PLAYING INTO THE LAPD'S HANDS : FOOTBALL POOL BUSTED IN BAR.Byline: Jaxon Van Derbeken Daily News Staff Writer Police found the man right where the tipster tipster A person who provides inside information. said he'd be: seated on the fourth stool at El Torito The format developed by Phoenix Technologies and IBM that has become the standard for creating bootable CD-ROMs on the Intel platform. El Torito provides only the format. In order to make a CD-ROM bootable, the correct boot images must be placed on the disc, and the target computer must , his name etched in brass at the restaurant's bar as a tribute to his loyal patronage. Turns out Joseph Cook wasn't just buying draft beer, police say. Posing as carpenters, vice officers say they placed wagers with the 50-year-old Van Nuys man who the tipster claimed was booking bets on football game cards. After three months, they busted him and nine others on bookmaking bookmaking Gambling practice of determining odds and receiving and paying off bets on the outcome of sporting events and other competitions. Horse racing is perhaps most closely associated with bookmaking, but boxing, baseball, football, basketball, and other sports have charges. Cook was booked Tuesday on suspicion of bookmaking, while the Ventura Boulevard Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east-west thouroughfares in the San Fernando Valley; as it was originally a part of the El Camino Real (the trail between Spanish missions), Ventura Boulevard is the oldest route in the San Fernando Valley. It was also U.S. restaurant's assistant manager and two bartenders were arrested on allegations that they allowed the ring to operate. Officers said they seized thousands of football cards and wager slips and $5,000 in cash in raids capping the elaborate investigation. Along the way, the officers even won on some of the $1 and $5 bets they made. ``We won a little over $300. We bet a whole bunch,'' said LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. Sgt. Steve Merrin of the West Valley vice detail. ``It was a fun investigation to work. We got so deeply involved, and they actually believed we were who we said we were.'' Police said the operation dealt in football cards, used to place a minimum bet of $5 on three college and professional games. There was also a Monday night football “MNF” redirects here. For other uses, see MNF (disambiguation). Monday Night Football (MNF) is a live television broadcast of the National Football League. pool for $1 a square. ``Believe it or not, I won twice on the football pool - once $60 and once $20,'' said Officer Teresa Minter of the vice unit. Officials with Irvine-based El Torito said they were cooperating fully. ``We are also conducting our own internal investigation to ensure that this type of activity never occurs again,'' said spokeswoman Gayle DeBrosse. She said three employees accused of passing cards are ``no longer currently working at the restaurant.'' Merrin said the case started with an anonymous tip. ``They said he had a brass nameplate screwed to the bar, with his name on it, and wore cowboy boots,'' Merrin said. The nameplate is a promotion for frequent customers at the restaurant, and police quickly identified Cook as a suspect. ``We befriended him,'' Merrin said. ``He believed I owned a cabinet shop and all the officers worked for me as cabinet makers. During the next three months, we bet into his organization while he faxed us back and forth, thinking we were from a cabinet shop.'' The ruse Ruse (r  `sĕ), city (1993 pop. 170,209), NE Bulgaria, on the Danube River bordering Romania. The chief river port of Bulgaria, it is also an industrial and communications center. was so elaborate, he said, that the officers' answering machine played a message with sounds of power tools in the background. Merrin is no stranger to carpentry - ``This is what I used to do before I was a policeman'' - but had to turn down business offered to his fictional shop. ``I just said, `Hey, we got a lot of stuff going. We're working on a big housing project.' '' Police said they will ask the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Alcoholic Beverage Control may refer to:
Alcoholic Beverage Control may refer to:
liquor licence license, permit, licence - a legal document giving official permission to do something . ``Some people were winning $700 on the cards,'' Merrin said. ``It is against the law. One of the guys said to me yesterday, `I'm not out robbing people or slugging them over the head.' '' Merrin's answer: ``Wives are calling down here complaining that they have no food on the table at home, no money to feed their kids, because their husband is blowing his paycheck, and they have no money to live on.'' |
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