Casey Urlacher Charged With Offshore Sports Gambling Conspiracy

CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors accuse Casey Urlacher, the mayor of Mettawa and brother of Pro Football Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher, and nine other men of running an illegal sports gambling business.

The multi-million illicit operation took bets on sporting events from as many of 1,000 gamblers on professional and amateur sports including football, basketball and baseball, according to prosecutors.

Urlacher, 40, was charged with one count of participating in a gambling conspiracy and one count of conducting an illegal gambling business in a nine-count indictment filed Wednesday. Each offense can be punishable by up to five years in federal prison, according to the Chicago U.S. Attorney's Office. Urlacher has not responded to a request for comment regarding the allegations.

The indictment alleges the scheme was supervised by Vincent "Uncle Mick" Delgiudice, who paid $10,000 a month to a sportsbook in Costa Rica to host a website called UncleMickSports.com to manage wagers and track winnings and losses. Prosecutors said he used an encrypted cellphone app called Threema to communicate with representatives of the unnamed Costa Rican company.

Urlacher was one of several agents recruited by Delgiudice to help run the operation, according to the indictment. Prosecutors allege Urlacher helped set up accounts, collect debts from gamblers and paid Delgiudice for his own losses in exchange for a cut of the proceeds.

Delgiudice, 54, of Orland Park, faces one count of conspiracy to conduct an illegal gambling business, one count of conducting an illegal gambling business, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and six counts of money laundering. Each money laundering count can be punished by a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The indictment seeks an $8 million judgement against Delgiudice, as well as the forfeiture of his house, over $1.06 million in cash and nearly $450,000 worth of gold, silver and jewelry seized from his house in April 2019, as well as a Lexus.

Urlacher, a Lake Forest College alum and former Lake Bluff resident, briefly played professional football in the Arena Football League. Before entering politics, he was the co-owner and manager of several Chicago area restaurant ventures, according to a 2019 news release announcing his hiring an account executive for Lemont-based Englewood Construction.

"At every stage of my professional life," Urlacher said in the release, "I've always believed in the importance of cultivating partnerships with the people around me and working to keep those connections strong."

Urlacher has been mayor of the roughly 550-person village of Mettawa since April 2013. He ran in the 2015 Republican Party primary for the open 26th District Illinois Senate seat but was defeated by Sen. Dan McConchie, of Hawthorn Woods. He has been appointed to the Illinois Civil Service Commission by both former Governors Pat Quinn and Bruce Rauner. His current term as a commissioner expires in 2023.

Also charged in the indictment were Matthew Knight, 46, of Mokena, also known as "Sweaters" and "McDougal;" Justin Hines, 40, of Algonquin; Keith D. Benson, 49, of Lemont; Todd Blanken, 43, of Cary; Nicholas Stella, 42, of Chicago; Matthew Namoff, 23, of Midlothian; Vasilios Prassas, 37, of Chicago and Eugene "Gino" Delgiudice, 84, who prosecutors say helped collect debts and pay out winnings.

Among the other defendants, The Chicago Tribune identified Stella as an 18-year Chicago Police Department veteran who was stripped of his police powers in May 2019. Interim Police Superintendent Charlie Beck said the allegations, if proven, "undermine everything the men and women of the Chicago Police Department represent," according to the Tribune.

The Chicago Sun-Times noted Prassas is the general manager of the Gibson's restaurant in Oak Brook and the son of the late owner of Horwath's Restaurant, a "notorious mob hangout" in Elmwood Park shuttered in 2004.