Gambling Sites Raided

Authorities raided a $160-million-a-year gambling operation in New York and Philadelphia and arrested 25 people, timing the sweep to coincide with heavy betting on the NCAA basketball tournament.

The raids, code-named Slam Dunk, targeted “the mob’s cash cow, illegal sports betting,” Brooklyn Prosecutor Charles J. Hynes said.

Some of those arrested in Saturday’s raids were believed to be connected to the Gambino crime family, said Christopher Blank, Hynes’ chief of organized crime investigations.

Police seized betting slips worth almost $500,000 and $30,000 in cash.