The former kingpin of Western Pennsylvania's largest video poker empire was sent back to federal prison Wednesday for returning to his old ways -- running an illegal gambling operation and associating with known felons.
John Francis "Duffy" Conley, 43, of the South Side, was sentenced to four years by U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab for violating the conditions of his supervised release from previous gambling convictions.
Conley was arrested in February after a state and federal investigation determined he was running a multimillion-dollar sports betting and video poker ring.
State investigators say wiretaps from the investigation showed that Conley handled $3 million in bets in less than a month late last year and was employing people with felony convictions. He also hired people who have known ties to organized crime, investigators say.
Yesterday, Conley apologized for the harm he has caused his family, and admitted that he is addicted to gambling.
"I'm just scared of losing everything. Gambling has cost me so much," Conley said. "I used to think gambling was a lot of fun, even though I lost a lot of money. Now I realize it's destructive and evil."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Conway said Conley's actions weren't those of a gambling addict acting on his own behalf. He said Conley's operation involved dozens of people and lots of money.
"He was essentially the bookie's bookie," Conway said. "This isn't some small-time gambling operation. It's a large-scale, multimillion-dollar operation."
Paul Marraway, an investigator with the state Attorney General's Office, said wiretaps revealed Conley was the central figure in a sports betting ring using a stable of bookies from Allegheny County to Las Vegas and offshore casinos in the United Kingdom and Costa Rica.
Over 28 days late last year, Marraway said, Conley moved more than $3 million in bets: He bet $1.7 million with a bookie outside Atlanta; $1.2 million through offshore casinos; and more than $1 million with local bookies.
People working as "agents," or bookies, under Conley, included William Curtin and Christopher Kail -- both of whom were convicted in 1994 along with Conley for running the video poker operation, Marraway said.
Others working for him included Christopher Paul Hankish, of Mt. Lebanon, and Salvatore "Sonny" Williams, Marraway said.
Conley's lawyer, Caroline Roberto, requested that her client be sent to a treatment center near Philadelphia. Schwab refused, but asked the Bureau of Prisons to place Conley in a prison with a treatment program for gambling addiction.
