U.S. jury convicts Gardner defendant in gambling case

A U.S. District Court jury has convicted a Gardner man of two counts of witness tampering and a single count of operating a gambling business.

During the trial of Dennis O. Jenks, 55, last week, prosecutors maintained that he helped operate a gambling business tied to an organized crime ring in which 13 men and women have been indicted by a federal grand jury. The defendant, of 232 Chapel St., was accused of conducting an illegal gambling business between April 20, 2006, and June 2006, and of persuading a man and two women to testify as he wanted them to before a grand jury in Worcester between April and July 2006.

A jury, which found Mr. Jenks guilty of the three charges last Friday, also acquitted him of two other counts of witness tampering. Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for June 6.

The organized crime ring cited by the prosecution allegedly is headed by Arthur Gianelli, brother-in-law of John J. Connolly Jr., the former FBI agent convicted of extortion who is awaiting trial on a murder charge in Florida. Mr. Gianelli and a dozen others are charged with 520 counts of racketeering and other charges, included arson in an attempt to extort ownership of Boston-area bars.

Central Massachusetts residents charged in the racketeering case include Dennis Albertelli and his wife, Gisele Albertelli, both of 151 Hudson Road, Stow; Randy Albertelli of 565 High St., Clinton; and Frank Iacaboni of 640 Union St., Leominster.

Robert S. Jezak, president of the Pulaski Club in Lowell, where the illegal gambling allegedly occurred, testified at the trial that he was introduced to Mr. Jenks by Mr. Gianelli and that Mr. Jenks began collecting the proceeds of Mr. Gianelli’s illegal gambling machines that had been installed in the Pulaski Club. However, under cross-examination by Vincent A. Bongiorni, Mr. Jenks’ lawyer, Mr. Jezak acknowledged he could be mistaken that Mr. Gianelli made the introduction.

Another witness, John J. Silva, testified that he serviced Mr. Gianelli’s gambling machines and that he had introduced Mr. Jenks to the three Polish clubs in Lowell at Mr. Gianelli’s request.

Both Mr. Jezak and Mr. Silva admitted that they had lied in their initial appearance before the grand jury in 2006 and were testifying then and last week under grants of immunity from prosecution, except for perjury.