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Indictments target illegal gambling dens in Orange County – Orange County Register

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A multi-agency investigation into illegal underground casino operations in Orange County has resulted in federal indictments alleging drug trafficking, extortion, robbery and the bribery of a police officer in connection to illicit gambling dens, law enforcement officials announced Wednesday.

Seven defendants were taken into custody on Wednesday following an investigation by the Orange County Asian Organized Crime Task Force, as three federal indictments were unsealed describing a string of now-closed illegal casinos in Santa Ana, the shooting of an employee of one of the gambling dens and the bribing of a Santa Ana officer who allegedly helped protect the operators of the casinos from law-enforcement operations.

“The number of illegal gambling dens has exploded during the pandemic, dramatically impacting the quality of life in many Orange County neighborhoods,” U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison said in a statement announcing the indictments. “These illicit businesses are a breeding ground for drug trafficking, violence and even police corruption.”

The underground casinos are known as “slaphouses” when they are housed in residential areas and “nets” when they are located in commercial districts, officials said. The multi-agency investigation – which law enforcement named “Operation Community First” was launched in February 2021 to crack down on illegal gambling, narcotics and gun trafficking, and included members of the FBI, the Santa Ana Police Department, the California Department of Justice, the IRS criminal investigations division and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Four suspected illegal casinos in Santa Ana were allegedly owned by Niem Ngoc Ha, a 46-year-old Fountain Valley man known by the street name “Dung Body,” according to the first of the indictments. The casinos were managed by Mindy Bui, 36, of Westminster and Honganh Thi Pham, 40, of Garden Grove, according to federal prosecutors, with Sammy Cardona, 36, of Santa Ana allegedly acting as an enforcer who “would use violence to protect defendant Ha’s illicit casinos.”

The underground gambling operations generated thousands of dollars worth of profit on a daily basis, prosecutors allege. The indictment doesn’t specify the exact locations of the casinos within Santa Ana.

Prosecutors allege that in order to protect his gambling operations Ha paid about $128,000 to former Santa Ana Police Officer Steven Lopez, who last year pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge.

Lopez warned Ha about efforts by law enforcement to target the casino operations, prosecutors allege, including a September 2020 plan by other Santa Ana officers to shut down one of the gambling dens. As part of his plea deal, Lopez admitted to once accepting a bribe while standing on the top floor of a parking structure across the street from the Santa Ana Police Department’s headquarters, while on another occasion he admitted to accepting a bribe payment on a city street corner while in his uniform, on duty, in a marked police car.

The indictment describes violence tied to the gambling dens, including a November 2020 shooting at one of the casinos that left an employee with a bullet wound to the neck.

“Illegal gambling locations create an increase in violent crime, adversely impact the quality of life of our communities, and cause disruption to our neighborhoods and our law-abiding business partners,” Santa Ana Police Chief David Valentin said in a statement.

A second indictment tied to the same multi-agency operation alleges that two men – Vincent Randal Pimental, 30, of Santa Ana and Steven Gallegos Saenz, 39, of Whittier – ran an extortion scheme targeting other small businesses that were also operating as illegal gambling operations. Claiming to be “mafia,” the two men demanded protection money from the business, prosecutors allege. When one business – a Santa Ana video rental shop – refused to pay, prosecutors allege that Pimental, Saenz and other men robbed it at gunpoint, stealing gambling machines, computer equipment and thousands of dollars in cash.

“The defendants flouted the law and used enforcers with rival gangs to get victims to comply through the use of intimidation and violence in order to further their illicit network and generate profits,” Kristi Johnson, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement.

A third indictment alleges that two men and a woman – Ricardo Nunez, 44, of Anaheim, Marcus Loomis, 37, of Barstow and Vanessa Galloway, 37, of Barstow – took part in a drug deal involving methamphetamine at different illegal casino in Anaheim.

Ha, Bui, Pham, Saenz, Nunez, Loomis and Galloway have all been arrested, authorities said, while Cardona and Pimental are currently listed as fugitives.



A multi-agency investigation into illegal underground casino operations in Orange County has resulted in federal indictments alleging drug trafficking, extortion, robbery and the bribery of a police officer in connection to illicit gambling dens, law enforcement officials announced Wednesday.

Seven defendants were taken into custody on Wednesday following an investigation by the Orange County Asian Organized Crime Task Force, as three federal indictments were unsealed describing a string of now-closed illegal casinos in Santa Ana, the shooting of an employee of one of the gambling dens and the bribing of a Santa Ana officer who allegedly helped protect the operators of the casinos from law-enforcement operations.

“The number of illegal gambling dens has exploded during the pandemic, dramatically impacting the quality of life in many Orange County neighborhoods,” U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison said in a statement announcing the indictments. “These illicit businesses are a breeding ground for drug trafficking, violence and even police corruption.”

The underground casinos are known as “slaphouses” when they are housed in residential areas and “nets” when they are located in commercial districts, officials said. The multi-agency investigation – which law enforcement named “Operation Community First” was launched in February 2021 to crack down on illegal gambling, narcotics and gun trafficking, and included members of the FBI, the Santa Ana Police Department, the California Department of Justice, the IRS criminal investigations division and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Four suspected illegal casinos in Santa Ana were allegedly owned by Niem Ngoc Ha, a 46-year-old Fountain Valley man known by the street name “Dung Body,” according to the first of the indictments. The casinos were managed by Mindy Bui, 36, of Westminster and Honganh Thi Pham, 40, of Garden Grove, according to federal prosecutors, with Sammy Cardona, 36, of Santa Ana allegedly acting as an enforcer who “would use violence to protect defendant Ha’s illicit casinos.”

The underground gambling operations generated thousands of dollars worth of profit on a daily basis, prosecutors allege. The indictment doesn’t specify the exact locations of the casinos within Santa Ana.

Prosecutors allege that in order to protect his gambling operations Ha paid about $128,000 to former Santa Ana Police Officer Steven Lopez, who last year pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge.

Lopez warned Ha about efforts by law enforcement to target the casino operations, prosecutors allege, including a September 2020 plan by other Santa Ana officers to shut down one of the gambling dens. As part of his plea deal, Lopez admitted to once accepting a bribe while standing on the top floor of a parking structure across the street from the Santa Ana Police Department’s headquarters, while on another occasion he admitted to accepting a bribe payment on a city street corner while in his uniform, on duty, in a marked police car.

The indictment describes violence tied to the gambling dens, including a November 2020 shooting at one of the casinos that left an employee with a bullet wound to the neck.

“Illegal gambling locations create an increase in violent crime, adversely impact the quality of life of our communities, and cause disruption to our neighborhoods and our law-abiding business partners,” Santa Ana Police Chief David Valentin said in a statement.

A second indictment tied to the same multi-agency operation alleges that two men – Vincent Randal Pimental, 30, of Santa Ana and Steven Gallegos Saenz, 39, of Whittier – ran an extortion scheme targeting other small businesses that were also operating as illegal gambling operations. Claiming to be “mafia,” the two men demanded protection money from the business, prosecutors allege. When one business – a Santa Ana video rental shop – refused to pay, prosecutors allege that Pimental, Saenz and other men robbed it at gunpoint, stealing gambling machines, computer equipment and thousands of dollars in cash.

“The defendants flouted the law and used enforcers with rival gangs to get victims to comply through the use of intimidation and violence in order to further their illicit network and generate profits,” Kristi Johnson, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said in a statement.

A third indictment alleges that two men and a woman – Ricardo Nunez, 44, of Anaheim, Marcus Loomis, 37, of Barstow and Vanessa Galloway, 37, of Barstow – took part in a drug deal involving methamphetamine at different illegal casino in Anaheim.

Ha, Bui, Pham, Saenz, Nunez, Loomis and Galloway have all been arrested, authorities said, while Cardona and Pimental are currently listed as fugitives.

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