Jan Harald Portocarrero, Erik Portocarrero, Joseph Barrios, Racketeering Conspiracy, California 2013

Two leaders and a major bookmaker for an international sports gambling ring pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy that took millions of dollars in illegal sports wagers over the last decade in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas.

Jan Harald Portocarrero and Erik Portocarrero, brothers and leaders of the Macho Sports gambling ring, admitted operating for years an internet and telephone gambling enterprise that engaged in illegal activities on nearly a daily basis from its headquarters in Lima, Peru, and throughout Southern California.

Joseph Barrios, a bookmaker for Macho Sports, also pleaded guilty and admitted that he recruited and managed various sub-bookies for the racketeering enterprise, directing the payment of winnings and collection of gambling debts – oftentimes using threats of force.

The defendants agreed to forfeit nearly $12 million in cash, real property, and other assets seized from the illegal enterprise.

According to court documents, the FBI investigation of Macho Sports began in 2011 and employed wiretaps and undercover agents to infiltrate the organization and uncover the defendants’ illegal gambling and extortionate debt collection activities.

Nearly two years ago, in coordinated law enforcement actions in Norway, Los Angeles, and San Diego, FBI agents and Norwegian police arrested 18 members of Macho Sports, and seized nearly $12 million in illegal assets.

Jan and Erik Portocarrero were both arrested in June 2013, although they were half a world apart – Jan Portocarrero surrendered to authorities in Los Angeles, California, and Erik Portocarrero was arrested in Oslo, Norway.

For the next 22 months Erik Portocarrero fought his extradition from Norway, but that legal battle ended on Wednesday when the Kingdom of Norway extradited him to the United States.

Today, the Portocarreros and Barrios pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino, who set sentencing hearings for Jan and Erik Portcarrero on August 7, 2015, and for Joseph Barrios on September 11, 2015.

Erik Portocarrero also appeared today before Magistrate Judge Ruben B. Brooks, who denied his request for bond.

The Portocarrero brothers started their illegal gambling business shortly after the 1995 Super Bowl. Although originally from California, they set up Macho Sports in Peru after being investigated for gambling crimes in the Los Angeles area.

Using the Internet and toll-free telephone lines, Macho Sports accepted high-stakes sports bets from customers throughout California. The organization ensured the prompt payment of gambling debts through, among other means, intimidation and a violent reputation as to its treatment of delinquent customers.

The co-conspirators avoided detection by laundering their illegal proceeds and maintaining a company headquarters and physical platform outside the United States.

Jan Harald Portocarrero, Erik Portocarrero, and Joseph Barrios are currently facing racketeering conspiracy charges in the United States.

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