Family-Led, Mob-Connected Gambling Ring Used NJ Student Athletes As ‘Agents,’ Prosecutors Say

Authorities have busted up a nationwide gambling ring based in New Jersey, which is accused of having links to “organized crime,” prosecutors announced Thursday.

A total of 14 people were charged in connection with the multimillion-dollar sports betting ring, including its leader, Joseph M. Perna, 55, of Fairfield – a “soldier” in the Lucchese crime family, the New Jersey attorney general’s office alleged.

The ring included several of Perna’s family members and student athletes who operated sportsbooks for it, authorities said.

Prosecutors said the ring – which was based in Bergen and Essex counties – transferred nearly $2 million in suspected gambling transactions between 2022 and 2024.

Prosecutors accused Perna of acting as the financier and director for the nationwide web of bookmakers. His son, Joseph R. Perna, 25, of Oakland, is accused of conducting the daily operations of the sportsbook – overseeing dozens of subordinate agents – including his brother, Anthony Perna, 23, of Oakland, his stepbrother, Frank Zito, 23, of Fairfield, and his cousins, Dominic Perna, 23, of Newark and Michael Cetta, 23, of North Haledon.

Other alleged members of the gambling ring have been accused of being “high-level agents” who managed their own sportsbooks within the enterprise: Tyler Schnorrbusch, 23, of Wyckoff; Nicholas Raimo, 25, of East Hanover; Joseph Janish, 23, of North Caldwell; Spencer Speziale, 22, of Wyckoff; William Medeiros, 22, of North Kingstown, Rhode Island; and Devon Shuster, 28, of Gainesville, Florida.

This week’s bust also included separate charges against Perna’s wife and ex-wife, prosecutors said.

In April 2025, Rosanna Magno, 52, of Oakland – Joseph M. Perna’s ex-wife, mother of Joseph R. and Anthony Perna and aunt to Michael Cetta – allegedly attempted to conceal what were later determined to be gambling ledgers from police during an investigative stop.

In November and December 2023, Joseph M. Perna’s wife and Frank Zito’s mother, Kim Zito, 53, of Fairfield, allegedly received several payments from known conspirators of Frank Zito that were derived from illegal gambling.

See a full list of charges for each defendant here.

“Despite the proliferation of legal betting of all kinds, gambling remains a mainstay of members and associates of organized crime,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin alleged.

“The locations and methods may have evolved, but illegal gambling – in this case, sports betting – remains a problem, and we will charge those who seek to profit from it,” Platkin said.

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