Bookmaking Raids Made in 4 Counties : Crime: Authorities say they have dismantled a bookie operation that was racking up $1 million a week in bets on football games.

Authorities in three Southern California counties have dismantled a huge bookmaking organization that was racking up $1 million a week in bets on football games, Los Angeles police said Monday.

Four people, including the alleged head of the organization, were arrested in raids Sunday on eight locations in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Orange counties.

A second bookie operation was raided by San Diego County sheriff’s deputies, who said they expect more arrests.

Paper shredders, fax machines and betting sheets with the bettors’ names in code were seized, police said.

“It was a pretty good-sized operation,” said Lt. Dan Jones, head of the Gaming Section of the LAPD’s Administrative Vice Division, which coordinated the bust.

Philip C. Ronis, 32, who police said ran the operation, was arrested at his opulent estate in Montecito in Santa Barbara County. Police said Ronis’ organization handled 125 bettors and took in $1 million a week.

Two of the alleged bookmakers were arrested in a Long Beach condominium, which police said served as headquarters of Ronis’ operation. When police officers entered the condo Sunday morning, the two suspects were working in separate rooms, each with telephones, calculators and sports journals listing coming games, Jones said.

During the raid, bettors continued to call in with their wagers, so the officers accepted those bets as additional evidence, Jones said.

Ronis’ bookmaking network accepted bets on professional and collegiate football games, as well as wagers of up to $10,000 on the World Series and occasional horse-racing bets as “a courtesy” to valued customers, Jones said.

“Sports bettors are big bettors . . . (and) football is the creme de la creme of betting,” the vice officer said. “The Super Bowl is the biggest betting day of the year.”

Football season is the busiest time for vice squads attempting to break up bookie organizations, he added, because the stakes are much higher and the volume of money that turns over is much larger than for year-round horse racing and other events.

Los Angeles vice officers arrest an average of 50 to 60 bookies a year, Jones said.

Sunday’s raids culminated a four-month-long police investigation prompted by a confidential informer’s tip. Officers watched the alleged bookies and found they were “keeping the hours”--meaning they were seen arriving at the Long Beach condo before games began to take bets and seen leaving once the games started, when no additional bets could be taken.

Los Angeles police coordinated the raids in Santa Barbara, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Brea, Calabasas and Fountain Valley. San Diego authorities raided seven sites in San Diego and San Bernardino counties.

Authorities originally believed the two networks were connected, but later determined that although there were some links, they operated separately.

In addition to Ronis, the two men arrested in Long Beach were identified as Michael K. Anderson, 30, and David J. Atkins, 29. A third suspect, Kevin F. Ray, 31, was arrested at his home in Fullerton. All were booked on suspicion of felony bookmaking and were released on bail, Jones said.

Ronis could not be reached for comment.