Peabody Man Sent to State Prison for Role in Gaming, Loansharking Operation

A Salem Superior Court judge handed down a state prison sentence of 2 to 2-1/2 years Friday for Peabody man Michael Petrillo.

Petrillo, 57, was a gaming agent and loan collector, according to prosecutors, in a large-scale bookmaking operation run by Joseph Giallanella in North Andover. and pleaded guilty on April 25 to charges of receiving stolen property, being an accessory after the fact of larceny, conspiracy for larceny, use of a telephone for gaming and conspiracy for gaming.

Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett's office announced the news Friday, saying a joint investigation with the special services division of the state police was first launched in 2009 into Giallanella's gaming and loansharking activities.

Utilizing electronic surveillance, investigators uncovered a larger operation that included heroin and marijuana trafficking allegedly run by East Boston mobster Mark Rossetti, the DA's office said.

At that point, the Attorney General’s Criminal Bureau was brought into the investigation as well.

A statewide grand jury in Suffolk County then handed down 103 indictments against 31 people in October 2010 on charges of gaming, usury, narcotics trafficking, violence, theft, extortion, witness intimidation and perjury.

Authorities executed 30 search warrants on several locations and seized $1.3 million in cash associated with illegal gaming and loan sharking, $120,000 in drug money, over a kilo of heroin, 200 pounds of marijuana, nine scales, a heroin press, a police scanner, two bulletproof vests, a pipe bomb, a replica Uzi machine gun, a rifle, a loaded handgun and five motor vehicles.

Authorities said Giallanella employed one man as an “enforcer” who would collect money from gamblers who fell behind on their debts. In many cases investigators discovered that violence was used, sometimes in front of the victim’s family, in order to collect the debts.

The DA's office says Giallanella’s trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 12, 2012 in Salem Superior Court. He is charged with organizing and promoting gambling services, use of a telephone for gaming, conspiracy for gaming, accessory after fact of larceny, criminal usury and procuring perjury. He faces additional usury charges in Middlesex County.

Essex First Assistant District Attorney John Dawley prosecuted these cases and was appointed a special Assistant Attorney General to prosecute the cases outside of Essex County, Blodgett's office said.

Also indicted for their alleged roles in the gaming and loansharking operation were Malden resident Charles Toomajian, an attorney and former mayoral aide, and Salem, N.H. resident Charles Davis.

Davis worked at a Wakefield staffing firm from which he embezzled $1.8 million to pay off debts to Petrillo and Giallanella, according to authorities. They said Toomajian laundered the money and also stole more than $600,000 himself from the firm, diverting it through Davis.