New Delhi, July 2 -- Alfonso Lalli is a retired postal worker from western Massachusetts. His attorney wants the court to know that. What the attorney would rather the court not dwell on is the company Lalli was keeping inside Bally's Casino and Resort in Lincoln, Rhode Island, for 116 consecutive days last year.

along with five other men tied to the Genovese crime family's Springfield Crew - ran a rewards card fraud scheme so systematic that the casino's own analysts concluded it was "statistically impossible" without cheating. They used more than 100 loyalty cards registered in other people's names, took those cards into the high-limit slot room, and walked out with $1,156,105. They had wagered $630,000 to get there.

The ringleader, a...