San Diego gambling parlor operator sentenced to 6 years in prison

A judge on Monday sentenced a San Diego man to six years in federal prison for operating at least nine illicit gambling parlors in and around City Heights.

Prosecutors said the illegal casinos operated by Long Ngoc Tran, 42, were part of a larger network of some three dozen gaming businesses that drove a spike in violent crimes in the area between July 2018 and July 2020.

“The density of crime cases and arrests around these locations corresponds to the highest amount of crime” in southeastern San Diego, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Brehm wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Public Safety

San Diego’s hidden gambling problem: illicit casinos court gangs, drugs, violence

An alleged murder and other crime have brought increased attention to covert gambling parlors

Prosecutors said homicides, shootings, stabbings, assaults, robberies, arson, auto thefts and burglaries had all been linked to the network of gambling parlors, where nearly all patrons allegedly smoked methamphetamine while playing slot machines. Tran was the lead defendant in the prosecution, which began with an investigation dubbed “Marble Lion.”

He pleaded guilty last year to federal charges of conspiracy, running illegal gambling businesses and maintaining drug-involved premises and was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff, who also ordered him to undergo three years of supervision once released from prison.

This map shows the locations the FBI searched in April 2021 as part of the “Marble Lion” investigation.

Tran was previously sentenced to two years in state prison following his 2015 arrest during a previous investigation into illegal casinos in San Diego, according to sentencing documents in the new case. But soon after his release, he was back in business.

“Mr. Tran was prolific,” Brehm told Huff on Monday. The prosecutor said when investigators interviewed other defendants involved in the network of gambling rooms, “They were scared of Mr. Tran.”

Tran’s attorney said his client, who came to the U.S. from Vietnam when he was 11, has been addicted to methamphetamine for more than half his life, and that most of his convictions have been driven by drug use.

Courts

Dozens charged in massive investigation into illicit San Diego gambling parlors

An FBI task force searched numerous homes used as underground casinos Wednesday

Tran has been in custody since his April 2021 arrest on the day an FBI violent crimes and gang task force raided dozens of illegal parlors in and near City Heights. The warrants led to state and federal charges against 47 people, many of whom have since pleaded guilty.