Deputies Hunt Through Computer Records to Identify Bettors : Gambling: They hope that names will build stronger case against Kale Kalustian, the alleged ringleader.

Sheriff’s deputies who broke up what they called the largest sports betting ring in Southern California in recent years began searching seized computer records Tuesday for the hidden identities of the ring’s bettors, looking for help in finding more bookies.

“The arrests we made (Monday) are not the end of the arrests we will make,” said Lt. David Kading of the vice detail at the sheriff’s Special Investigations Bureau. “As we obtain more information, we will attempt to arrest more people in the Kalustian ring, or what is left of it, and who comes in to take their place.”

The sports bookmaking operation was crippled Monday, authorities said, when sheriff’s deputies swept through five counties and arrested 17 people, including Kale Kalustian, who deputies allege was the leader of a criminal enterprise that netted $5 million a month. Authorities said Kalustian, 65, of Granada Hills earned “the lion’s share” of the illicit profits. Two men identified as Kalustian’s top aides, both from the San Fernando Valley, were among those arrested.

Deputies said they seized $82,408 in cash from five locations, including $34,099 from Kalustian and $29,791 from an alleged lieutenant, Walter Miller. They also seized computers, financial ledgers, cellular and regular phones, and tape recorders they said were used to record the bets and transactions.

The names of the bettors, often encoded, are believed to be listed in those records, Kading said.

“What we’ll be doing now is following up with as many of those bettors as we can identify to see if they will cooperate with us” in locating other bookmakers who may rush in to fill the void left by Kalustian’s arrest, Kading said. “We will also use this to build a tighter case against Kalustian.”

Authorities said illegal bookmaking is so widespread that they hold out little hope that the operation will remain dormant for long. But the information in the seized records “may take us to other organizations,” Kading said.

“The NBA finals start (tonight) and the bettors will be looking for a place to make their bets. They have an addiction, an inner compulsion to drive them to bet, and they will be looking. Because of human frailty, people want to bet. So they will find a bookmaker or a bookmaker will find them. It just goes on and on and on.”

Deputies said Tuesday that they suspect that Kalustian has been involved in sports betting operations for at least 10 years, taking over at least partial control of a bookmaking operation previously run by Ron Sacco, a San Francisco-based bookie who authorities allege ran the largest sports betting scheme in the world until his indictment last year.

Sacco is in federal custody awaiting trial on charges of operating a $1-billion-a-year international bookmaking operation. He was indicted along with 25 alleged associates.

Kalustian and at least one of his alleged associates, Ron LaForgia, 42, were charged along with 11 others in 1986 with running a similar, but smaller ring.

All 17 people arrested Monday were booked for investigation of conspiracy to commit bookmaking and were being held in lieu of $200,000 bail each.

The investigation into the current ring began nine months ago, and there had been more than a dozen arrests prior to Monday. Kading said the ring specialized in taking bets on horse races, and professional and college basketball and football. The clerks allegedly took bets from a variety of locales and phone numbers to make it more difficult for investigators to locate their operations.

At least part of the operation was believed to be run by Kalustian out of his home in the 12000 block of Bambi Place, Kading said.