New Orleans Federal prosecutors say a figure in a 1990s scandal involving organized crime's infiltration into video poker has allegedly violated his probation by underreporting his income to avoid paying restitution to victims of previous crimes.

U-S Attorney Jim Letten filed a four-count bill of information charging Felix "Pete" Riggio the Third with knowingly making false statements to the F-B-I. If convicted, Riggio faces a five year prison term and a 250-thousand dollar fine.

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In the mid 1990s, Riggio was convicted in unrelated arson-conspiracy and racketeering-conspiracy cases and sentenced to eleven-and-a-half years in prison. He also was ordered to pay 100-thousand dollars in restitution to Bally Gaming in the racketeering case and 12-thousand dollars to an insurance company in the arson case.

He was released in January of 2004 with "good time" credit and placed on probation.

As part of his probation, Riggio was required to file reports concerning his income with probation officers, who could then determine how much of that income should be diverted toward still-owed restitution payments.

Letten says Riggio underreported his new income "in a blatant effort to evade his restitution obligation" to Bally and the insurance company that were deemed victims of his crimes a decade ago.

Riggio was one of 25 men convicted in the gambling case involving Worldwide Gaming of Louisiana and subsidiary Louisiana Route Operators. Federal prosecutors said the companies were organized crime "fronts" that allowed the mob to infiltrate Louisiana's legal video poker industry.

Source: 10 KLFY