Illegal Gambling Chinatown Nyc

The building was seized last year by the Federal government from its former owner, Won & Har Realty Corporation, after a raid exposed illegal gambling at the location. Won & Har operated pai gow –. NYPD and federal officials raided a building in Chinatown believed to be the center of a network of illegal gambling activities Monday. Officials raided the six-story building at 35 and 37 East.

Police are looking for three suspects seen on a video robbing nearly a dozen people on Thanksgiving.

The robbery took place during an apparent gambling game in the basement of a Chinatown building, under a grocery store at 67 Eldridge Street. According to the NYPD, the incident occurred around 4:55 p.m. on November 28th, 2019, when two males produced handguns while a third showed a knife and 'ordered 11 victims to get down on the ground and demanded cash and jewelry.' Surveillance video shows the victims being threatened by the armed suspects:

Illegal Gambling Chinatown Nyc Restaurant

The suspects took an undetermined amount of cash and jewelry, including a gold necklace with a jade centerpiece. No one was injured during the robbery.

The victims were two women and nine men, ranging in ages from 38 to 64 years old.

🚨WANTED🚨Robbery
On 11/28 @ approx.4:55pm 3 suspects entered 67 Eldridge St. Once inside Male#1 & #2 produced handguns. Male#3 produced a🔪demanded💴& jewelry. All males fled North on Eldridge St on foot.
Anyone w/info, please☎️Det. Rong @ 212-334-0742 #800577Tips#chinatownpic.twitter.com/IG4avXL76X

— NYPD 5th Precinct (@NYPD5Pct) December 1, 2019

Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website atWWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @NYPDTips.

Do you know the scoop?Comment below or Send us a Tip

Yesterday, the federal authorities raided a Chinatown building at 35-37 East Broadway—apparently, it was full of 'table games and slot machines,'Chinese mahjong,' and 'large cardboard boxes—allegedly filled to the brim with cash.'

The illegal gambling takedown raid, nicknamed 'Operation Snake Eyes,' led to the arrest of eleven people and seizure of $163,000 in cash. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's complaint is also looking for the forfeiture of the building where at least four floors were used for gambling:

Over at least the last two years, the Building has consistently hosted a group of illegal gambling operators offering various gambling options, including pai gow poker and computer-based slot machine games, in nearly half of the Building’s suites. The Building itself has been modified to accommodate these gambling operations, including the creation of a ground floor slots room hosting computers dedicated to slot machine games, and the installation of surveillance cameras throughout areas of the Building dedicated to gambling.

Two people were also arrested for practicing medicine without a license in the building as well.

Illegal Gambling Chinatown Nyc Subway

But today, those at 35-37 East Broadway told WCBS 2 that while there were slot machines, they were just donated and used for fun: 'There’s no gambling. They just play for fun.' Cue Captain Renault.

Anyway, arrests rarely deter illegal gambling den operators: A former Chinatown cop told WNYC, 'Once they take everything out, within six, seven or eight hours there’s a carpenter down there, two-by-fours, bang bang bang, they’re setting up new tables already. And the gambling would be on the next day.'

Illegal Gambling Chinatown Nyc Restaurants

Illegal Gambling Chinatown Nyc New York

Do you know the scoop?Comment below or Send us a Tip