Casey Urlacher, Brother Of Brian Urlacher, Among 10 Charged With Running Illegal Sports Gambling Operation
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Casey Urlacher – the brother of former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher – was indicted along with nine others Thursday on charges that they ran an illegal offshore sports gambling operation.
Urlacher, 40, is also mayor of the far north suburban village of Mettawa. He was charged with conspiracy and with running an illegal gambling business, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
CBS 2 spotted Casey Urlacher going into his home just hours after the federal indictment came down. When asked if he had anything to say, Urlacher said nothing.
Prosecutors alleged that Urlacher worked on the gambling operation run by Vincent Delgiudice, 54, who is nicknamed "Uncle Mick." Prosecutors said Delgiudice paid a Costa Rica-based company more than $10,000 a month for the website unclemicksports.com, which was used for the accounting, betting, record-keeping, and logistics of the gambling operation.
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Delgiudice accepted wagers on both professional and amateur sporting events from up to 1,000 gamblers, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. He communicated with representatives of the sports book through an anonymous end-to-end encrypted messaging application, prosecutors said.
Delgiudice recruited gamblers for the business and set them up with accounts on Uncle Mick Sports website, prosecutors said. He collected and paid out money in cash to those gamblers, prosecutors said.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported, all was quiet at Vincent Delgiudice's Orland Park house Thursday night. But when the feds raided it, court records revealed they found more than $1 million in cash – along with silver bars, jewelry, and gold coins worth more than $441,000.
Urlacher was one of eight defendants whom Delgiudice allegedly recruited to work as agents for the gambling operation. They recruited sub-agents and gamblers for the business in exchange for a commission drawn from the gamblers' losses, prosecutors said.
Also charged as agents were Matthew Knight, 46, of Mokena – also known as "Sweaters" and "McDougal" – Justin Hines, 40, of Algonquin; Keith D. Benson, 49, of Lemont; Todd Blanken, 43, of Cary; Nicholas Stella, 42, of Chicago; Matthew Namoff, 23, of Midlothian; and Vasilios Prassas, 37, of Chicago.
Stella is a Chicago Police officer. Interim Chicago Police Supt. Charlie Beck called the charges unfortunate, and said the officer has been stripped of his police duties.
Another defendant – Eugene "Gino" Delgiudice, 84, of Orland Park – identified in published reports as Vincent Delgiudice's father – was accused of assisting in collecting and paying out money.
In 2016, Casey Urlacher ran for the Republican nomination for the 26th District Illinois State Senate seat, but lost to Dan McConchie, who went on to win the general election.
Urlacher played in the Arena Football League before entering politics.