Alleged Mob Connections Cost Diner Owner Illinois Gambling License

Posted on: August 4, 2025, 09:18h. 

Last updated on: August 4, 2025, 09:18h.

  • Diner owner allegedly tied to Chicago Outfit loses gambling license
  • Illegal gambling history revealed through old federal testimony
  • Were regulators at fault for overlooking mob-related red flags?

The owner of a Chicago diner has seen his gambling license revoked by the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) after an old business relationship with the Chicago Outfit and a history of illegal gambling resurfaced, The Chicago Tribune reports.

Jeffrey Bertucci, Illinois Gaming Board, Chicago Outfit, Illegal gambling, Video poker license
Steak’n Egger diner in Illinois advertising video slots – although not the actual restaurant owned by Jeffrey Bertucci, who saw his gambling license revoked last week for his history of illegal gambling and failing to declare business dealings with the Chicago Outfit. (Image: Steak’n Egger)

Jeffrey Bertucci is the owner of the Steak’n Egger diner in the Chicago suburb of Cicero, which until recently hosted video gambling machines legally licensed by the IGB.

The license revocation followed the regulator’s discovery that Bertucci testified in the 2010 trial of Michael “Fat Mike” Sarno, the reputed boss of the Outfit’s Cicero crew.

Sarno was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in a federal prison on racketeering charges related to his illegal gambling operation and for the 2003 pipe bombing of a competitor’s business.

Federal Testimony

Bertucci told a federal grand jury during his testimony that he had operated illegal gambling machines at diners in Cicero and central Chicago. He admitted he received these machines from an amusement company connected to notorious Outfit figure James “Little Jimmy” Marcello.

Bertucci also said he’d gotten other machines from a different operator, Casey Szaflarski, whom prosecutors described as a key player in the Mob’s video poker operations.

Bertucci acknowledged running these machines at a time when they were illegal in Illinois. The state legalized video gambling in 2009, and the first machines weren’t operational until 2012.

When Bertucci applied for a license in 2018, he told the IGB that he had dabbled in the illegal gambling machine business for a few years in the early 2000s, framing it as a youthful misstep.

Apparently impressed with his honesty, the regulator granted him a license. But subsequent digging by The Chicago Sun Times uncovered the 2010 testimony, which revealed Bertucci’s illegal operations had been far greater in scope than he had mentioned.

License Would Have Been Denied

The IGB attempted to pull the license in February 2023, saying that had they known the full extent of Bertucci’s gambling background and Mob-linked dealings, they would have denied his application in 2019.

Bertucci “failed to truthfully disclose the full extent and duration of his past involvement with illegal gambling,” including that “he facilitated and enabled illegal gambling using coin-operated amusement devices in businesses he owned in Chicago and Cicero,” the IGB determined.

Bertucci’s appeal of that decision allowed the reels to keep spinning before the plug was finally pulled Friday. During that period, the machines generated over $200K in net income, The Sun-Times reported.

The incident raises questions about the IGB’s due diligence during its licensing process, an agency tasked with keeping the Mob out of gambling. In addition to Bertucci’s court testimony, records show he was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in 2004 to remove his gambling devices. He did so but reinstalled them in 2006.