Suspected gambling locations searched
By Jason Cato
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, January 20, 2006
State authorities investigating organized crime executed nine search warrants this week in Allegheny and Washington counties.
One Carnegie business searched by state police is owned by John "Duffy" Conley Jr., whom authorities once called the mastermind of an illegal gambling empire.
Conley, formerly of Robinson, recently was released from federal prison after serving 10 years for a 1995 conviction on charges of running a $15 million-a-year video gambling machine business in Western Pennsylvania.
Authorities also searched the Union Grill, a restaurant and bar in Washington, Pa., owned by Michael "Mickey" Flynn -- another man with a prior gambling conviction. Flynn pleaded guilty in February 2004 to operating a bookmaking racket out of his business. He avoided a jail sentence and served nearly two years' probation.
Neither Conley nor Flynn could be reached for comment Thursday.
State police Sgt. Jeffrey Shaw said the investigation began in February 2005 and that all of the places searched Wednesday were related to one another.
"It's one big organization," said Shaw, who declined further comment.
No charges had been filed as of last night, said Shaw and Kevin Harley, a spokesman with the state Attorney General's Office.
In September 1991, a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh indicted Conley and 22 other people. The indictment identified Conley as the central figure in an extensive gambling operation, alleging he used Duffy's Vending and Three Rivers Coin to run a video poker machine gambling business.
The Attorney General's Office in 2003 charged Flynn and a business partner for working with eight bookies. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of bookmaking and one count of conspiracy.
Jason Cato can be reached at
jcato@tribweb.com or 412-320-7840.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-.../s_415397.html
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