Anand Shah, an Indian-origin councilman, was arrested with 39 others on charges of racketeering, money laundering and other offences in connection with an illegal gambling scheme which netted more than $3 million, reported news agency AP.
The 42-year-old managed illegal poker games and an online sports book, according to law enforcement quoted by Associated Press. He will not face official misconduct charges in connection with his public office as a council member in the city.
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Who is Anand Shah?
Anand Shah, whose family hails from Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, was a resident of Prospect Park, New Jersey, and was also a local business owner.
He had owned a franchisee of Subway and Papa John’s Pizza for more than 15 years, along with 12 other restaurants as well, as per an interview in 2016 that was published on northjersey.com.
Anand Shah is reportedly the first Indian-American to be elected to the New Jersey borough council from Passaic County.
Why was he arrested?
New Jersey state police superintendent Pat Callahan told AP that the arrests came after a two-year long investigation into the illegal gambling activities of the Lucchese crime family, involving both federal and state agents.
Along with Shah, the George Zappola, a prominent member of the mafia had also been arrested.
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Officials uncovered four illegal poker clubs in Totowa, Garfield and Woodland Park as well as in Paterson, where machines were stored, to operate illegal gambling dens.
The online operations, of which Shah was a part, involved various shell corporations and other businesses used to conceal earnings from gambling.
The gambling ring’s operations included social clubs that had poker games and gambling machines, as well as an online sportsbook operated through websites based outside the country.
Managers collected “rent,” from poker hosts for permitting the games to occur and oversaw workers at the clubs.
Among those charged, a 48-year-old of Indian-origin, Samir Nadkarni, 48, of Longwood, Florida was also caught for acting as a sportsbook sub-agent/poker host.
