The lead defense attorney in a case that has been tinged with references to the Mafia tonight says the men and woman charged are “not the Sopranos,” but federal prosecutors say they have amassed such a large collection of evidence that needs to be processed, duplicated and shared among 22 defense teams that the case feels like it could run as long as the TV show did.
The targets of Operation Porterhouse Parlay walking into federal court in Hammond 19 weeks after they were arrested and charged with operating an alleged years-long gambling and extortion operation.
“They want to present this as if it’s a mafia case. But it’s not,” said Chicago criminal defense attorney Beau Brindley who represents James “Jimmy the Greek” Gerodemos.
Federal prosecutors say Gerodemos used his two northwest Indiana restaurants as operating fronts for a global and illegal online sports gambling business. They say the ring allegedly used extortion, intimidation and threats of violence to collect gambling debts.
Attorneys say so much evidence was collected during round ups last spring, and from lengthy undercover operations preceding the raids, that the next court date is more than nine months away on June 16th of next year.
The government claims it will take that long to compile 15 terabytes of evidence. For context, that is enough storage space for 1.2 billion pages, 3.75 million photos and 5,000 hours of video.
The long ramp-up to trial for a gambling case may be one reason the government on Thursday didn’t oppose a longer leash for defendant Filippo “Gigi” Rovito. The owner of Capri restaurant in southwest suburban Burr Ridge had been free on a $1 million bond and on strict home confinement.
He was allowed out only to go to work in his nearby restaurant and to attend church in Chicago.
Despite Rovito being linked to the Chicago mob by U.S. prosecutors in a previous case and having served a six-year prison sentence in a heroin and sex-assault related case when he was a teenager, a judge in Indiana decided the restaurateur could now have more daily freedom from his home confinement.
Rovito will still wear an electronic monitor allowing the government to monitor his whereabouts, and is ordered to stay home every day from midnight to 7 a.m. He may however go about personal business during most of the day with government notice.
Accused ringleader Jimmy “The Greek” Gerodemos, the only defendant still locked up, is also asking for release to home confinement, leading prosecutors to express concerns in court on behalf of the victims and witnesses who fear they may be subject to threats.
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