Ex-Councilman’s Son Charged With Bookmaking
After a six-month investigation by the Long Beach Police Department’s vice unit, the son of a former Gardena City councilman and his business partner have been arrested on charges of running a multimillion-dollar bookmaking racket in Gardena, police said.
Ricky Fukai, 45, the son of former Councilman Mas Fukai, and his partner, Tom Iida, 67, were released on $2,500 bail each after being arrested at a Gardena building that police said was the racket’s headquarters. The two men are scheduled to enter pleas at Long Beach Superior Court on Thursday, police said Monday.
Working on a tip about bookmaking in Long Beach, police traced the operation’s headquarters to Gardena. The alleged bookmaking operation, police said, reached from Southern California to San Francisco to Hawaii. The two men allegedly laundered money through fake real estate companies.
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