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Paperwork documents gambling, drug ring
Seven months of undercover work on one of the county's largest drug and gambling investigations is revealed.
By JAMIE JONES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 9, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPRING HILL -- The bald man, John Peloro, drove a $58,000 convertible Corvette through Hernando Beach on starry nights. He owned two houses, took $50,000 bets and could bowl a perfect 300 game.
His friend, Tonino Iaboni, was short and thick, and less flashy. He drove a 1999 silver Pontiac and hosted high-stakes poker games at his Spring Hill home.
The two lived the high life in Hernando County, traveling the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico on a 27-foot Bayliner, taking gambling trips to casinos in Biloxi, Miss. They talked regularly on the telephone.
They had this conversation at 5:23 p.m. April 3:
Peloro: So you never went to see the guy?
Iaboni: No. . . . He said it's not that good so I'll go Friday. . . . I was up all night.
Peloro: Yeah, me too. . . . I'm playing cards. Let me go. . . . We're playing rummy over here.
Peloro and Iaboni did not know that detectives were listening to their conversation in a small room at the Sheriff's Office as part of one of the county's largest drug and gambling investigations in recent years.
Authorities said they learned during the seven-month inquiry that the men were smuggling an average of $30,000 to $50,000 worth of cocaine into the county every week. Both were arrested May 11 by county detectives and federal investigators.
Although authorities said they could not discuss the case, documents filed in federal court offer an inside look at the undercover operation in which detectives slipped quietly into Iaboni's and Peloro's lives and pieced together evidence that they believe proves the two men were supplying dozens of smaller drug dealers along the North Suncoast.
Records show that sheriff's investigators in October started parking unmarked cars outside of Iaboni's home and collecting bags of trash from the end of his driveway. As weeks passed, they did the same with Peloro. They also installed mobile tracking devices beneath their cars and monitored four telephone lines around the clock.
Records show that the two men spoke in code with their clients, who understood that terms like "carburetor," "weight," "trees," "tiles," "cigarettes" and "cement mix" indicated varying quantities of cocaine. Often, payment was spoken in terms of sheets, with one sheet equaling $1,000.
Iaboni had this conversation with an unknown man at 1:39 p.m. March 21:
Man: What are you doing?
Iaboni: I'm watching a movie.
Man: . . . I'm in a hurry. Do you have one and a half of those carburetor springs?
Iaboni: Ah, yeah, think I got two left.
Man: Okay.
Iaboni: . . . Two-barrel carburetor, four-barrel?
Man: Two-barrel.
Iaboni: Oh, okay. Um, where are you? Are you working?
Man: No, I'm five minutes from your house.
Iaboni: All right, bud.
Detectives said Iaboni would often conduct the drug transactions and divvy up the cash with Peloro. The two men, otherwise unemployed, lived lavishly from their profits.
Together, detectives said, they made the perfect pair.
Small-time operator meets money man
Peloro provided the money. Iaboni handled the drugs.
Iaboni, 49, lived alone.
He was charged in 1993 with possession of cocaine and marijuana. That same year, he married, and he and his wife had a daughter before they divorced in 1997. Iaboni still had his ex-wife's name tattooed in a heart on his right arm when she filed for a restraining order last year.
"He told me he was going to break my legs and smash my face in -- 'I'll give you the beating you b----.' He becomes volatile and I fear him," she wrote in court documents.
Iaboni denied the allegations.
He was born in Italy, and took his 8-year-old daughter to Rome to see the Vatican. In the United States on a green card, Iaboni feared he would be deported after he pleaded guilty to drug charges in 1994, court records show.
Iaboni most recently lived on Restmere Lane in Spring Hill, drove a 1999 silver Pontiac Grand Prix and received a $1,200 disability check every month. He supplemented his income by selling drugs such as OxyContin and marijuana, which he grew on a screened porch behind his home, authorities said.
But as far as drug dealers go, Iaboni was small time in Hernando County.
Until he met John Peloro.
Peloro was the money man, authorities said. He provided the capital Iaboni needed, giving him $30,000 to $50,000 every week to buy 1 to 2 kilograms of cocaine from dealers in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
Peloro drove a black Cadillac or his 2002 Corvette. He lived in a $150,000 home in Spring Hill and also owned a second house worth $250,000 in Hernando Beach.
There, he could lower his 27-foot Bayliner down a private boat ramp straight into a canal off the Gulf of Mexico. Peloro had paid off both of his homes, the $30,000 boat and two water scooters, worth $14,000.
Married to an Italian woman named Rosaria, Peloro has a daughter, 7, and a son, 5.
The 41-year-old has said he owned a nightclub and plumbing company in Brooklyn, N.Y., before moving to Spring Hill in the early 1990s. From his Spring Hill home, he started a bowling club and offered biweekly tournaments for a $40 entry fee and gave away a $1,000 first prize.
Peloro enjoyed associating with women friends.
He had this conversation with an associate at 12:23 a.m. March 29.
Peloro: Where are you?
Male: I'm heading towards the place right now, B.J. Gators (a restaurant and bar in Hernando Beach).
Peloro: There's three or four girls waiting for you over here. . . . I don't know if they want you or what you got in your pocket . . . .
On the side, authorities said, Peloro was a bookie and accepted bets from dozens of local residents on professional sports games. Bets ranged from $1,000 to $50,000, authorities said.
Deputies are investigating those who placed bets but have not yet released their names.
At the time of his arrest, Peloro had $100,000 in a safety deposit box and another $90,000 stashed throughout his two homes, authorities said.
Drug evidence begins to accumulate
Sheriff's deputies first heard of Iaboni and Peloro in October, at the end of a drug investigation into the Mayes family in Spring Hill. In that case, four family members were arrested with 600 pounds of marijuana.
Detectives said they learned that Peloro had started financing Iaboni's cocaine purchases in 2000. Shortly after, undercover agents started watching Iaboni's home.
Seventeen times, they collected garbage left at the end of his driveway, and 15 times, items in those bags tested positive for cocaine or marijuana, according to court records.
Detectives said they found small plastic baggies with white residue and packaging in the shape of a brick, commonly used to store 1 kilogram of cocaine.
Also found was a container for Inositol, which is mixed with pure cocaine to increase the batch size, authorities said.
Detectives also tapped their phone lines and put mobile tracking devices on Iaboni's Pontiac and Peloro's Cadillac.
In March, detectives followed Peloro to the Comfort Inn on Cortez Boulevard in Weeki Wachee. Afterward, investigators entered Room 204 and found cocaine residue on an end table, authorities said.
Several days later, Iaboni discovered the tracking device on his car and removed it. Fearing he would alert Peloro, detectives removed the device from his car, records show.
They also were listening to their telephone conversations, and on March 28 heard Peloro encourage customers to buy only from them.
Peloro: Oh listen, don't ever tell Tony about . . .
Caller: I ain't telling Tony nothing.
Peloro: . . . about getting anything for anybody else.
Caller: No, I wasn't.
Peloro: Because if you can't get ahold of him one day and you go to somebody else . . .
Caller: Um hmm.
Peloro: You can get him, you go to somebody else, that p----- him off.
Caller: Oh, I know.
When he accepted bets, Peloro's conversations went something like this one, which occurred on March 22.
Unknown man: Hey, man.
Peloro: Hey, bud.
Man: Where you got me at?
Peloro: Five, 10.
Man: Yep, exactly. Who do you have on Maryland and Kentucky?
Peloro: Six.
Man: Six give me ah, Maryland.
Suspects arrested, face federal charges
The betting and drug business came to an end on May 11, authorities said, when detectives and FBI agents knocked on their doors about 10 p.m. and arrested Iaboni and Peloro.
Peloro of 5141 Panther Drive and 4072 Gulfview Drive was booked at the Hernando County Jail on federal charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and using an interstate facility to transmit gambling information.
Iaboni was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine.
Both were released from jail on a $50,000 bail. Neither returned telephone calls from the Times seeking comment.
Sheriff Richard Nugent said he is proud of the work detectives did in tracking Iaboni and Peloro, who he believes were among the bigger drug dealers in Hernando County.
However, he said he doubts the arrests will put a serious dent in the local drug trade.
"It might slow it down for a bit," Nugent said. "But for every one we take out, there are two or three standing in the wings, ready to take over."
Seven months of undercover work on one of the county's largest drug and gambling investigations is revealed.
By JAMIE JONES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published June 9, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPRING HILL -- The bald man, John Peloro, drove a $58,000 convertible Corvette through Hernando Beach on starry nights. He owned two houses, took $50,000 bets and could bowl a perfect 300 game.
His friend, Tonino Iaboni, was short and thick, and less flashy. He drove a 1999 silver Pontiac and hosted high-stakes poker games at his Spring Hill home.
The two lived the high life in Hernando County, traveling the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico on a 27-foot Bayliner, taking gambling trips to casinos in Biloxi, Miss. They talked regularly on the telephone.
They had this conversation at 5:23 p.m. April 3:
Peloro: So you never went to see the guy?
Iaboni: No. . . . He said it's not that good so I'll go Friday. . . . I was up all night.
Peloro: Yeah, me too. . . . I'm playing cards. Let me go. . . . We're playing rummy over here.
Peloro and Iaboni did not know that detectives were listening to their conversation in a small room at the Sheriff's Office as part of one of the county's largest drug and gambling investigations in recent years.
Authorities said they learned during the seven-month inquiry that the men were smuggling an average of $30,000 to $50,000 worth of cocaine into the county every week. Both were arrested May 11 by county detectives and federal investigators.
Although authorities said they could not discuss the case, documents filed in federal court offer an inside look at the undercover operation in which detectives slipped quietly into Iaboni's and Peloro's lives and pieced together evidence that they believe proves the two men were supplying dozens of smaller drug dealers along the North Suncoast.
Records show that sheriff's investigators in October started parking unmarked cars outside of Iaboni's home and collecting bags of trash from the end of his driveway. As weeks passed, they did the same with Peloro. They also installed mobile tracking devices beneath their cars and monitored four telephone lines around the clock.
Records show that the two men spoke in code with their clients, who understood that terms like "carburetor," "weight," "trees," "tiles," "cigarettes" and "cement mix" indicated varying quantities of cocaine. Often, payment was spoken in terms of sheets, with one sheet equaling $1,000.
Iaboni had this conversation with an unknown man at 1:39 p.m. March 21:
Man: What are you doing?
Iaboni: I'm watching a movie.
Man: . . . I'm in a hurry. Do you have one and a half of those carburetor springs?
Iaboni: Ah, yeah, think I got two left.
Man: Okay.
Iaboni: . . . Two-barrel carburetor, four-barrel?
Man: Two-barrel.
Iaboni: Oh, okay. Um, where are you? Are you working?
Man: No, I'm five minutes from your house.
Iaboni: All right, bud.
Detectives said Iaboni would often conduct the drug transactions and divvy up the cash with Peloro. The two men, otherwise unemployed, lived lavishly from their profits.
Together, detectives said, they made the perfect pair.
Small-time operator meets money man
Peloro provided the money. Iaboni handled the drugs.
Iaboni, 49, lived alone.
He was charged in 1993 with possession of cocaine and marijuana. That same year, he married, and he and his wife had a daughter before they divorced in 1997. Iaboni still had his ex-wife's name tattooed in a heart on his right arm when she filed for a restraining order last year.
"He told me he was going to break my legs and smash my face in -- 'I'll give you the beating you b----.' He becomes volatile and I fear him," she wrote in court documents.
Iaboni denied the allegations.
He was born in Italy, and took his 8-year-old daughter to Rome to see the Vatican. In the United States on a green card, Iaboni feared he would be deported after he pleaded guilty to drug charges in 1994, court records show.
Iaboni most recently lived on Restmere Lane in Spring Hill, drove a 1999 silver Pontiac Grand Prix and received a $1,200 disability check every month. He supplemented his income by selling drugs such as OxyContin and marijuana, which he grew on a screened porch behind his home, authorities said.
But as far as drug dealers go, Iaboni was small time in Hernando County.
Until he met John Peloro.
Peloro was the money man, authorities said. He provided the capital Iaboni needed, giving him $30,000 to $50,000 every week to buy 1 to 2 kilograms of cocaine from dealers in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
Peloro drove a black Cadillac or his 2002 Corvette. He lived in a $150,000 home in Spring Hill and also owned a second house worth $250,000 in Hernando Beach.
There, he could lower his 27-foot Bayliner down a private boat ramp straight into a canal off the Gulf of Mexico. Peloro had paid off both of his homes, the $30,000 boat and two water scooters, worth $14,000.
Married to an Italian woman named Rosaria, Peloro has a daughter, 7, and a son, 5.
The 41-year-old has said he owned a nightclub and plumbing company in Brooklyn, N.Y., before moving to Spring Hill in the early 1990s. From his Spring Hill home, he started a bowling club and offered biweekly tournaments for a $40 entry fee and gave away a $1,000 first prize.
Peloro enjoyed associating with women friends.
He had this conversation with an associate at 12:23 a.m. March 29.
Peloro: Where are you?
Male: I'm heading towards the place right now, B.J. Gators (a restaurant and bar in Hernando Beach).
Peloro: There's three or four girls waiting for you over here. . . . I don't know if they want you or what you got in your pocket . . . .
On the side, authorities said, Peloro was a bookie and accepted bets from dozens of local residents on professional sports games. Bets ranged from $1,000 to $50,000, authorities said.
Deputies are investigating those who placed bets but have not yet released their names.
At the time of his arrest, Peloro had $100,000 in a safety deposit box and another $90,000 stashed throughout his two homes, authorities said.
Drug evidence begins to accumulate
Sheriff's deputies first heard of Iaboni and Peloro in October, at the end of a drug investigation into the Mayes family in Spring Hill. In that case, four family members were arrested with 600 pounds of marijuana.
Detectives said they learned that Peloro had started financing Iaboni's cocaine purchases in 2000. Shortly after, undercover agents started watching Iaboni's home.
Seventeen times, they collected garbage left at the end of his driveway, and 15 times, items in those bags tested positive for cocaine or marijuana, according to court records.
Detectives said they found small plastic baggies with white residue and packaging in the shape of a brick, commonly used to store 1 kilogram of cocaine.
Also found was a container for Inositol, which is mixed with pure cocaine to increase the batch size, authorities said.
Detectives also tapped their phone lines and put mobile tracking devices on Iaboni's Pontiac and Peloro's Cadillac.
In March, detectives followed Peloro to the Comfort Inn on Cortez Boulevard in Weeki Wachee. Afterward, investigators entered Room 204 and found cocaine residue on an end table, authorities said.
Several days later, Iaboni discovered the tracking device on his car and removed it. Fearing he would alert Peloro, detectives removed the device from his car, records show.
They also were listening to their telephone conversations, and on March 28 heard Peloro encourage customers to buy only from them.
Peloro: Oh listen, don't ever tell Tony about . . .
Caller: I ain't telling Tony nothing.
Peloro: . . . about getting anything for anybody else.
Caller: No, I wasn't.
Peloro: Because if you can't get ahold of him one day and you go to somebody else . . .
Caller: Um hmm.
Peloro: You can get him, you go to somebody else, that p----- him off.
Caller: Oh, I know.
When he accepted bets, Peloro's conversations went something like this one, which occurred on March 22.
Unknown man: Hey, man.
Peloro: Hey, bud.
Man: Where you got me at?
Peloro: Five, 10.
Man: Yep, exactly. Who do you have on Maryland and Kentucky?
Peloro: Six.
Man: Six give me ah, Maryland.
Suspects arrested, face federal charges
The betting and drug business came to an end on May 11, authorities said, when detectives and FBI agents knocked on their doors about 10 p.m. and arrested Iaboni and Peloro.
Peloro of 5141 Panther Drive and 4072 Gulfview Drive was booked at the Hernando County Jail on federal charges of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and using an interstate facility to transmit gambling information.
Iaboni was charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine.
Both were released from jail on a $50,000 bail. Neither returned telephone calls from the Times seeking comment.
Sheriff Richard Nugent said he is proud of the work detectives did in tracking Iaboni and Peloro, who he believes were among the bigger drug dealers in Hernando County.
However, he said he doubts the arrests will put a serious dent in the local drug trade.
"It might slow it down for a bit," Nugent said. "But for every one we take out, there are two or three standing in the wings, ready to take over."