Bellagio: four indicted in craps scam

For two years, a pair of Bellagio craps dealers and two friends stole more than $1 million off the tables, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The dealers, Mark M. Branco, 42, and James R. Cooper Jr., 43, along with Jeffrey D. Martin, 38, and Anthony G. Granito, 49, were indicted on dozens of counts of cheating at gambling and theft, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney J. P. Raman.

Cooper, who cooperated with authorities and testified before a grand jury, was given $1,000 bail, while District Judge Jennifer Togliatti ordered a no-bail warrant for the others pending arraignment hearing next week.

Between July 2012 and July 2014, when the timing was right, Branco and Cooper conspired with Granito and Martin to pay off bets that never transpired, the prosecutor said.

Because the craps table is often crowded with base dealers, a boxman, a stickman, a floor person and other players, there had to be a "very select set of circumstances that had to line up for them to pull off," Raman said.