Guilty plea for Rizzo kin in illegal gambling case

Joseph Vito Mastronardo Jr., the high-end bookmaker and son-in-law of the late Philadelphia Mayor Frank L. Rizzo who once hid more than $1 million in PVC pipes buried in his backyard, pleaded guilty Friday to illegal-gambling and money-laundering charges.

His plea in federal court came as part of a deal with 15 codefendants, who also agreed to admit their roles in his multimillion-dollar sports-betting operation, with tendrils stretching from his Huntingdon Valley mansion to Florida and Costa Rica.

Together, they are also expected to forfeit more than $3.6 million in assets tied to their proceeds.

Mastronardo, 63 and visibly ailing from the effects of cancer and a stroke last year, answered questions from U.S. District Judge Jan E. DuBois in a throaty rasp during the hearing.

By his side stood his 32-year-old son, Joseph "Joey" Mastronardo, who also pleaded guilty to four counts stemming from the indictment.

The elder Mastronardo's brother, former Villanova University football standout John Mastronardo, is expected to enter his own guilty plea next week. Prosecutors have agreed to drop their case against Joanna Mastronardo, Rizzo's daughter, as part of the plea deal.

She had been charged with depositing gambling proceeds in the family's bank accounts in bundles of under $10,000 each to avoid federal reporting rules.

None of the Mastronardos would comment Friday. Christopher Warren, lawyer for the younger Mastronardo, said they were glad to see the case closed.

"The entire Mastronardo family is looking forward to putting this behind them and moving on with their lives," Warren said.

Friday's hearing was only the latest of the family's encounters with the law.

At least four times before, Joseph V. Mastronardo, known among bettors as "Joe Vito, the gentleman gambler," has done time for pursuing what he once called "an integral part of his income" and "what I do best and love."

His first time in court came in 1987, in a federal case that alleged that his gambling operation grossed $50 million a year. He was sent back to prison in 1991 for violating the terms of his parole.

In 2006, he and John Mastronardo, 58, pleaded guilty to similar state charges in Montgomery County.

As part of their plea deal in that case, they gave up their claims to more than $2 million that authorities seized during the investigation, including the $1.1 million found buried in the grounds of the Montgomery County mansion the family shared.

But the brothers continued undeterred, federal prosecutors said. The current case, filed in 2012, stems from crimes they committed in violation of their state parole.

From 2006 to 2010, they expanded into Costa Rica, took their operation online, and continued to work with bettors who thought nothing of placing thousand-dollar bets on a single game.

One client cited in the indictment bet $50,000 on a University of Kentucky basketball game, put down another $20,000 on Syracuse University, and eventually paid the Mastronardos $250,000 to cover his losses.

Authorities froze more than $4 million deposited in bank accounts. They traced wire transfers totaling more than $3.2 million to banks in Portugal, Antigua, Sweden, and Malta.

The totals in another recent, high-profile federal gambling case - the prosecution of reputed Philadelphia mob boss Joseph Ligambi - pale in comparison.

Charges in that case centered on video poker machines that generated no more than about $250 a week, according to witness testimony.

But unlike Ligambi, who was released from custody Tuesday after two mistrials, the Mastronardos avoided mob ties and never resorted to violence or threats to make sure bettors paid up, said their defense lawyers.

"If you didn't pay your debt, your punishment was you weren't allowed to place any more bets," Dennis Cogan, the family's longtime attorney, has said.

Though Joseph V. Mastronardo declined to discuss his reasons for pleading guilty Friday, it is clear from court filings that no one wanted to take this case to trial.

This month, his lawyers sought to delay the case, arguing that their client's poor health prevented him from spending long hours in a trial.

Even during Friday's hearing, Mastronardo had to take a break to rest and feed himself through an abdominally implanted feeding tube.

So far, nine of Mastronardo's codefendants have entered guilty pleas. The remaining five are expected in court next week.

DuBois has not yet scheduled dates for their sentencing.