TRUMBULL COUNTY Gambling charge prompts plea

The judge suspended $950 of the $1,000 fine.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A 54-year-old Howland Township man pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of operating a gambling house.
Anthony Cornicello of Springwood Trace entered the plea Thursday, shortly after being arrested on the charge.
Judge Terry Ivanchak found Cornicello guilty and fined him $1,000. However, $950 of the fine was suspended. The judge also ordered that Cornicello be placed on six months' nonreporting probation and forfeit $2,000.
FBI agents, Warren police and Howland Township police searched Cornicello's home in December and seized $10,000 cash, numerous bars of silver, assorted gambling paraphernalia and a computer.
Law enforcement officials also received a second search warrant in March to obtain the information on the computer.
An FBI probe into illegal gambling operations has been ongoing for months. John J. Kane, agent in charge of the FBI's Youngstown office, could not be reached.
Raid at home
Warren police and FBI agents raided the Carlton Drive N.W. home of siblings Lucy and Robert Perfette in June and confiscated more than $400,000. No arrests were made. The FBI said the money is believed to be from a gambling operation a brother, Joseph J. Perfette, ran in the 1980s and 1990s.
The FBI also arrested four area men Wednesday on federal indictments of operating a gambling house. Joseph Cupido, 62, of Andrea Blvd., Niles; Clifford L. Jordan, 63, of Woodview, Warren; Andrew J. Jordan Jr., 58, of Sweetbriar S.W., Warren; and Clifford L. Jordan Jr., 24, of Van Wye, Warren; entered innocent pleas Wednesday. Each man was freed on a $20,000 bond.
If convicted, the defendants could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. 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. FBI officials have said the gambling operation was bringing in an estimated $10,000 a day.
sinkovich@vindy.com