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Bookie, bettor to testify against state trooper

A reputed bookie and one of his bettors are expected to take the stand in a federal courtroom this week to describe how a State Police trooper allegedly threatened them with violence in an attempt to extort thousands of dollars, according to court records filed in federal court in Boston.

The bettor and the bookie, who owed him money, will be key witnesses in the case against John M. Analetto, the state trooper who has been held since his arrest in December 2011 on two counts of extortion, according to a trial brief filed last week in court that outlines the government’s strategy in the case. Jury selection begins Monday in the trial.

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Analetto had loaned the bookie $24,000, according to court records, and was supposed to get a cut of profits from a gambling ring he worked with in exchange for recommending gamblers.

When he didn’t get the money back, Analetto allegedly threatened the bookie and the gambler who owed the bookie money.

“I’ll [expletive] kill you,” Analetto told the bookie, according to the court records.

Analetto then allegedly said he would help the bookie collect a debt from the gambler, according to the records. He said he would break into the gambler’s house, beat the man, and sexually assault his mother “with a broomstick,” according to the records.

Analetto was videotaped by the bookie making some of the threats, according to the records.

“The evidence at trial will prove that the defendant knowingly used extortionate means to collect the extensions of credit,” prosecutors said in the court records. “The government also seeks to establish that defendant was aware that those words or actions could create fear in the victims.”

The court records added, “The evidence also establishes that [the] defendant used his position as a Massachusetts State trooper to further extend his extortion and violent behavior.”

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Analetto’s attorney, Daniel O’Malley, would not comment on the case because the trial is pending. He has argued in court records, however, that his client has an alcohol problem and that any threats caught on videotape were merely banter by an intoxicated man who was baited into an argument by the bookie.

“The videotape reflects the bookie baiting John Analetto into a drunken tirade,” the defense lawyers said in court records. “John Analetto’s words were not the product of a rational mind. They were the words of a drunk engaging in locker room talk.”

The court records also argue that the alleged baiting of Analetto by the bookie shows that he was not fearful of the trooper, the basis for the extortion charge.

Analetto, 49, of Belmont, who has been a State Police trooper for more than 20 years, has been suspended without pay since his arrest at a Belmont gas station on New Year’s Eve in 2011, the day after he allegedly threatened to kill the bookie.

State Police seized Analetto’s badge, two department-issued guns, and a cruiser when they arrested him.

State Police would not comment because of the pending trial, but officials have maintained that they assisted the FBI in the investigation of Analetto once they learned of his alleged wrongdoing.

Analetto has had prior brushes with the law.

He was arrested on a charge of assault and battery in 1998, though that charge was dismissed. He is also accused of making an inappropriate comment to a female motorist; an internal affairs review of that charge is pending.

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In 1997, he and another trooper were accused in federal court by convicted bookie Frank Iacaboni of using excessive force during a traffic stop in 1996; that lawsuit was dismissed.


Milton J. Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @miltonvalencia.