New York: An Indian-origin municipal councillor has been charged with participating in a mafia-run gambling operation, according to New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. Anand Shah, 42, was one of 39 people charged with “racketeering, gambling offences, money laundering, and other crimes”, Platkin said on Friday. He said the charges were filed following raids at 12 locations in the state, including 4 poker clubs.

Another person of Indian descent, Samir S Nadkarni, 48, from Longwood, Florida, was also among those charged and was described as a “sportsbook sub-agent/poker host”. Shah was a rising politician in New Jersey serving his second term as a municipal councillor in Prospect Park, a New York suburb, and was in charge of finance, economic development, and insurance. Platkin said, “The arrest of a sitting council member only adds fuel to that fire” of public distrust of elected officials. Shah “was identified as allegedly managing illegal poker games and an online sportsbook in association with the Lucchese Crime Family”, according to Platkin’s office.

 “Lucchese Crime Family” is one of the dreaded Italian-American mafia groups in the US, which also works with people of other ethnicities. Sportsbook gambling involves betting on sports tournaments. According to officials, the gambling operation was a $3 million operation. Platkin said that while mob activity has been “romanticised” in movies and television, "the reality isn’t romantic or cinematic. It’s about breaking the laws the rest of us follow and, ultimately, it’s about money, control, and the threat of violence”. Officials said that the gambling operations were run from social clubs or behind legitimate businesses like restaurants, and also included gambling machines. 

(IANS)