Yesterday, the federal authorities raided a Chinatown building at 35-37 East Broadway—apparently, it was full of "table games and slot machines," "Chinese mahjong," and "large cardboard boxes—allegedly filled to the brim with cash."
The illegal gambling takedown raid, nicknamed "Operation Snake Eyes," led to the arrest of eleven people and seizure of $163,000 in cash. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's complaint is also looking for the forfeiture of the building where at least four floors were used for gambling:
Over at least the last two years, the Building has consistently hosted a group of illegal gambling operators offering various gambling options, including pai gow poker and computer-based slot machine games, in nearly half of the Building’s suites. The Building itself has been modified to accommodate these gambling operations, including the creation of a ground floor slots room hosting computers dedicated to slot machine games, and the installation of surveillance cameras throughout areas of the Building dedicated to gambling.
Two people were also arrested for practicing medicine without a license in the building as well.
But today, those at 35-37 East Broadway told WCBS 2 that while there were slot machines, they were just donated and used for fun: "There’s no gambling. They just play for fun." Cue Captain Renault.
Anyway, arrests rarely deter illegal gambling den operators: A former Chinatown cop told WNYC, "Once they take everything out, within six, seven or eight hours there’s a carpenter down there, two-by-fours, bang bang bang, they’re setting up new tables already. And the gambling would be on the next day."
