Russian Mobster Jailed For Role in Illegal Poker Den

A 33-year old man connected to the infamous Russian mafia clan known as the ‘Thieves in Law’ has been sentenced to a year and a day behind bars for helping to operate a ‘high-stakes Coney Island gambling den’, according to the New York Daily news.

Isok Aronov had plead guilty back in April of this year for his part in the operation which saw wealthy gamblers play for stakes as high as $150,000 – Aronov’s role being to collect unpaid debts according to Brooklyn federal prosecutors.

They claimed that although he only got involved with the Coney Island game last year, he had been promoting the games for ‘several years’, and ‘usually tried to coax repayments with friendly talk that quickly turned to threats’, producing a text message demanding $800 which read:

“You think I’m a fucking clown huh???”

The ‘Thieves in Law’ – a legendary part of the Russian mafia - formed as a society for ruling the criminal underworld within the prison camps, who for many years were known to "govern the dark gaps in Soviet life beyond the reach of the KGB” and have since spread their criminal wings world-wide since the Communist-era ended.

The Coney Island gambling den was ‘decked out with a professional poker table, an electronic gambling game, a lounge and “massage girls” who gave players back and shoulder rubs’, according to press reports and photos shown during the criminal proceedings.

The sentencing follows another high-profile case in which four members of an organised crime syndicate operating illegal high-stakes poker games in Brooklyn, New York were indicted in September by authorities for an arson attack on a rival gang’s underground poker den, firefighters and innocent occupants injured in the dramatic rescue operation which ensued.

Back in April I also reported on a ‘series of raids straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster, with a billionaire art dealer’s showroom being busted by the Feds, $2million worth of gaming chips being discovered in an apartment in Trump Tower.

It included the resulting indictment of one of the most famous female names in poker, Molly Bloom, who organised high-stakes private poker games involving the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Tobey Maguire!

In all, almost three dozen individuals were charged for ‘racketeering and various other counts’ connected to illegal gambling rings which stretch from New York to Moscow and beyond – with the Russian mafia firmly at the center of the massive investigation.