemes to rig illegal poker games at various locations in New York City, East Hampton, New York, and throughout the United States.
Thirty-one defendants were arrested in 11 states, including members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese organized crime families of La Cosa Nostra (LCN); Chauncey Billups, head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA); and Damon Jones, also known as “Dee,” a former NBA player with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat.
Among the 31 men arrested were Lou Apicella, 50, aka “Lou Ap,” of New Rochelle, and Thomas Gelardo, 42, aka “Juice,” of Scarsdale.
As alleged in the indictment, beginning as early as 2019, the defendants engaged in a series of schemes to use wireless cheating technology to rig illegal poker games (most commonly, Texas Hold ’em) in the Eastern District of New York and across the United States. Co-conspirators in the Scheme included game organizers, who arranged for unwitting victims to play in underground illegal poker games that were secretly rigged; suppliers of the rigged cheating technology; former professional athletes, who were enlisted as “Face Cards” in the Scheme to entice the victims’ participation in the games; cheating teams who worked together using the cheating technology to defraud the victims; money launderers; and members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese organized crime families of LCN, who backed games in the New York area and took a percentage of the crime proceeds from those games.
LCN members and associates had a foothold in the rigged poker scheme because they had preexisting control over “straight” (i.e., non-rigged) illegal poker games in New York City, where some of the rigged poker games also occurred: one that was hosted principally at Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, that was on record with the Bonanno family (the “Lexington Avenue Game”); and a second that was hosted principally at Washington Place in Manhattan, that was on record with the Gambino family (the “Washington Place Game”). As part of the schemes, some of the charged defendants and other co-conspirators also committed acts of violence, including the robbery and extortion charged in the indictment.
In a typical legitimate poker game, a dealer uses a shuffling machine to shuffle the cards randomly before dealing them to all the players in a particular order. As set forth in the indictment, the rigged games used altered shuffling machines that contained hidden technology allowing the machines to read all the cards in the deck. Because the cards were always dealt in a particular order to the players at the table, the machines could determine which player would have the winning hand.
This information was transmitted to an off-site member of the conspiracy, who then transmitted it via cellphone back to a member of the conspiracy playing at the table, referred to as the “Quarterback” or “Driver.” The Quarterback then secretly signaled this information (usually by prearranged signals like touching certain chips or other items on the table) to other co-conspirators playing at the table, who were also participants in the Scheme.
Collectively, the Quarterback and other players in on the Scheme (i.e., the cheating team) used this information to win poker games against unwitting victims, who sometimes lost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time. The defendants used other cheating technology as well, such as a chip tray analyzer (essentially, a poker chip tray that also secretly read all cards using hidden cameras), an X-ray table that could read cards face down on the table, and special contact lenses or eyeglasses that could read pre-marked cards.
The defendants and their co-conspirators bet accordingly to ensure that the unsuspecting victims lost money. Through the rigged poker schemes, the defendants caused losses to victims of at least $7 million.
As alleged in the indictment, the Bonanno, Genovese, and Gambino organized crime families of LCN backed the Lexington Avenue Game and the Washington Place Game and received a portion of the criminal proceeds from both the “straight” illegal poker games and rigged games run by the organizers of those games. In particular, Becher, Zhen Hu, and Trustman—the organizers of the Lexington Avenue Game—were required to make payments to defendants Thomas Gelardo of the Bonanno family for the games (rigged or “straight”) that they operated.
The defendant LOUIS APICELLA, also known as “Lou Ap,” was a resident of New Rochelle, New York, an associate of the Gambino Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra (the “Gambino Crime Family”), and a member of the Cheating Teams.
The defendant THOMAS GELARDO, also known as “Juice,” was a resident of Scarsdale, New York, an associate of the Bonanno Crime Family, and later an associate of the Genovese Crime Family.
On numerous occasions, certain defendants and their co-conspirators invited the Victims, who were often wealthy, to Rigged Games. To attract the Victims, in some instances, well-known former professional athletes participated in the Rigged Poker Scheme and were referred to as “Face Cards.” The Face Cards were members of the Cheating Teams and received a portion of the criminal proceeds in exchange for their participation in the Scheme.
The defendants CHAUNCEY BILLUPS and DAMON JONES, both of whom are former professional basketball players, were Face Cards and members of the Cheating Teams.
As another example, in or around June and July 2023, several of the defendants participated in Rigged Games at the Lexington Avenue Game, where they defrauded John Doe #1 of approximately $1.8 million using a Rigged Shuffling Machine supplied by the defendants. The defendants,
including THOMAS GELARDO, received a portion of the criminal proceeds from games involving John Doe #1 on behalf of the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese Crime Families.
On several occasions, the defendants, including Gelardo, and their co-conspirators used threats of force and violence to secure the repayment of debts from illegal poker games. In or about and between November 2022 and February 2023, the defendants conspired to and did extort John Doe #5, an individual whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, to secure the repayment of debt from illegal poker games.
Both Gelardo and Apicella are charged with money laundering, extortion, operation of an illegal gambling business, and wire fraud.
One of the better podcasts on YouTube about Organized Crime in the tri-state area is The Sitdown with Jeff Nadu. Jeff recently posted on X-Twitter about Gelardo, including:
“One of the mobsters arrested yesterday in a wild scheme involving poker games and NBA coaches has issues. And I think one of the problems that I noticed with some of the defendants in this case, I believe, led to not only investigations into them, but made it pretty easy for the feds to see what was going on here. Generally, in fed cases, they begin with a certain informant or a tip. Then they look through the bank accounts of these individuals. I talked to someone with intimate knowledge of this case who is in the life. And he told me — this was his quote — f*&%$ Tommy bought all these cars. And essentially, Thomas Gelardo was acting ostentatiously, buying a bunch of stuff and flaunting his wealth.
“Now, according to information that I have, it’s been uncovered that Mr. Gelardo has multiple bank accounts, one of which has at least $500,000 in it, and Mr. Gelardo has no source of legitimate income. Throw in the fact that he purchased a Lamborghini SUV with a down payment of over $100,000, which he also makes $5,000 monthly payments for that vehicle. Now, this is not the only luxury vehicle that Mr. Gallardo owns. He also has a G-Wagon, which is a nearly $200,000 car, and he does not have a job. This is how the feds put this stuff together.
“They look at these defendants. They say to themselves, how does this person have all this stuff? But he doesn’t have a job. Now, this is not the first time Mr. Gerardo has been involved with the police and or the feds.
“At one point, about ten years ago, he was dating a woman called Trista Guyer, who was in Playboy and Hustler. And Mr. Gelardo couldn’t take the hint and was jailed for repeatedly violating a restraining order that Miss Guyer took out against him in one day, calling her over 60 times. Now, he was arrested in 2013 for allegedly assaulting Miss Guyer.
“Due to some of his wild behavior, it’s been discussed that Thomas Gelardo has been chased from New York, which essentially means that no mob family will deal with him, including the Bonanno crime family, who at one point were dealing with him. Last I heard, Tommy was down in Florida doing some things,” said Jeff Nadu, https://x.com/JeffNadu/status/1981769035038830714.
Good reporting on Apicella can be found on Talk of the Sound and Editor Robert Cox. Cox has reported on Apicella on several occasions over the past ten years and writes,
“Apicella’s alleged role in the Scheme comes amid a history of legal troubles dating back more than a decade, including drug possession, theft, time theft from his former employer, the New Rochelle Board of Education, and a 2023 guilty plea for disorderly conduct after attempting to run over journalist Robert Cox with his vehicle.
“In a detention letter submitted October 23, 2025, to US District Judge Ramon E. Reyes Jr. ahead of the defendants’ arraignments, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York requested that Apicella be detained pending trial, citing the serious nature of the charges, strong evidence of guilt, and the risk of obstruction by organized crime associates.
“The proof in the case includes, among other things, (1) witness testimony; (2) text messages, photographs, videos, audio recordings, and other materials recovered from cellular telephones and iCloud accounts of the defendants and their co-conspirators; and (3) financial records,” the letter stated.
“Apicella faces charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, operation of an illegal gambling business, and related counts under federal statutes such as 18 U.S.C. §§ 1349, 1955(a), and others, carrying potential penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
“Apicella’s prior record includes a November 19, 2021, arrest by New Rochelle Police for disorderly conduct and petit larceny after allegedly stealing steaks worth under $150 from a ShopRite butcher shop.
“Apicella’s criminal history also includes a May 30, 2018, arrest by New York State Police during a traffic stop on I-95 in New Rochelle as part of the “Buckle Up New York” campaign. Officers found 46.3 grams of marijuana and a 500 ml bottle of concentrated cannabis oil strewn about his vehicle, charging him with fifth-degree criminal possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor, and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a Class A misdemeanor, plus a seat belt violation,” writes Cox, who was subjected to Apicella’s threats and attempts to harm him. https://talkofthesound.com/2025/10/23/gambino-mob-associate-former-new-rochelle-schools-employee-louis-sloppy-louie-apicella-facing-multiple-federal-charges-in-rigged-poker-scheme/
US Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr said, “As alleged, members and associates of organized crime families fixed illegal poker games as part of a highly sophisticated and lucrative fraud scheme to cheat victims out of millions of dollars and conspired with others to perpetrate their frauds,” stated United States Attorney Nocella. “Well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes acted as ‘Face Cards’ to lure unsuspecting victims to high-stakes poker games, where they were then at the mercy of concealed technology, including rigged shuffling machines and specially designed contact lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big. Today’s indictment and arrests sound the final buzzer for these cheaters.”
“Over 30 people were arrested and charged for their alleged roles in criminal schemes to rig illegal poker games to win large amounts of money. These individuals used technology and deceit to scam innocent victims out of millions of dollars – eventually funneling money to La Casa Nostra and enriching one of the most notorious criminal networks in the world,” stated FBI Director Kash Patel.
Bettors who were defrauded in the rigged games may be victims under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. If you believe you were a victim of the scheme, please contact 1-800-CALLFBI.
