09281991 - News Article - Odds catch Nuzzo's 2 daughters - Each sentenced to one year in prison and 500 hours of community service



Odds catch Nuzzo's 2 daughters 
Each sentenced to one year in prison and 500 hours of community service
Post-Tribune (IN)
September 28, 1991
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Hundreds of Northwest Indiana gamblers have called Jennifer Kaufman and Sandra Mynes over the years to wager on football and basketball games.

Most of the gamblers lost. So did Kaufman and Mynes on Friday.

The two women, both daughters of Sam Nuzzo Sr., were sentenced to prison.

U.S. District Judge James T. Moody ordered each woman to serve one year in prison and perform 500 hours of community service upon release. He did not impose a fine. The one-year sentence was the maximum allowable.

Kaufman, 37, of Merrillville, told Moody, "After the last five months in prison ... nothing or no one ... it's not worth your freedom. If you give me a chance to go home, I won't disappoint you."

The judge rejected her appeal. He also denied defense attorney Martin H. Kinney's request that Kaufman be allowed to serve the rest of her time at a half-way house in Chicago.

Both women are being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.

Mynes, 43, of Merrillville, declined to address the judge before sentencing.

Kinney said, "She and her sister got involved because it was kind of a family business."

The women were among 15 charged last December in what federal authorities described as the most significant crime syndicate indictment ever in northern Indiana.

Each pleaded guilty to one count of illegal gambling under terms of a plea agreement. Neither was required to testify against co-defendants.

In May, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Thill petitioned to have Mynes' and Kaufman's bonds revoked when the FBI turned up evidence they continued to take sports bets by telephone. U.S. Magistrate Andrew P. Rodovich approved the request.

Because they will receive credit for the five months served, they likely will be released in April 1992.

Kinney, after sentencing, said, "It (one year) is certainly longer than I expected."

Mynes, along with other members of the Nuzzo family, owns and operates Hydad's lounge in Merrillville.

Anthony "Potatoes" Ottomanelli of Portage was sentenced Thursday to six months in a work-release center and fined $2,000. He, too, had pleaded guilty to illegal gambling. Ottomanelli played a role in the printing and distribution of football parlay cards - another Nuzzo operation.

Sam Nuzzo Sr., 70, and his son, Arthur A. Nuzzo, 33, both of Merrillville, were each sentenced to 18 months in prison on Wednesday. Arthur has been incarcerated since May. Sam Nuzzo Sr. reports to prison Nov. 1.

Additionally, Sam Nuzzo Sr. was fined $30,000 and Arthur Nuzzo $10,000.

Another son, Sam Nuzzo Jr., 45, of Merrillville, will be sentenced Oct. 15.

Sam Nuzzo Jr. was tried in August with five other defendants and was convicted on racketeering and gambling charges. He was considered head of the Nuzzo sports-betting and parlay card operation.

The crime syndicate skimmed part of his profits.

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