WWW- The former hockey star accused of financing a multimillion-dollar gambling ring had first come under federal scrutiny during a separate probe, the Daily News has learned.
Rick Tocchet, [pictured] the ex-Philadelphia Flyers winger who is now an assistant coach for the Phoenix Coyotes, is the only NHL figure to have been arrested so far in the current investigation, dubbed Operation Slap Shot.
But Tocchet's name surfaced more than a year ago in a federal investigation into a gambling ring headed by 81-year-old Genovese crime family member Lawrence (Little Larry) Dentico, a source told The News.
It was unclear what role, if any, Tocchet may have played in that ring, which generated $5million and took in thousands of bets a week at a Jersey City bar before being broken up in August.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Newark declined to comment.
Tocchet reportedly had a relationship with notorious Philadelphia crime boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino, according to the testimony of a mob informant.
And prosecutors now accuse him of providing the money to secure the lucrative bookmaking operation, which took in $1.7 million in wagers in the five weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.
At least $100,000 of that money, sources said, was wagered by Janet Jones, the wife of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, who now co-owns and coaches the Coyotes.
Gretzky was allegedly heard on a federal wiretap talking to Tocchet about how he could protect his wife from being implicated if the ring were busted.
An exhausted Gretzky defended himself after the Coyotes' loss Thursday night as he prepared to jet off tomorrow for the Olympics, where he'll serve as the executive director of Team Canada. "If I had made one bet, I would have quit Team Canada," Gretzky said.
So far, authorities say there's no evidence that Gretzky placed bets himself.
"I hope you appreciate that these three days have been horrible," Gretzky said. "I'm just too tired mentally and physically to talk about it."
A dozen NHL players also have been implicated, and the former federal prosecutor overseeing the league's probe vowed a thorough probe - even if it means uncovering damaging information that some of the league's stars wagered on their sport.
"We won't know where we're going until we get there," said Robert Cleary, 50, the Brooklyn-born son of an NYPD cop tabbed Wednesday by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to head the league's investigation.
"Commissioner Bettman is taking this very, very seriously. He's plugged into what we're doing on a daily, even hourly basis."
A former U.S. attorney in New Jersey, the Fordham Law School grad headed the team that prosecuted Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. His father, James, rose through the ranks in the NYPD, retiring as an inspector working out of police headquarters in the late 1970s.
Cleary has begun interviews already to determine, among other things, whether organized crime may have tried to influence the outcome of NHL games. Evidence of criminal behavior will be turned over to state prosecutors.
