PerHead Customer Support, as shown in a 2012 New York Times article.
Massachusetts authorities have indicted a Costa Rican online sports betting website in a 122-charge indictment. The site, named PerHead, is located in one of the upscale suburbs of San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Travis Prescott, who owns and operates PerHead, also was indicted by the State of Massachusetts.
The indictment was issued by Attorney General Maura Healey. The Suffolk County Grand Jury brought 122 counts after a joint investigation by the Massachusetts Department of Justice and the State Police. The international sports betting ring is described by authorities as involving multi-million dollars a year.
BetEagle Investigation
In August 2014, the Massachusetts State Police Special Service Section’s Organized Crime Unit learned information which led to an illegal sports betting ring based out of South Boston and East Boston. Thousands of gamblers were in the network. They bet on all sorts of US games, but the heaviest betting was on local games involving the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins games.
Eventually, an illegal bookkeeping ring of 33 people were taking wagers from thousands of people. This criminal enterprise is thought to have netted millions of dollars a year. In an attempt to circumvent state law, they handled wagering through the offshore website in Costa Rica. PerHead is located in Santa Ana, a suburb of San Jose described as an upscale “corporate park”. It would seem that Travis Prescott was living large in the Central American country.
PerHead and Travis Prescott
Mr. Prescott’s company has been charged with money laundering and organizing illegal gaming. Other charges are also pending. Though Massachusetts officials led the original phase of the investigation, the case has involved a number of state and federal agencies: The FBI, The IRS, the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and The U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Travis Prescott might regret that he brought undo publicity to his operation by giving quotes to a New York Times reporter. In March 2012, Prescott was quoted by Sam Borden of the NY Times saying the modern 21st century illegal gambling operations are more streamlined and efficient than what the bookies of a previous generation ran.
“That’s So ‘Goodfellas'”
He said of the old style illegal bookies, “Honestly? That’s so ‘Goodfellas,’ With our setup, everything is streamlined and anyone can run their operation on their own.”
The article portrayed Travis Prescott as an lone visionary running a growing operation with a bilingual staff of 100 employees. Set in the Costa Rican capital, the operation was international, tech-friendly, and no-nonsense.
It was not long before Prescott began to get unsolicited publicity. In July 2012, Eric Carvahal of Al Dia reported that PerHead had been indicted by the state of New Jersey. It seems that New Jersey had investigated and Perhead to another site called BetEagle. BetEagle was then tied to the Genovese crime family of the Italian American mafia.
Graziano and Lascala
Earlier this year, the BetEagle crime ring was sentenced to prison. In the intervening three years, US and New Jersey authorities had worked to arrest and convict several members of the Genovese crime family, who had been running the BetEagle empire.
Those men were Joseph Graziano, 78, of Springfield, who was the primary owner of BetEagle, and Joseph Lascala, 80, of Monroe, New Jersey, who also was associated with the mafia. Two other men were sentenced, but were considered employees and not mobsters themselves. Those men were Eric Patten, 38, of Bayonne, New Jersey, and Dominick J. Barone, 45, of Springfield, New Jersey. Patten received 22 months in prison and Barone was sentenced to 18 months in prison for their role in the BetEagle gambling ring.
