Massive Gambling Bust in Houston Leads to 16 Arrests and $22 Million Seized

In one of the biggest police raids in Texas history, 16 people were arrested as part of a large-scale crackdown on an illegal gambling network in the Houston area. 

More than 720 police officers and agents from different agencies carried out 45 search warrants at 30 possible game rooms on Wednesday night. They found a sophisticated operation that reportedly made over $22 million in illegal money. 

Federal officials named Nizar Ali, 61, of Richmond as the person they think planned the multimillion-dollar scheme. Ali is charged with directing the movement and laundering of large amounts of cash from gambling halls through a group of companies he owned. 

U.S. Attorney Nicholas Ganjei said the operation was well planned, with armed guards, monitoring systems, membership lists, and ID cards to check out customers and hide the illegal activity. To protect the business even more, Ali is said to have hired what he thought was a dishonest Houston police officer (who was actually working undercover) and paid him more than $500,000 over the course of a five-year probe. 

Ali is now being charged with 32 counts of bribery in a government program. Each count carries a possible prison sentence of 10 years or more. The money from the sale was used to buy expensive cars, real estate, and Rolex watches, which were hidden in several different homes. 

The Department of Justice stated that 31 more people were arrested on a variety of charges, such as violating immigration and gun laws. One person is accused of attacking a police officer during the raid. 

There are still arrest warrants for two more suspects: Sayed Ali, 59, and Stephanie Huerta, 35. From the amount of money and goods that were taken, officials say this is the most significant investigation into illegal gambling and money laundering in Houston's history.

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