
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 3, 1991                   TAG: 9104030607
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

SPORTS GAMBLING RING BROKEN UP IN VA. BEACH; 6 INDICTED

Authorities have indicted six men on charges of running what police call the largest sports-betting operation ever busted in the city.

A Circuit Court grand jury on Monday indicted the six on one felony count each of running a gambling operation.

Authorities said the charges cover $1.5 million in wagers.

The indictments are the latest in a push by prosecutors and police to crack down on such operations, which are often blamed for rising crime rates and for ties to organized crime.

Police said the same telephone technology that made the network possible did it in. Using number decoders, police said, they could lay out a blueprint of whom the suspects were calling, who was calling them and their frequency of calls.

Bookies try to use call-forwarding to elude police detection, and call-waiting and speed-dialing to handle large volume just before games.

by CNB