Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk - Compelling Story of Billy Walters and his Syndicate, plus Phil Mickelson #LasVegas #Gambling

Gambler:
Secrets from a Life at Risk
Billy Walters

The wild and highly anticipated autobiography of Billy Walters—“the greatest and most controversial sports gambler ever” (ESPN)—who shares his extraordinary life story, reveals the secrets to his fiercely protected betting system, and breaks his silence about Phil Mickelson.

Anybody can get lucky. Nobody controls the odds like Billy Walters. Widely regarded as “the Michael Jordan of sports betting,” Walters is a living legend in Las Vegas and among sports bettors worldwide. With an unmatched winning streak of thirty-six consecutive years, Walters has become fabulously wealthy by placing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in gross wagers, including one Super Bowl bet of $3.5 million alone. Competitors desperate to crack his betting techniques have tried hacking his phones, cloning his beepers, rifling through his trash, and bribing his employees. Now, after decades of avoiding the spotlight and fiercely protecting the keys to his success, Walters has reached the age where he wants to pass along his wisdom to future generations of sports wagerers.

Gambler is more than a traditional autobiography. In addition to sharing his against-all-odds American dream story, Walters reveals in granular detail the secrets of his proprietary betting system, which will serve as a master class for anyone who wants to improve their odds at betting on sports. Walters also breaks his silence about his long and complicated relationship with Hall of Fame professional golfer Phil Mickelson.

On a typical weekend gameday packed with college and pro sports, Walters will bet $10 million—a small sum for someone as wealthy as he is today, but an unbelievable fortune for the child who was raised by his grandmother in extreme poverty in rural Kentucky. By the age of nine, Walters became a shark at hustling pool and pitching pennies. As a young adult, he set records as a used-car salesman, hustled golf, and dabbled in bookmaking. He eventually moved to Las Vegas, where he revolutionized sports betting strategy and became a member of the famed Computer Group, the first syndicate to apply sophisticated algorithms and data analysis to sports gambling. He became extraordinarily wealthy while overcoming addictions and outmaneuvering organized crime figures made infamous by Martin Scorsese’s film Casino.

In Gambler, Walters passes along everything he’s learned about sports betting. First, he shows bettors how to mine the information we have at our fingertips to develop a sophisticated betting strategy and handicapping system of our own. He explains how even avid bettors often do not grasp all of the variables that go into making an informed wager—factors such as home field advantage, individual player values, injuries or illness, weather forecasts, each team’s previous schedule (bye weeks, multiple away games in a row, etc.), travel distance/difficulty, stadium quirks, turf types, and more. Not every bettor has access to Walters’s team of expert analysts, but every bettor can follow his guidelines on how to measure the detailed information available online and look for unique situations that could affect a game’s outcome more than usual. Variable by variable, Walters breaks down the formulas, point systems, and principles that he’s developed over decades of improving his craft.

A self-made man who’s repeatedly won it all, lost it all, and earned it all back again, Walters has lived a singular and wildly appealing American life, of the outlaw variety. Gambler is at once a gripping autobiography, a blistering tell-all, and an indispensable playbook for coming out on top.

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Narcas: The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America's Cartels

NARCAS:
The Secret Rise of Women
in Latin America's Cartels

You’ve heard of Pablo Escobar, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, and Rafael Caro Quintero. Their names conjure ghoulish images of bloody streets, white powder, bundles of weed, and a particular flavor of machismo unique to ruthless druglords. But what of the drugladies, las narcas? For the first time, investigative reporter Deborah Bonello takes you behind the curtain to introduce the women at the helm of organized crime south of the US-Mexico border. These women are the powerhouses behind violent cartels; masterminds of extortion rackets; right-hand ladies to El Chapo’s cocaine flow to the US; and matriarchs of major drug trafficking families. In these pages, you will meet women like Doña Digna, the leader of the Valle cartel, and Guadalupe Fernandez Valencia, one of “El Chapo” Guzman’s closest confidants.

Narcas: The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America's Cartels, for the first time, gives voice to the women of notorious drug-trafficking monarchies, meticulously documenting the variety of roles they play. Bonello chronicles the complexity of their actions and their desires, the grey chasm between victims and victimizers, co-option and agency, and right and wrong. She examines why women’s experiences are under-reported, emphasizing the importance of understanding women as fully capable beings who are often as ambitious, innovative, ruthless, and violent as their male counterparts.

With careful detail, comprehensive research, and groundbreaking storytelling, Narcas paints a vivid picture of the women behind some of the most notorious drug cartels. You will not see Sebastiana Cottón or Marixa Lemus in the stereotypical portrayals of beautiful narco wives or girlfriends, or in the faces of trafficking survivors or drug mules. Rather, you’ll encounter—at staggering rates—the female cartel killers, money launderers, logistical heads, and transporters of Latin America’s infamous crime syndicates

VICE journalist Deborah Bonello reports from the trenches in this first-ever in-depth exploration of the hidden power women wield in Latin American drug cartels.

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Final Aryan Circle White Supremacy Gang Member Sentenced to Prison for RICO Conspiracy

A Missouri man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO) charges stemming from his membership in the Aryan Circle (AC), a white supremacy prison gang.

According to court documents, Timothy Long, aka Timmy, of Mountain Grove, was a member of the AC, a violent, race-based, and prison-based gang with hundreds of members operating inside and outside of state and federal prisons throughout the country. The AC enforces its rules and promotes discipline among its members, prospects, and associates through threats, intimidation, and acts of violence including murder, kidnapping, and narcotics trafficking. Members are required to follow the orders of higher-ranking members without question.

“This is the final sentencing in a multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency effort to dismantle the Aryan Circle, which terrorized local communities and perpetuated a cycle of gang violence in federal prisons for far too long,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This case represents the Justice Department’s continued dedication to working with our partners across the country to pursue and eradicate criminal enterprises like the AC.”

In 2018, as part of his membership in the AC, Long stabbed two separate victims while all were housed at U.S. Penitentiary (USP) Lee, a federal prison in Lee County, Virginia. Long stabbed each victim at the direction of AC leadership as retaliation for an attack on a higher-ranking member of the AC by a rival white supremacist gang.

“Violent gangs like the Aryan Circle present a growing threat to our communities in the Eastern District of Texas and the type of violence associated with these organizations is alarming,” said U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs for the Eastern District of Texas. “The Eastern District of Texas will continue to investigate and prosecute those who do harm to others. And we’ll specifically target the leaders of these violent gangs.”

In 2022, two of Long’s co-defendants, AC leaders William Glenn Chunn and Jesse Blankenship, were both sentenced to life in prison for RICO conspiracy and related racketeering charges.

Trial Attorney Rebecca Dunnan of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Rapp for the Eastern District of Texas prosecuted the case.

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Genaro Deleon, Leader Of Southwest Florida Drug Ring, Sentenced to Federal Prison #Florida #Meth

U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Barber has sentenced Genaro Deleon, III of Lehigh Acres, Florida to 11 years and 3 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2023. Earlier, co-defendants Michael Lee Faz, Abel Deleon, and Genaro Deleon, Jr. were sentenced for the same offense. Faz was sentenced to 10 years and 1 month in federal prison, Abel Deleon was sentenced to 7 years and 8 months in federal prison, and Genaro Deleon, Jr. was sentenced to 5 years and 10 months in federal prison. Each of the four defendants had previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge.

According to court documents, Deleon, III was the leader of a drug ring distributing large quantities of methamphetamine in the Florida counties of  Lee and Hendry. To hinder law enforcement investigations into the organization, Deleon, III buried and otherwise obscured the organization’s stash of methamphetamine in multiple locations in the woods around his secluded property, which was protected by loose dogs and a network of motion sensing cameras.

Deleon, III employed his father, Deleon, Jr., and his two uncles, Abel Deleon and Faz, as dealers for the organization who typically made sales to customers and collected the drug proceeds. Over the course of a year, law enforcement made more than nine undercover purchases from the group, yielding hundreds of grams of nearly pure methamphetamine. In October 2021, law enforcement officers arrested the defendants and executed a search warrant at Deleon, III’s house resulting in the additional seizure of multiple firearms.

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MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to 26 Years in Federal Prison for Racketeering Conspiracy Involving a Violent Murder and for Drug Distribution and Firearms Violations #MS13

MS-13 Gangster Going to Prison

Chief U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced El Salvadoran national Jose Lopez Rivera, age 27, of Elmont, New York, formerly residing in Maryland, to 26 years in federal prison for a racketeering conspiracy involving a violent murder connected to his participation in La Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal enterprise also known as MS-13, and for possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm and ammunition by an illegal alien, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

MS-13 is a national and international gang composed primarily of immigrants or descendants from El Salvador and other central American countries. Branches or “cliques” of MS-13, one of the largest street gangs in the United States, operate throughout Frederick County, Anne Arundel County, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County, Maryland. Since at least 2015, Lopez Rivera was a member of the Fulton Locos Salvatruchas (“FLS”) MS-13 clique.

At all times of this conspiracy, members of MS-13 were expected to protect the name, reputation, and status of the gang from rival gang members and other persons. To protect the gang and to enhance its reputation, MS-13 members were expected to use any means necessary to force respect from those who showed disrespect, including acts of intimidation and violence. MS-13 had mottos consistent with its rules, beliefs, expectations, and reputation, including “mata, viola, controla,” which translates as, “kill, rape, control,” and “ver, oir y callar,” which means, “see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing.” One of the principal rules of MS-13 is that its members must attack and kill rivals, often referred to as “chavalas,” whenever possible. MS-13 members are required to commit acts of violence both to maintain membership and discipline within the gang, as well as against rival gang members. Participation in criminal activity by a member, particularly in violent acts directed at rival gangs or as directed by gang leadership, increase the respect accorded to that member, resulting in that member maintaining or increasing his position in the gang, and opens the door to promotion to a leadership position.

As detailed in his plea agreement, on August 31, 2015, while Lopez Rivera and other MS-13 gang members were drinking in Wheaton, Maryland, they went to a coffee shop where they saw Victim 5. Victim 5 was wearing Nike Cortez sneakers, which according to MS-13 rules, were only to be worn by gang members. A MS-13 member had previously warned Victim 5 about wearing those sneakers. As they walked past Victim 5, he spit on one of the gang members who then punched Victim 5 in the mouth. Victim 5 threw a beer at one of the MS-13 gang members and ran. Lopez Rivera and another gang member chased Victim 5 away from the coffee shop and Victim 5 was then stabbed to death. Following the murder, the gang members reported to their leadership that they had killed a rival gang member.

According to his plea agreement, on July 22, 2021, investigators searched an apartment in Elmont, New York, where Lopez Rivera was living at the time and recovered a shotgun, ammunition, and a brick of packed white powder, which tested positive for cocaine. Lopez Rivera admitted that he possessed the cocaine to distribute it and possessed the firearm in furtherance of his drug distribution. Further, Lopez Rivera knew that he was in the United States illegally and therefore was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition.

More than 30 MS-13 gang members and associates have been convicted in this and related cases.

Anyone with information about MS-13 is encouraged to provide their tips to law enforcement. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations both have nationwide tiplines that you can call to report what you know. You can reach the FBI at 1-866-STP-MS13 (1-866-787-6713), or you can call HSI at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE.

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