Charges Filed Against 12 in Big Bookie Ring

A dozen people were charged Thursday with operating what the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office called “one of the largest and most sophisticated” bookmaking rings in Southern California.

The defendants, according to the district attorney’s organized crime/anti-terrorist division, offered toll-free telephone numbers to bettors, utilized a computer and handled bets through dummy companies with up to 20 employees and phone banks.

It was alleged that the ring took in more than $30 million a year in wagers, turning a net annual profit of $4 million to $6 million.

Initially, an investigation by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department vice officers allegedly found that calls to place bets on sporting events were received at the “Johnson Co.” in Monterey Park, then were switched after an Aug. 2 raid on that location to the “Thompson Co.” at 1950 Santa Fe Ave. in Los Angeles, where on Sept. 20 six of the defendants were arrested.

Bets were funneled from there, as well as from an East Los Angeles business and a Garden Grove home, to the Mission Viejo home of Vincent Artale, 45, to be entered in the computer, investigators said.

Charged with conspiracy and bookmaking were Artale; Kale Kalustian, 54, the alleged ringleader, of Granada Hills; John W. Eastman, 41, Pomona; George A. Fisher, 47, Garden Grove; Douglas R. Dimock, 37, Northridge; Ronald F. La Forgia, 34, Studio City; Henry Slate, West Los Angeles; Donald A. Caldwell, 54, Granada Hills; Sandra Green, 46, Garden Grove, and Arthur Gottlieb, 68, of Montebello.

Charged simply with four counts of bookmaking were John M. Ferguson, 48, Sunset Beach, and Christopher D. Rieboldt, 35, Long Beach.

All defendants are scheduled to surrender Thursday