Danbury bodega owners arrested on illegal gambling charges
DANBURY — Two city men are facing charges following a state police investigation into illegal gambling operations at Connecticut bodegas.
Nilo Antonio Espinal, 41, and Cesar Jose Vasquez, 43, were arrested Nov. 18, after turning themselves in on warrants stemming from raids on Torres Grocery on Wildman Street and Pollas Supermarket on Main Street earlier this year.
The operation was part of a long-term investigation by Connecticut State Police’s Organized Crime Task Force, which “encompassed multiple bodegas throughout Connecticut operating under the organized direction of several individuals in Connecticut whose primary goal was to make illegal profits from wagers/bets,” according to police.
Search warrants were executed at Torres Grocery and Pollas Supermarket on Feb. 3, after state police investigators
completed “a number of controlled gambling wagers” at the establishments with the help of a confidential informant, according to Espinal and Vasquez’s arrest warrants.
Espinal is an owner of Torres Grocery and Vasquez owns Pollas Supermarket, according to police.
Torres Grocery
During their search of Torres Grocery, police said they found “a number of items of evidence related to (a) illegal gambling operation,” including betting receipts, gambling
notes and a safe containing more than $ 74,000 in cash.
Much of the currency in the safe was held together by colored rubber bands with names and amounts written on torn pieces of paper, according to the warrant for Espinal’s arrest.
A detective at the scene identified these as “payouts” from winnings associated with illegal gambling.
Espinal allegedly told police the money was for “some type of program he initiated with residents who frequent his store,” according to the warrant for his arrest. Police said he “had little to no explanation for the significant amount of US currency seized,” and refused to give an explanation about the suspected gambling notes.
Hours after the raid, Danbury police responded to a larceny complaint at a residence. The complainant said they had placed a $ 1,200 bet on the Super Bowl with a man named “Chino” at Torres Grocery. The complainant later identified “Chino” as Espinal, according to police.
According to the warrant for Espinal’s arrest, the individual called police because they could not get in touch with Espinal to collect their winnings and said they had been placing bets at Torres Grocery for about a year, but had no idea it was part of an illegal operation.
Pollas Supermarket
Upon entering Pollas Supermarket the morning of Feb. 3, police said they observed Vasquez handing a woman an illegal Dominican Lottery wager and detained him as investigators executed the search warrant.
Vasquez identified himself as the store’s owner and claimed he “did not know anything about illegal gambling, sports betting nor the Dominican Lottery,” according to the warrant for his arrest.
According to police, Vasquez refused to answer questions about the lottery wager, but the woman at the scene admitted that the piece of paper he handed her was a Dominican Lottery receipt.
Police said another woman in the store was searched and found to be in possession of a Dominican Lottery receipt as well. Both women claimed to not know it was illegal to play the Dominican Lottery, but were issued misdemeanor summons for illegal professional gambling.
Police said Vasquez was searched at the scene and found to have $ 2,491 in his pocket.
From the search of Pollas Supermarket, police said they confiscated “numerous gambling receipts, computers utilized for gambling activities, printing equipment used to document gambling activities, a money county, a shotgun, multiple passports and ledgers documenting what is believed to be evidence of loan sharking and approximately $ 192,476.65 in US currency.”
With probable cause to believe Espinal and Vasquez were co-conspirators in “a large scale, illegal gambling organization,” police requested and subsequently obtained warrants for their arrests.
Espinal and Vasquez have each been charged with illegal professional gambling, illegal possession of gambling devices and illegal operation of a gambling premises.
They were released after posting $ 100,000 surety bonds and are scheduled to appear at state Superior Court in Danbury on Jan. 5.