Posted By: furio_from_naples
Steel Town Mobster “Bobby I†Busted For Sports Bo - 02/13/19 10:32 AM
http://gangsterreport.com/the-i-of-the-storm-steel-town-mobster-bobby-i-busted-for-sports-book/
The “I†Of The Storm: Steel Town Mobster “Bobby I†Busted For Sports Book
Scott Burnstein
Old-school Pittsburgh mob figure Robert (Bobby I) Iannelli, 88, was indicted this week in state court on charges of running a large sports bookmaking operation and numbers business out of Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties. Iannelli’s son, Rodney (aka “Rustyâ€) was also nailed in the case.
The indictment named 13 co-defendants and was jumpstarted by a former bookie and event planner for the Iannelli family turning informant in 2015. According to the indictment, the investigation into the Iannelli gambling enterprise lasted almost four years and estimated the enterprise was clearing upwards of $50,000-to-$100,000 per week. The Iannellis headquartered their gambling rackets out of a restaurant called Chub’s Place in the North Park section of Allegheny County which has served as Bobby I’s home base for decades.
Pittsburgh’s LaRocca crime family, the once-powerful Steel Town mafia, pretty much died when longtime boss Mike Genovese passed away peacefully in his own bed on October 31, 2006, though remnants of the syndicate have refused to go dormant. Bobby I is one of those remnants
Iannelli took a bookmaking pinch in 1991 and did a short prison stint. He has over a half-dozen arrests, all gambling related, in his career working in the Pittsburgh mob. Under Genovese, Iannelli ran a robust sports book and a lucrative policy lottery.
Rusty Iannelli, 58, went down in a 2013 state gambling bust targeting a crew led by Ron (Porky) Melocchi and Jeff (The Biscuit) Risha, one-time right-hand man to Pittsburgh mafia lieutenant Thomas (Sonny) Ciancutti, the last true gangland juggernaut left in the region said to be in semi retirement at the ripe old age of 89. The younger Iannelli was named in his dad’s 1991 indictment as well. Risha died of natural causes in 2016.
http://gangsterreport.com/who-is-bo...-microscope-amid-another-gambling-pinch/
Who Is Bobby Iannelli?: Pittsburgh Mob Power Goes Under The Microscope Amid Another Gambling Pinch
Scott Burnstein
As big as a player as there has been in the world of gambling on the east coast of the United States the past 40 years, aging Pittsburgh mobster Robert (Bobby I) Iannelli is smoking it to the filter. The seasoned 88-year old Steel Town gambling-boss titan was indicted this week on charges of overseeing a giant sports book and numbers lottery business out of Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties, alleged to be still running his rackets from his old homestead, Chub’s Place restaurant in North Park.
Iannelli came up in the mob under Tony Grosso, Pittsburgh’s longtime policy czar, who went to prison in 1986. Upon Grosso’s incarceration, Iannelli took over most of illegal gambling in Western Pennsylvania on behalf of the LaRocca crime family and mafia don Michael Genovese. Partnering with the Williams brothers, Iannelli controlled massive swaths of numbers territory once belonging to Grosso – Grosso’s illegal lottery generated $30,000,000 per year in net profits.
Closely aligning himself with Pittsburgh mob capos Anthony (Wango) Capizzi and Frank (Sonny) Amato, Jr., Bobby I grew his bookmaking business to be one of the largest in the country. He did collections for the savvy Capizzi and the mob prince Sonny Amato and has long acted as a layoff bank for other high-end bookies reaching from Pittsburgh to New York to Boston.
Iannelli’s arrest record dates back to the 1950s. He took a federal bookmaking pinch in the 1970s and did three years behind bars. In 1991, he was popped in a state gambling case and had to do some more time. People who know him describe him as a “gentleman gangster.â€
Bobby I’s son, Rodney (aka “Rustyâ€) was busted with him in the 1991 state case as well as the most recent one. Family gambling affairs were based out of Chub’s Place in 1991 just like prosecutors allege they are being today. Rusty Iannelli, 59, was nailed in 2013 for running gambling rackets with Pittsburgh mob figures Ron (Porky) Melocchi and Jeff (Biscuit) Risha and pleaded guilty.
The Pittsburgh mafia, in the form of a functioning crime family, is defunct. When Genovese died of natural causes in 2006, the hierarchy fell apart. Links to Genovese, like the ones the Iannellis carry, are few and far between these days, although scattered activity still occasionally occurs. Amato passed away in 2003. Wango Capizzi, for years the LaRocca syndicate’s liaison to the Las Vegas gaming industry, followed shortly after Genovese, and checked out in 2007.
The “I†Of The Storm: Steel Town Mobster “Bobby I†Busted For Sports Book
Scott Burnstein
Old-school Pittsburgh mob figure Robert (Bobby I) Iannelli, 88, was indicted this week in state court on charges of running a large sports bookmaking operation and numbers business out of Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties. Iannelli’s son, Rodney (aka “Rustyâ€) was also nailed in the case.
The indictment named 13 co-defendants and was jumpstarted by a former bookie and event planner for the Iannelli family turning informant in 2015. According to the indictment, the investigation into the Iannelli gambling enterprise lasted almost four years and estimated the enterprise was clearing upwards of $50,000-to-$100,000 per week. The Iannellis headquartered their gambling rackets out of a restaurant called Chub’s Place in the North Park section of Allegheny County which has served as Bobby I’s home base for decades.
Pittsburgh’s LaRocca crime family, the once-powerful Steel Town mafia, pretty much died when longtime boss Mike Genovese passed away peacefully in his own bed on October 31, 2006, though remnants of the syndicate have refused to go dormant. Bobby I is one of those remnants
Iannelli took a bookmaking pinch in 1991 and did a short prison stint. He has over a half-dozen arrests, all gambling related, in his career working in the Pittsburgh mob. Under Genovese, Iannelli ran a robust sports book and a lucrative policy lottery.
Rusty Iannelli, 58, went down in a 2013 state gambling bust targeting a crew led by Ron (Porky) Melocchi and Jeff (The Biscuit) Risha, one-time right-hand man to Pittsburgh mafia lieutenant Thomas (Sonny) Ciancutti, the last true gangland juggernaut left in the region said to be in semi retirement at the ripe old age of 89. The younger Iannelli was named in his dad’s 1991 indictment as well. Risha died of natural causes in 2016.
http://gangsterreport.com/who-is-bo...
Who Is Bobby Iannelli?: Pittsburgh Mob Power Goes Under The Microscope Amid Another Gambling Pinch
Scott Burnstein
As big as a player as there has been in the world of gambling on the east coast of the United States the past 40 years, aging Pittsburgh mobster Robert (Bobby I) Iannelli is smoking it to the filter. The seasoned 88-year old Steel Town gambling-boss titan was indicted this week on charges of overseeing a giant sports book and numbers lottery business out of Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties, alleged to be still running his rackets from his old homestead, Chub’s Place restaurant in North Park.
Iannelli came up in the mob under Tony Grosso, Pittsburgh’s longtime policy czar, who went to prison in 1986. Upon Grosso’s incarceration, Iannelli took over most of illegal gambling in Western Pennsylvania on behalf of the LaRocca crime family and mafia don Michael Genovese. Partnering with the Williams brothers, Iannelli controlled massive swaths of numbers territory once belonging to Grosso – Grosso’s illegal lottery generated $30,000,000 per year in net profits.
Closely aligning himself with Pittsburgh mob capos Anthony (Wango) Capizzi and Frank (Sonny) Amato, Jr., Bobby I grew his bookmaking business to be one of the largest in the country. He did collections for the savvy Capizzi and the mob prince Sonny Amato and has long acted as a layoff bank for other high-end bookies reaching from Pittsburgh to New York to Boston.
Iannelli’s arrest record dates back to the 1950s. He took a federal bookmaking pinch in the 1970s and did three years behind bars. In 1991, he was popped in a state gambling case and had to do some more time. People who know him describe him as a “gentleman gangster.â€
Bobby I’s son, Rodney (aka “Rustyâ€) was busted with him in the 1991 state case as well as the most recent one. Family gambling affairs were based out of Chub’s Place in 1991 just like prosecutors allege they are being today. Rusty Iannelli, 59, was nailed in 2013 for running gambling rackets with Pittsburgh mob figures Ron (Porky) Melocchi and Jeff (Biscuit) Risha and pleaded guilty.
The Pittsburgh mafia, in the form of a functioning crime family, is defunct. When Genovese died of natural causes in 2006, the hierarchy fell apart. Links to Genovese, like the ones the Iannellis carry, are few and far between these days, although scattered activity still occasionally occurs. Amato passed away in 2003. Wango Capizzi, for years the LaRocca syndicate’s liaison to the Las Vegas gaming industry, followed shortly after Genovese, and checked out in 2007.
