Police officers in Corpus Christi, Texas, have raided an illegal gambling venue, seizing a variety of items and making multiple arrests.

According to a report by KRIS, a local TV station, the property, which was officially a video arcade, doubled as an illegal casino. A raid was greenlit and carried out by officers on Thursday, leading to a crackdown on the operation.

The raid, KRIS pointed out, followed a month-long investigation.

In total, the police seized multiple gambling devices, over $85,000 in cash, a vehicle and some marijuana. In addition, the police arrested three people believed to have run the operation.

These include Brandon Roe, 23, Mallory Villarreal, 30, and Jillian Dunnahoo, 22, who were accused of promoting gambling, keeping a gambling place, possessing gambling devices, engaging in organized crime and laundering money.

KRIS pointed out that both money laundering and engagement in organized crime are state felonies and are punishable by up to two years in jail. The three people also risk a maximum fine of $10,000 each. The remaining charges, KRIS added, are Class A misdemeanors.

The TV station also pointed out that five adults in the game room were cited for gambling, which is a Class C misdemeanor in the state.

The Corpus Christi Police Department asked citizens to be vigilant, reminding them that game rooms that offer games with cash rewards are illegal. The CCPD added that patrons of such establishments also risk criminal charges.

Not the First Illegal Gambling Venue

This game room was not the first instance of an illegal gambling operation in the state. Back in March 2023, Nathan Nichols, a 46-year-old Corpus Christi resident, admitted to running an illegal gambling business. Nichols was also previously involved in the theft of US Army property in a separate case.

For reference, Nichols owned and operated Lady Luck and Theo’s Bar. Both of these businesses offered illegal gambling entertainment to their patrons, earlier reports say. The operations ran from March 2018 to August 2019.

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Prison, by definition, means a building where people are held legally as a punishment for a crime they have committed or while awaiting trial. Generally, prison is the least favorite place for most people. However, this may not be the case for inmates at La Picota Penitentiary Prison Complex located in Bogota, Colombia.

Recently, the prison complex hit news headlines after leaked videos on social media showed a large-scale party. Although a prison party does sound odd, videos shared on social media showed inmates enjoying live music entertainment, gambling and more entertaining activities. Along with that, prisoners were seen smoking cigarettes and drinking liquor.

While local authorities tried to handle the case professionally and even fired high-rank correctional officers, it looks like the parties continue behind closed doors. Large-scale parties, even in prison, need a steady supply of goods and according to a report released by the news outlet Colombiano, one such shipment was intersected by prison security.

On Thursday this week, prison guards at La Picota penitentiary stopped a truck at the portal for an inspection. The truck that was heading into the prison had “an irregular cove inside it.” Upon further inspection, the guards uncovered a large quantity of contraband.

Smuggling a Truckload of Contraband

People smuggling a bottle of whiskey, a pack of cigarettes or drugs in small quantities into prison isn’t impossible or uncommon. But the truck that was stopped at La Picota prison was loaded with contraband, enough for a party that may last for weeks. The prison guards uncovered ten cell phones along with 300 SIM cards, as well as snacks and cans of food and even chips. More worrying is that they also found nearly 5 pounds of marijuana, along with just above a pound of cocaine. But it wasn’t only drugs and food that were being transported into the prison by the truck.

A large quantity of expensive liquor, including expensive whiskey bottles, bottles of rum and tequila were also found. Along with those, there were hundreds of beers, including popular brands like Corona, Club Colombia and Heineken. And if that doesn’t sound enough for a party, there’s more. The guards at the prison even uncovered household appliances, which the truck wanted to smuggle into the prison.

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The Mafiosi now on the lam is identified as one Marco Raduano, aged 39, and leader of the Sacra Corona Unita group. He was brought on charges of drug trafficking on top of a litany of other previous accusations, including gambling, extortion, and prostitution, and sentenced to 19 years in prison back in 2018.

Still, Raduano decided to cut his release date from 2046 to 2023. Raduano had managed to tie together enough bedsheets to slide down the wall of his prison cell in what prison cameras captured was a Hollywood-like escape act.

Sheets Make Good Bedfellows

The man, who is still missing, is known for his brutality and association with a criminal group that has been a major headache for authorities. What Sacra Corona Unita lacks in awareness among the broader population, though, it more for makes up in brutality that matches the operations of more notorious groups, such as ‘Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra, which are also linked to various gambling, drugs, and human trafficking operations.

Sacra Corona Unita has earned a name for itself precisely for its merciless methods. Anyone on its cross-hair would end up dead with crushed skulls so that their families couldn’t give them an open-casket burial. All three groups mentioned here were known to collaborate on at least one illegal gambling project which was clamped down by authorities back in 2018.

The trio were running an illegal gambling ring that was estimated to be worth €4.5 billion at the time – around $4.80 billion today’s money. However, this is unlikely to have put the groups out of money. The Sacra Corona Unita in particular is running gambling dens in Albania, investigators believe.

Despite his penchant for violence, Raduano was not himself a violent prisoner while serving his time. He in fact ended up behaving as a model prisoner and was rewarded with a job at the library. It’s believed that his rather freer schedule let him plan his escape and act on his plan. The prison where he was held, Badu ‘e Carros, was also experiencing major staff shortages, meaning that Raduano’s escape was not noticed until after two hours.

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