Deadly Shootings Continue at Brooklyn, NY Alleged Gambling Joints

New York City police continue to search for an assailant who remains on the loose Friday after opening fire Wednesday night on four players at an alleged illegal gambling den in Brooklyn. One victim died and three others were wounded.

The shooting took place in the back of Brooklyn’s G Spot thrift shop following a fight there. It is located in the Brownsville neighborhood of the borough.

The confrontation was linked to disagreements over gambling, the New York Post reported, based on police statements. Illegal gambling was allegedly taking place there for some two decades, residents complained to local media.

Often, it was round-the-clock, the residents further claimed. It was especially busy on Friday and Saturday nights.

The man who died reportedly was wounded in the chest. He was described as being in his 30s. He was believed to have been suffering from COVID-19 recently, the New York Daily News reported.

The other victims were transported to local hospitals, where they were in stable condition on Thursday. A 44-year-old was shot in an arm, a 31-year-old was wounded in a leg, and a 32-year-old man was shot in a shoulder, the Daily News said.

Among the games the gambling den is known for are dice, poker, as well as Cee-lo, another dice game, the Post reported, based on accounts from witnesses. Sometime, thousands of dollars were bet on the games, the report adds.

Cee-lo is typically played with three six-sided dice. It traces its origins to China.

It now is also played in some US cities. In recent years, the game was made popular in hip-hop songs.

The shooting is one of several homicides seen in the last year at a gambling den or social club in Brooklyn. Last October, four victims were discovered deceased in in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood.

Two men and a woman were wounded, and a fourth person had other injuries. Each survived, the Daily News said.

An argument over a dice game led to another man shooting into the crowd, the Daily News said. The gunman was shot dead by a bouncer at the club, police said.

In still another incident, in April, two bandits, both wearing masks, fatally shot a man in an illegal gambling den in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, police told the Post. Money bet on dice games was robbed by the duo.

In 2018, seven NYPD officers, including several vice squad detectives, were charged with abetting an illegal gambling and prostitution ring that had been operating for several years in Brooklyn and Queens.

One of the officers, , 52, of Queens, a retired NYPD vice detective, pleaded guilty last year in connection with the $2 million-a-year illegal operation. He was sentenced to between four and 12 years in prison, according to the Queens Daily Eagle.