Reputed Gambino crime family member Angelo Ruggiero Jr. denied bail again in alleged sports betting indictment

Reputed Gambino crime family member Angelo Ruggiero Jr. was denied bail Thursday for the second time in connection with the NBA card cheating case, despite offering millions of dollars in real property as security for a $5 million bond.

Ruggiero, 53, of Howard Beach, is the son of the late Gambino crime captain Angelo Ruggiero and a former close associate of the late crime family boss John Gotti.

In a half-hour proceeding before U.S. District Court Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. in Brooklyn federal court, defense attorney James Froccaro, Jr., of Port Washington, argued that Ruggiero was not a flight risk and not a danger to any witness in the 31 defendant gambling case unveiled a few weeks ago by the FBI.

Froccaro took issue with the claim by prosecutors that Ruggiero, in an earlier case, had threatened a witness two decades ago while in a jail cell. According to court papers, Ruggiero, when confronted by the witness in a cell and allegedly said "you know how we take care of rats, we get up-close and personal," while making a gesture with his hand to show a pistol.

Froccaro noted that Ruggiero wasn’t charged with any crime of violence in the gambling case but rather wire fraud conspiracy and illegal gambling involving what is a card game. The attorney noted that all other reputed mob figures charged in the case were given bail.

To support his bail request, Ruggiero offered property of his own, his sister, a brother-in-law, and two life long friends with combined fair market values of $7.7 million. Ruggiero also agreed to home detention with monitoring. He had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges which could net him about six years in prison.

But Assistant U.S. attorney Michael W. Gibaldi told Reyes that Ruggiero had a prior conviction for witness tampering and conspiracy to commit murder. Gibaldi also said Ruggiero had bragged of his ties to Gotti.

Reyes ruled the government had shown that no bail package or other conditions would assure that Ruggiero wouldn’t try to obstruct justice and ordered him to be continued to be held without bail.

Seven reputed organized crime figures have been charged in the NBA card cheating case, as well as a number of NBA figures, including Chauncey Billups, head coach of the Portland Trailblazers. Prosecutors alleged that the conspiracy involved legitimate and illegitimate poker games in which rigged card dealing machines and special X-ray tables allowed victims to be cheated out of $7 million.

Froccaro didn’t comment after leaving court. During the hearing he disclosed that FBI agent had approached Ruggiero a year ago during the infancy of the probe to let him know and investigation was underway and involved a search warrant.

Ruggiero’s father was known by the moniker "quack quack," a nickname some say was because of his talkativeness or the strange way he walked. The late Ruggiero talked so much on his telephone that his indiscreet remarks caught on FBI bugs led to the downfall of member of the Gambino crime family, including the late boss Paul Castellano and Gotti.

Also appearing before Reyes, was Damon Jones, 49, of Houston, Texas, a former NBA player with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, who was arraigned and entered a not guilty plea. Jones was charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.