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Last updated on Thursday, January 19, 2012
(MARTINSVILLE) - A man accused of being a gambling bookie is behind bars and local gamblers’ names could be on a list now in the hands of police. (WISH)
Russell Hill, considered by police to be one of the state's big sports bookies, was arrested. Undercover investigators said he was making bank on the playoffs and was headed for even bigger money for the Super Bowl.
Col. Larry Rollins of the Indiana Gaming Commission says Hill is one of the "traditional ones we have grown up with in the movies, where you call a number and place a bet, or you go in and place a bet."
As he left in his white Cadillac Tuesday morning, police arrested Hill just blocks from the home he shares with his wife and 10-year-old child. At the same time as his arrest, Indiana State Police SWAT officers moved in on his home.
Rollins says police used caution, because of the rural location of the home and because of a sign posted outside the home that read: "There is nothing here worth your life."
Rollins added Hill has a reputation of being dangerous.
Rollins says Hill is involved in a great number of gambling locations, not just in Morgan County.
Police carried boxes and boxes of evidence from the home. According to Rollins, those boxes held records of Hill's activities and other information.
Rollins says the information could led to more arrests. He says police will talk to every name they find. He added police will talk to individuals whose names they find. He says illegal bets come from a wide variety of people from professionals to retirees. He added many will become nervous after Hill's arrest.
It was a Crime Stoppers tip that led police to 63-year-old Hill, who has a lengthy criminal history including convictions for bank robbery, criminal confinement, cocaine and battery.
He was being held without bond in the Morgan County Jail.
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