FEDERAL COURT GM plant gambling suspects indicted

The indictments were issued Tuesday but were to stay sealed until those named were arrested, officials said.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Federal authorities were to arrest a Niles man and several others today on secret indictments related to gambling.
Joseph Cupido, 62, of Andrea Boulevard, Niles, was expected to appear in the courtroom of Judge Peter J. Economus in U.S. District Court in Youngstown later today.
The indictments naming Cupido and others were issued out of federal court in Cleveland on Tuesday but were to remain under seal until the people named were arrested, officials said.
The indictments stem from what authorities say was a gambling ring being operated out of the General Motors fabricating plant in Lordstown and a building on Warren's south side.
Searches
FBI agent Jeffrey Sadlak got 21 federal search warrants last year.
Sadlak and officers from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and the Niles, Warren and Lordstown police departments used the warrants to search homes, vehicles and other structures in Trumbull County in November.
The investigation began in March 2000, FBI officials have said.
The operation included sports bookmaking and a numbers lottery being conducted from GM's fabricating plant and a building identified by authorities as Tri-County Golf Club at 1109 Wood Ave. S.W., Kane said.
The one-story cinder block building is a social club not affiliated with a golf course, authorities say.
FBI officials have said the gambling operation was bringing in an estimated $10,000 a day.
Those named in last year's warrants were Walter Brown of Grant Street, Niles; Andrew J. Polk, 52, no address available; Cupido, Paul Bridgens, 51, of Palmyra Road, Lordstown; John Masarick, 77, of North Road, Niles; Andrew J. Jordan Jr., 62, of Warren; Clifford L. Jordan, 57, of Warren; and Clifford L. Jordan Jr., 23, of Van Wye, Warren.
Bridgens was identified as a worker in the trim department at the GM assembly plant and Polk was identified as a worker in the press room at the fabricating plant.
sinkovich@vindy.com