And today, gambling is run or supervised by the government, with a legal casino just up the road in Austintown and legal daily lottery numbers shown on television. The gambling allegations – failing to pay income taxes on gambling earnings from 2011 to 2015 while running a McKinley Heights bar, for example – seem quite tame among the shocking allegations in the indictment of bribery and theft as mayor.Īfter all, until about 2000, gambling in Niles was not viewed in a negative light by most people.
Perhaps it’s not surprising then that an indictment unsealed recently accusing the former Niles mayor of 56 criminal charges stated that Infante, now 61, was himself involved in gambling as early as 1987, when he was 32 - five years before he became mayor.Īs early as 1987 and continuing into February of this year, Infante collected thousands of dollars on sports betting for profit, the indictment says. Area steel mills provided workers with enough money to stop in Niles on their way home to entertain themselves with a wager. In the 1960s, Niles ranked among the best high school sports programs in the state, drawing interest in betting. By Ed Niles of Ralph Infante’s youth and many years after was a place where illegal gambling was easy to find.
