On Thursday, a federal judge sentenced a Chicago police officer to 15 months in prison after playing a role in a large-scale international gambling ring.
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Nicholas Stella, 43, is a veteran police officer and the third person to be sentenced for his role in the gambling ring, which Vincent "Uncle Mick" DelGiudice once ran.
The sentencing came from U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall, who last year gave three months of home detention to DelGiudice's father, Eugene "Geno" DelGiudice, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Last month she also gave six months of community confinement to Todd Blanken.
Six months before Stella's 15-month sentence, Kendall ordered him into Chicago's federal lockup. This was done when prosecutors said Stella "violently assaulted his girlfriend" in January while at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont.
The incident was cited when Stella's sentence came down on Thursday. She told him, "there can be no tolerance for that in our society."
Kendall called Stella's status as a police officer "so troubling." Before she sentenced him, he acknowledged that he was "100% guilty" and that he'd "never, or would ever, use my police powers or resources to aid in any crime, let alone gambling."
Kendall said that seeing an officer act as if they are above the law brings suspicion to "all of the really good officers out there who are trying to do their jobs — and they are trying so hard, with integrity and good character," Kendall said.
Brother of Chicago Bears great Brian Urlacher and Mettawa Mayor, Casey Urlacher, was also charged in the February 2020 indictment. Donald Trump, however, pardoned him in the waning hours of his presidency.
Prosecutors said that Stella worked as a bookie for the operation. His gamblers generated more than $450,00 in profits in 2018. The feds assume that he also oversaw bettors who wagered tens of millions of dollars, the Times reported.
According to a spokesperson for the CPD, Stella's status with the department is inactive.
In a memo, Stella's defense attorney Michael Clancy wrote that his client was not profiting from his position in the gambling ring but instead losing whatever he made.
"[Stella] was a gambling junkie who started working for Vincent [DelGiudice] to support his gambling addiction," Clancy said in the memo. "Stella gambled away all of the money he made as a bookie. … Stella lost on video gaming and sports gambling. Stella did not own a house, drive an expensive car, or live lavishly. Rather, he put every cent he made from booking (and then some) right back into the coffers of the operation."
