San Diego : Raids Put Dent in Bookie Ring

Police dented a major bookmaking organization Sunday with a raid on area residences and the arrests of six people. Lt. J.P. Giaquinto, spokesman for the San Diego Police Department’s vice squad, said the raid came as part of a 10-month undercover investigation into a bookmaking operation that nets more than $4 million a year.

About 40 officers from the San Diego and El Cajon departments searched five residences in San Diego, Chula Vista and El Cajon, along with a card room in San Diego. Giaquinto said evidence was confiscated, mostly written documents.

Police said the Sunday raid was the first in an ongoing investigation by the vice squad and more arrests and searches were expected today. Giaquinto said Sunday’s police action damaged the large organization, but “it’s difficult to tell how much. We haven’t cracked their back.”

In San Diego, police searched residences in the 2300 block of Caminito Agrado and the 6800 block of Eberhart Street, and the Lucky Lady Card Room in the 500 block of El Cajon Boulevard. In El Cajon, police served warrants in the 17000 block of Avenida Cherylita and in the 300 block of North 1st Street; in Chula Vista police raided a residence in the 400 block of Starwood Circle, Giaquinto said.

Six people were arrested on suspicion of felony bookmaking and conspiracy to commit bookmaking. Stanley Penn, 47, of El Cajon, was booked into county jail and released on $5,000 bail; Dave Mikovich, 48, of San Diego, was booked and released on $12,000 bail; Peter Napolitano, 50, of San Diego, and Mario Bricoli, 74, of El Cajon, were each released on $4,000 bail; Lane Larkin, 47, of San Diego was booked into jail Sunday night with bail set at $4,000 and Lenka Larkin was booked into the Las Colinas County Jail with a bail of $2,100.