Five Arcades, 239 Slot Machines and More Than $1.5 Million: The Gambling Case Against 10 People in Lee County
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says a lengthy investigation with the Florida Gaming Control Commission tied five Southwest Florida arcades to an alleged racketeering and money-laundering scheme. Ten people face RICO conspiracy charges, and investigators seized 239 illegal slot machines, cash, gold and frozen bank assets.
What began as an illegal gambling investigation ended as a racketeering case. The Lee County Sheriff's Office said a lengthy multi-agency investigation, run in partnership with the Florida Gaming Control Commission, discovered that five Lee County arcades were connected to an alleged scheme: The Royal on Palm Arcade, 777 Arcade and Spin City Arcade in Fort Myers, King's Paradise Arcade in North Fort Myers, and Sneaky Pete's Lucky 7 Arcade in Bonita Springs. Detectives executed coordinated search warrants on October 27 at the five businesses and at homes and other sites in Florida and Pennsylvania.
The seizures were counted in machines, vehicles and gold. Investigators seized 239 illegal slot machines — including $30,250 in cash found inside machines at Sneaky Pete's and 777 — along with 10 vehicles, $715,272 in cash and about $661,454 in gold coins and bars, and froze another $383,573 in bank assets, a haul the sheriff's office put at more than $1.5 million in cash, gold and frozen assets. 'We didn't just target machines; we went after the people, the money and the infrastructure investigators uncovered,' Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a social media post.
Through undercover surveillance and analysis of financial and bank records, detectives identified 10 people they say were involved in financing, owning, managing or operating the businesses. All 10 have been charged with RICO conspiracy, a first-degree felony, along with varying counts tied to prohibited slot machines and gambling houses. The sheriff's office named Dennis Martin, 83, Ronald Longo, 75, and Stamena Gacevic, 48, of Fort Myers; Melissa Olarte, 45, William Holman, 63, and Angela Vittitoe, 65, of Cape Coral; Dijela Ivezaj, 62, of Estero; and Debra Wolovlek, 65, of Bonita Springs. Harold Hauck Jr. was arrested in Sarasota County and Timothy Fandry in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Gacevic remained in custody at the Lee County Jail with bond set at $30,000, and court dates vary. The charges are allegations. For Spin City, the case is a third strike: the arcade was raided in July 2023 and again in September 2025, and its owner, Martin, now faces racketeering and money-laundering charges.
