Car Deals

Queens, NY, United States (AHN) – Long-time New York Mets clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels was caught on wiretaps placing bets through a sports gambling ring, law enforcement officials indicated in published reports. He was suspended by the club indefinitely without pay October 27.

Samuels, 57, was suspended by New York last week during an investigation into a mob-linked gambling ring spearheaded by the Queens District Attorney’s office and the NYPD’s Organized Crime and Control Bureau, the Daily News reported on its website Friday.

The Mets’ travel secretary allegedly told Major League Baseball officials he bet on baseball and other sporting events.

But other sources said authorities taped Samuels making bets on college and pro football games on his personal phone lines and he did not bet on baseball games.

A report also said he used Mets accounts and skimmed money from hotel rooms he ordered for players to pay off gambling debts.

He is also accused of selling team merchandise like autographed bats, balls jerseys without permission from the organization.

The investigation kicked off in 2005 when head groundskeeper Dominic Valila was charged among 36 others in a gambling ring with connections to the Bonanno crime family.

He was charged with taking bets on Mets games.

Authorities started investigating this season after the clubs’ online store needed more player jerseys. When they asked Samuel for some, he said he did not have any despite ordering hundreds of products, including baseballs and bats.

Investigators started following the trail Samuel left when he was operating the Mets’ accounts, the report said.

A source told the Daily News that Samuels was a “spider who sat in the middle of a money web and a man who earned about $80,000 a year, but his tax returns showed him making $600,000 to $700,000.”

Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz would not comment about the investigation.

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