Retaliation Fears Limit Burr Ridge Restaurateur's Access To Evidence For Now

BURR RIDGE, IL – Federal prosecutors have limited the owner of a popular Burr Ridge Italian restaurant's access to evidence against him in a gambling case because he has yet to sign a particular order.

Twenty of the 22 defendants in the northwest Indiana-based case have signed the protective order, which governs the use of materials in the case.

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Court documents do not say how exactly the order would work. In many instances, defendants can view documents with lawyers, but they cannot have independent copies.

The idea is to protect witnesses from intimidation and retaliation, which prosecutors called a valid concern in the recent case.

Capri Ristorante owner Filippo "Gigi" Rovito and fellow defendant Sam Nuzzo have declined to sign the order.

Rovito originally provided an electronically signed affidavit agreeing to the order, but changed his mind when the government requested his actual signature, federal prosecutors said in documents last week.

The prosecutors noted Rovito's criminal history.

Public records show that a 17-year-old Rovito committed a sex crime against a 14-year-old girl in 1991. He was released from prison in 2002 after about five years.

His criminal charges have included aggravated criminal sexual assault and possession of a controlled substance, federal prosecutors said.

In 2003, he was convicted for failing to register as a sex offender, for which he received a 2-year sentence, they said.

If Rovito and Nuzzo avoid the order, that would have a chilling effect on witnesses, according to the government.

"The need for the agreed protective order in this case results not from some speculative future potential conduct, but is derived from a pattern of conduct already demonstrated in this case by several of the co-conspirators," Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson said in the documents. "The indictment itself, as well as the government's previous detention motions, are littered with examples of threatening and intimidating conduct engaged in by several of the co-conspirators."

Benson asked the court to require Rovito and Nuzzo to sign the agreement before viewing the evidence.

The FBI's case centers on what it calls the "Gerodemos Gambling Organization," which authorities said dated back to 2021.

The FBI said the operation involved websites and phone calls to sports bettors. The organization is accused of extending lines of credit to bettors, with its agents collecting debts.

Rovito was charged with operating an illegal gambling business and conspiracy to collect extensions of credit by extortionate means.

Rovito was accused of trying to collect a $30,000 gambling debt from a man. The ring leader told others that Rovito stated he would "knock" the victim's "lights out and shove his head into a machine," according to the federal indictment.

Rovito is now in home detention, but can regularly leave to work at his restaurant, where he still regularly posts videos on social media.

Recently, Rovito sought an exception that would allow him to attend a wedding with his wife until midnight in Wheeling. The federal court accepted his request.