Twenty Members of 'Mickey Mouse Mafia' Arrested for Million-Dollar Bookmaking Scam

LOS ANGELES--A bid by organized crime members to take over $1 million weekly bookmaking operations here was cut short yesterday with the arrests of 20 people, including the reputed crime boss of Southern California, police said.

Among those arrested was Peter John Milano, "considered to be the head of organized crime" in Southern California, police Chief Daryl Gates said.

The investigation--dubbed "Operation Lightweight"--began in the spring, was put on hold during the Summer Olympics and resumed immediately afterward, Gates told a news conference.

"We feel the name is appropriate because organized crime is such a lightweight in Southern California," said Gates, who referred to Southern California crime families as "the Mickey Mouse Mafia."

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The arrest warrants charged the 20 with conspiracy to commit bookmaking.

"The investigation identified eight bookmakers who were being squeezed for either money or a percentage of their operation," Gates said. But he said no violence took place before officers intervened.

Although Gates identified several of those arrested as associates of crime families in New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Florida, he said the effort to take over the bookmaking was not controlled by those families.

He said the investigation, arrests and search warrants were based on intelligence from "informants," but he refused to say more about possible witnesses in the case. He did say the case was unrelated to recent mob arrests that followed disclosures by a former Mafia figure in Italy.

Gates said seven bookmaking locations were seized and that it was estimated that approximately $1 million in wagers were being handled at those locations each week. Eight of the arrests took place at bookmaking joints.

Some of the bookmakers approached "were scared," he said.

"The important thing here is that bookmakers in Southern California are not organized ... We have managed to keep organized crime from doing that," he said.

Milano appeared to be overseeing the operation and those involved reported to him, Detective John Motto said.