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Area men admit to running gambling, extortion ring

Joseph Yerardi, 62, of Newton, Anthony Corso, 51, of Cambridge, and Michael Burke, 45, of Winthrop, pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to charges that they ran an illegal gambling and extortion ring for a year, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.

If a judge approves the plea deal, Yerardi will be sentenced to eight years in federal prison on what would be his third racketeering conviction since 1995. Corso would get five years in prison and Burke up to 26 months. Yerardi has already spent 17 years in federal prison on earlier convictions.

The three would also have to forfeit a total of $430,000 in cash and 30 watches - including 14 Rolexes, 5 Patek Phillipes and 1 Bulgari.

According to the US Attorney's office:

The defendants were involved in a large bookmaking business that made hundreds of thousands of dollars and used threats or other extortionate means to collect debts. Among other things, a debtor reported that Yerardi threatened to stab the debtor “twenty times” for not paying a gambling debt. Corso threatened another debtor by saying he would “smash your [expletive] head off the car”.

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Comments

How you owe money to a bookie. Pay for your bets up front, and if you hit, you chase them for the money. And if they're the kind of people you would be afraid to chase for money, then why the (expletive) are you doing business with them in the first place?

What a stupid ass country we are. I wagered on a soccer game in England last week at a kiosk at the (expletive) game. At no point during my transaction with the bookmaker was I threatened with bodily harm.

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Because most good bookies give bettors a credit line for the week or a limit before they settle up. Less transactions that way, especially if you have a big book.

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So let's see if I understand correctly…an almost infinitesimal number of people out of 320 million people have dealing with bookies and you announce we are a stupid ass country. Sounds more like projection than analysis.

Secondly, beyond the absurdity of being an unemployed adult waging on sporting events, you reassure us that you have never been threaten with bodily harm by a bookie…perhaps none of them have ever read any of your mindless comments on social websites.

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The U.K. is an idyllic landscape where nobody ever commits a crime or gets into a violent altercation.

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