Two craps dealers, along with their accomplices, who embezzled over $1 million from a high-end Las Vegas casino have been publicly exposed by being added to Nevada’s infamous ‘black book’.
The notorious register barring entry to casinos now lists Mark Branco, 52, James Russell Cooper Jr, 53, Anthony Grant Granito, 58, and Jeffrey Martin, 48.
Cooper and Branco were dealers at Bellagio luxury hotel and casino. They would work with customers Granito and Martin to cheat at the dice game.
These individuals were charged in 2015 and subsequently convicted a year later after it was discovered they employed fake ‘hop’ bets to swindle $1.2 million from the Las Vegas Strip establishment.
All four, who are believed to be living in Sin City, are now on the Nevada Gaming Commission’s list of ‘excluded persons’ in the famous black book.
The black book list is largely comprised of the names of people who have ties to organized crime and have been caught cheating.
While it now exists in digital form online, the original black book was a dark colored tome which ultimately lent its nickname to the banned list.
Gambling addicts can also place their own names on separate exclusionary lists, which allows them to sue casinos if they allow them to place bets.
Branco, along with accomplices Jeffrey D. Martin and Anthony Grant Granito, expressed remorse and requested leniency from a Clark County District Court judge, who also mandated each of them to pay significant restitution amounts.
‘I’ll do whatever it takes to make it right,’ Branco sobbed.
James Russell Cooper (left) and Anthony Grant Granito (right) have been added to Nevada’s notorious ‘black book’ following their scheme against a Las Vegas casino.
An archived copy of the book is pictured. Those named in the list, which has since been digitized, are unwelcome in Las Vegas casinos
‘Family should always be the priority. I let money be the priority,’ Martin said.
‘I’ve disgraced my family. I’ve disgraced myself,’ said Granito, who had a heart attack and bypass surgery after being charged in the case.
Judge Valerie Adair remarked that over the course of the two-year deception, during which casino officials testified that the men convened at the craps table 76 times, they must have anticipated potential imprisonment if caught.
Adair sentenced Branco, 43, to four to 10 years in prison. Martin, 39, and Granito, 49, each got four years to eight years and four months. Together, they’re responsible for $1.05 million in restitution.
Each man pleaded guilty in 2015 to two felonies — theft and cheating at gambling — in a plea deal that avoided trial and had other charges in a 60-count indictment dismissed.
Branco and Bellagio co-worker James Russell Cooper Jr., were arrested in July 2014 and fired by the Bellagio after the scheme came to light.
Cooper, 44, pleaded guilty to a lesser theft charge and testified before a grand jury, providing what prosecutor Jay P. Raman called a crucial insider’s account. Cooper is expected to face one to five years in prison at sentencing later this year.
Raman said the four men hatched the scheme at a local pizza restaurant before they began the fraud in August 2012.
Jeffrey Douglas Martin, left, and Mark William Branco, right, have also been added to the list of shame for conning the famous Bellagio Hotel’s casino out of $1.2 million
The four crooks were indicted for scamming the Bellagio (pictured) out of the seven figure sum in 2015
When Cooper or Branco or both were dealing at a craps table, Martin and Granito would step up and mutter confusing bets amid last-second activity before the roll of the dice. They’d win no matter what the outcome.
‘When the circumstances were just right, they would make high-stakes ‘hop’ bets,’ Raman said. ‘No money. No chips.’
For a time, the results made Martin and Granito the top craps winners at the posh Bellagio resort, Raman said.
‘They stole a ton of money,’ the prosecutor said, ‘the kind of money that the word ‘jackpot’ usually follows.’
They bought new vehicles and padded their bank accounts, Raman said, but Martin also lost a significant amount of money on slot machines.
Sharon Tibbits, a fraud-control executive at Bellagio owner MGM Resorts International, told the judge Tuesday that it took thousands of hours for investigators to piece together the defendants’ bets, losses and winnings.
In one day in July 2014, Granato won $13,200 on the first roll of the dice and stayed for 229 more rolls. Tibbits said he lost $64,000 on valid bets, but won almost $150,000 on fraudulent bets. His net win was more than $85,000.
‘It was not need. It was 100 percent greed,’ the casino official said, urging the judge to impose stiff sentences.
‘Please don’t let crime pay,’ Tibbits said.
