PerHead.com screenshot after indictment

A business operation in Costa Rica has been named in a major criminal indictment issued by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in connection with a multi-million dollar sports betting operation in Boston.

The 122-count indictment by a Suffolk County Grand Jury is the result of an investigation by the Attorney General and the Massachusetts State Police, with assistance from various federal, state, and local authorities. The investigation began in August 2014, when the Massachusetts State Police Special Service Section’s Organized Crime Unit developed information about a betting operation based out of East and South Boston.

The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area and the Bay State form a major regional sports market with heavy betting activity bolstered by being home to professional teams such as the New England Patriots, the Boston Celtics, Red Sox, and Bruins.

The Attorney General explained that the 33 defendants amassed a network of bettors in a multimillion dollar enterprise that utilized an off-shore betting website for their bookkeeping in an attempt to circumvent state gambling laws. The offshore element of the investigation is PerHead, an Internet business operating from a corporate park in Santa Ana, located in the upscale western suburbs of San Jose.

Travis Prescott, the owner and operator of PerHead, was indicted along with the company itself. The AG’s Office has charged the corporation with money laundering and organizing illegal gaming, among other charges. Aside from the Massachusetts law enforcement agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Nevada Gaming Control Board were also involved in the investigation.

PerHead.com and Mr. Prescott made headlines in March 2012 in a piece by respected sports journalist Sam Borden of The New York Times:

In the so-called old days, the general business setup for a bookie was a split partnership, in which the operator would work in the office taking bets and the money guy was on the streets, handling the finances. Profits were generally split 50-50.

“Honestly? That’s so ‘Goodfellas,’ ” Travis Prescott, an executive at one of the more prominent sites, PerHead.com, said in a telephone interview. “With our setup, everything is streamlined and anyone can run their operation on their own.”

At the time, PerHead was described as a burgeoning operation in Costa Rica, employing 100 bilingual staff members in a gleaming, modern office buildings. It would not take long, however, for the “Goodfellas” label Mr. Prescott sought to avoid to become affixed to PerHead.

By June 2012, Erick Carvajal of defunct sports daily Al Día reported on a New Jersey indictment that tied PerHead to BetEagle.com, a sportsbook in Costa Rica allegedly operated by the Genovese crime family of the Italian American mafia. Indeed, The Costa Rica Star reported on the sentencing of two alleged Genovese family members earlier this year:

Dominick J. Barone, 45, of Springfield, New Jersey, and Eric Patten, 38, of Bayonne, New Jersey, were sentenced to 18 and 22 months in prison, respectively.

Joseph Graziano, 78, of Springfield, was the principal owner of Beteagle.com, a website located in Costa Rica and used to facilitate illegal online sports betting. Barone worked with Graziano in carrying out the daily activities of the website and both men conspired with the Genovese Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra in the operation of Beteagle.

Joseph Lascala, 80, of Monroe, New Jersey, was the alleged “capo” and a made member of the Genovese family operating in northern New Jersey. He directed the criminal activities of a smaller group of associates, referred to as a crew, whose activities included illegal gambling and the collection of unlawful debt.

The money laundering charge against PerHead suggests that the company may have been operating as a “wire room,” which would have made it non-compliant with the laws of Costa Rica. It is unclear why Boston bookies would utilize the services of a firm mentioned in a federal indictment and tied to the Genovese family for more than three years.