Opening the book on betting operation

It was a multimillion-dollar operation run by one of the biggest bookmakers in Philadelphia.It included wiseguys and wannabes, gamblers and hustlers and, most surprising, a suspected hit man and the brother of his alleged victim.

Over 20 months, it generated more than $60 million in bets on professional and college sports.

…In the affidavit, Nicodemo is identified as a “prime suspect” in the unsolved gangland murder of John “Johnny Gongs” Casasanto. Casasanto was gunned down in his South Philadelphia rowhouse on Nov. 22, 2003.

Casasanto’s brother, Stephen, 37, is another defendant in the Borgata case, charged with money laundering and promoting gambling.

According to FBI information cited in the affidavit, “Nicodemo was inducted in the Philadelphia LCN (La Cosa Nostra) Family . . . shortly after the contract murder of . . . John Casasanto.”

Traditionally, participating in a murder is a requirement for formal initiation into a Cosa Nostra family.

Anchors Stensland and Mendte lead a wild life

In what TV anchor Dawn Stensland calls a “Jethro and Elly May” experience, she and her husband, anchor Larry Mendte, helped save a newborn raccoon over the weekend.

Phila. researchers bring sight to the blind