Indictment: Russian gang, gambling, bribery and chocolate trafficking

A group accused of having ties to a New York-based Russian gang has been indicted for what the U.S. Department of Justice is calling “a dizzying array of criminal schemes,” including trafficking 5 tons of stolen chocolate.

Thirty-three suspected mobsters and associates of the Shulaya Enterprise were charged with racketeering, extortion, robbery, murder-for-hire, conspiracy, fraud and narcotics- and firearms-related offenses, the Justice Department said Wednesday, announcing the unsealing in Manhattan federal court of three indictments and one complaint outlining the accusations.

The court documents, according to a news release, allege members of the group ran illicit poker businesses, used a woman to seduce and drug men with chloroform so they could be robbed, plotted to pay bribes to law enforcement, extorted gamblers and electronically hacked casino slot machines at Atlantic City and Philadelphia casinos.

The criminal enterprise also stole cargo shipments carrying around 10,000 pounds of chocolate confections and trafficked and sold cases of untaxed cigarettes, the release said.

While the Shulaya Enterprise operates throughout the U.S., many of its members were born in the former Soviet Union and have strong ties to the country of Georgia, the Ukraine and the Russian Federation, according to the release.

Most of the defendants were nabbed in the New York City area. A few were being held in Nevada and Florida. Five people are still at large, the Justice Department said.

This story was originally published June 8, 2017 at 1:31 PM with the headline "Indictment: Russian gang, gambling, bribery and chocolate trafficking."