Fourteen people have been charged for their roles in a multimillion-dollar sports betting ring that was allegedly operated by a member of an organized crime family and involved college athletes, New Jersey authorities announced Thursday.
Authorities said Joseph M. “Little Joe” Perna, a 55-year-old resident of Fairfield, N.J., and alleged member of the Lucchese crime family, ran the illegal operation. Perna was the operation’s “financier,” while his son, Joseph R. Perna, 25, conducted the sportsbook’s daily operations and facilitated dozens of subordinate agents, including his brother, Anthony Perna, 23, according to the authorities. Also among those charged were the elder Perna’s wife, Kim Zito, 53, ex-wife, Rosanna Magno, 52, and a stepson, Frank Zito, 23.
The charges include racketeering, conspiracy, promoting gambling, promoting gambling by bookmaking and money laundering.
According to the New Jersey attorney general‘s office, members of the enterprise included student-athletes, claiming that they operated sportsbooks for the Perna enterprise. Between 2022 and 2024, the enterprise transferred approximately $2 million in suspected gambling transactions.
“Despite the proliferation of legal betting of all kinds, gambling remains a mainstay of members and associates of organized crime,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said in a statement. “The locations and methods may have evolved, but illegal gambling — in this case, sports betting — remains a problem, and we will charge those who seek to profit from it.”
It is unclear how many college athletes were involved, or at what schools. An NCAA spokeswoman told The Athletic that the association is aware of the charges and is looking into the matter.
In a statement to The Athletic, Anthony Iacullo, the defense attorney for Joseph R. Perna, said his client “looks forward to confronting the false allegations against him in a court of law. We look forward to analyzing the case in more detail once the facts are made available to the defense.” There was no listed representation for his father, Joseph M. Perna.
Illegal gambling has been a topic across the sports world in recent weeks.
Late last month, the NCAA, partly at the urging of SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, delayed the implementation of a rule that would allow college athletes to bet on pro sports.
Last week, the NCAA declared six former Division I men’s basketball players permanently ineligible after investigations found they tried to fix games and provided information to gamblers about how they would manipulate performances and outcomes.
In MLB, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted last week on charges tied to allegedly rigging the pitches they threw in games to help conspirators win prop bets. MLB responded Monday by capping pitch-level bets at $200 and barring them from parlays under new rules made with major sportsbooks. Clase and Ortiz have pleaded not guilty.
In the NBA last month, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups were among 30 people arrested by federal investigators as part of a multiyear investigation into illegal betting activities.
And the NFL recently sent a memo to all 32 of its teams detailing its restrictions on bets tied to player injuries, officiating, single-player plays — such as a kicker missing a field goal — and pre-determined outcomes.
The Athletic’s Ralph D. Russo contributed to this story.
