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Arrest Made After NY Poker Robbery Results in Death

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  1. JOKER777 JOKER777 is offline

    Lyndhurst, NJ
    United States

    Posts: 11
    Joined: Aug 05

    Nov 13th, 2007 (11/13/2007 10:45pm)

    <SPAN class=author>by PokerPages.com </SPAN>
    <SPAN class=date>Tue, Nov 13th, 2007 @ 7:00pm</SPAN>

    In the wake of numerous raids and robberies of illegal card games all across the country, news has surface of yet another robbery leading to a fatality, this time at an underground club in Manhattan.

    At approximately 11pm on November 2nd, four to five masked men bearing firearms burst into The Straddle, an underground poker room operating on the seventh floor of a Manhattan office building. Frank DeSana, a former math professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, was shot and killed by one of the robbers. According to NYPD, the robbers made it away from the scene with up to $100,000 in cash.

    On Friday afternoon, William Delvalle, 35, was arrested on E. 21st St. in Manhattan, just seven blocks from the original site of the shooting. Being held at the Manhattan Detention Complex, Delvalle has been denied bail and is facing charges of 2nd Degree murder and robbery, though it was noted by NYPD that he is not likely to be the man who actually pulled the trigger. Others thought to be involved in the robbery are still being sought by police.

    The Straddle was but one of many supposedly secret poker rooms scattered throughout New York and the surrounding areas. The robbery turned murder has put quite a scare into the secretive NY poker underground.

    "A week ago, there were two or three rooms operating in Manhattan, but now there are zero," said Steven McLoughlin, a poker player who is quite familiar with the Manhattan poker circle, according a recent NY Times piece. "You don't know what can happen."

    Robberies are not the only thing concerning those involved in the NY poker underground. Last Wednesday, 8 poker rooms were raided in a single night in Suffolk County, New York. More than $10,000 in cash was seized in the raids that took place in seven cities, along with chips, tables, and other equipment. Nine people were arrested and charged with promotion of gambling.
  2. TING TING is offline

    Union City, NJ
    United States

    Posts: 241
    Joined: Oct 07

    Nov 14th, 2007 (11/14/2007 12:06am) in reply to JOKER777

    i play in a few NYC clubs and ive played with the guy that was shot. we called him tight frank he was a great guy. i was at one of the clubs when it was raided at least i took this night off lol.
  3. chknpotpie chknpotpie is offline

    Posts: 1,045
    Joined: Jan 07

    Nov 14th, 2007 (11/14/2007 12:11am) in reply to JOKER777

    This sounds exactly like the episode from The sopranos, season 4 i think, anyone see it?
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