The signal for Diana’s Beauty Salon in Pomona, California, didn’t fairly reveal the fact of what was occurring inside. While the signal promoted hair extensions and different providers, police allege that the property actually housed an underground on line casino.
Police raided the property in addition to one different location within the metropolis final week, arresting a number of individuals within the course of in partnership with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigations.
Some locals suspected something illegal was occurring on the former hair salon.
“It was always those people that you could tell they don’t have good intentions and always sneaky text and they would do it in front of the door and the same person would open all the time,” Yathana Martinez, who works within the space, informed KNBC. “It was very suspicious.”
Arrests Made
News retailers reported that the sweetness salon really closed months in the past, and that the underground on line casino operators might have left the join as a disguise for what was actually occurring.
“You would never expect it. It used to be an actual hair extension place,” Martinez stated. “Now when you see they still have that as a cover-up with suspicious activity it’s very worrying.”
Police had been seen getting into the property with ladders and instruments through the raid, in accordance with onlookers. One witness informed KNBC that one suspect tried to crawl by means of the ceiling in an try to flee.
Law enforcement throughout the nation have been coping with the expansion of underground playing operations over the previous couple of years. In January, officers in San Jose, California, raided an underground on line casino that additionally included a brothel. Five suspects had been arrested and police additionally seized 33 firearms, 150,000 rounds of ammunition, 500 kilos of marijuana, and $20,000 in money.
Law enforcement teams report that lots of the operations are sometimes run by organized crime. Some in Los Angeles are stated to be run by members of the Mexican mafia.
“It’s hidden in plain sight,” Los Angeles County sheriff’s detective Richard Velasquez just lately informed the Los Angeles Times. “You don’t know that it’s there until you know that it’s there.”
Pomona is positioned about 30 miles west of card rooms such because the Parkwest Bicycle Casino and Commerce Casino.