Illinois Octogenarian pleads guilty to Multimillion-dollar illegal Gambling ring

Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice, an 85-year-old man from Illinois, is now facing several years in federal prison as he has finally pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct a multimillion-dollar illegitimate gambling business.

Ten individuals, including Vincent “Uncle Mick” DelGiudice and Eugene “Geno” DelGiudice, were arrested and charged in February for their alleged involvement in the Uncle Mick’s illegal pay-per-head sports-betting operation that allegedly duped Chicago-area gamblers of millions of dollars.

Casey Urlacher, the brother of famous Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, is also facing charges for his alleged involvement in the illegal gambling operation. It is worth-mentioning here that Casey Urlacher is the mayor a village in Lake County called Mettawa. In March, he pleaded not guilty to the charges, arguing that he didn’t even know the DelGuidices. However, he was forced to step down as a member of the Illinois Civil Service Commission due to his alleged involvement in the illegal operation.

But, DelGiudice senior appeared before the US District Court Judge Virginia Kendall and admitted that he had assisted his son in operating the illegal betting business between 2016 and 2019. The illegal pay-per-head or price-per-head business employed agents who attracted customers and provided them with usernames and passwords to access the illegitimate website to place bets.

Federal prosecutors say that Vincent DelGiudice was the ringleader who organized the illegal gambling operation, while the other 9 defendants helped the operation as ‘agents’ who helped in attracting gamblers and making them place bets. When federal law enforcement agencies raided his home, they found $1.1 million in cash along with jewelry and silver bars worth more than $600,000.

Among those who have been charged with playing roles in running the illegal gambling operation are a couple of former officers from the Chicago Police Department and a former clerk of the Cook County Court.

DelGiudice senior is facing up to five years in federal prison, while the younger DelGiudice has been slapped with one count each of conspiracy to conduct an illegal gambling operation and to commit money laundering, in addition to six counts of money laundering. Each count of money laundering carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

It is not the first time that senior and junior DelGiudices have been charged with several counts of conspiring to conduct an illegitimate operation. Previously in 1996, both had pleaded guilty to operating an illegal gambling operation, getting slapped with hefty fines along with several months of court supervision.