Vincent Delgiudice, Charged With Casey Urlacher In Illegal Sports Gambling Operation, Pleads Guilty
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An Orland Park man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Tuesday to running an illegal sports gambling business and laundering the proceeds.
Vincent Delgiudice, 55 – also known as Uncle Mick – was charged in a federal case last year along with Casey Urlacher, the brother of former Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher. Casey Urlacher, who had pleaded not guilty, was granted a full pardon by President Donald Trump last month.
Delguidice pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering – which is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison, and one count of conducting an illegal gambling business, which is punishable by up to five years, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Delgiudice paid a Costa Rica-based company more than $10,000 a month for the website unclemicksports.com, which was used for the accounting, betting, record-keeping, and logistics of the gambling operation between 2016 and 2019. The bookmaking operation operated in Chicago, Lemont, Frankfort, Orland Park, and Woodridge, prosecutors said.
Delgiudice accepted wagers on both professional and amateur sporting events from up to 1,000 gamblers, the U.S. Attorney's office said last year. He communicated with representatives of the sports book through an anonymous end-to-end encrypted messaging application, prosecutors said.
Delgiudice recruited gamblers for the business and set them up with accounts on Uncle Mick Sports website, prosecutors said. He collected and paid out money in cash to those gamblers, prosecutors said last year.
When the feds raided Delgiudice's Orland Park home last year, court records revealed they found more than $1 million in cash – along with silver bars, jewelry, and gold coins worth more than $441,000.
Urlacher was one of eight defendants whom Delgiudice allegedly recruited to work as agents for the gambling operation. They recruited sub-agents and gamblers for the business in exchange for a commission drawn from the gamblers' losses, prosecutors said.
Chicago Police Officer Nicholas Stella was also among those defendants.
Casey Urlacher is also mayor of the far north Illinois suburban village of Mettawa.
In 2016, Casey Urlacher ran for the Republican nomination for the 26th District Illinois State Senate seat, but lost to Dan McConchie, who went on to win the general election.
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