Meanwhile, his co-conspirators were all released on probation and are working to pay back the money through monthly installments to this day.“All I can tell you is I made the biggest mistake of my life,” Jacobson told the judge at his sentencing.The story would perhaps have remained a staple of cultural consciousness, had its trial not begun just a day before the September 11th attacks.As for who tipped off the FBI about the secret scam still remains a mystery. In the end, Jacobson was charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. He then transported the winning pieces.Jacobson’s scheme was set into high gear in 1995 when he mistakenly received a package from the company’s supplier in Hong Kong. It is believed that Langella secretly became a "made man" in the Colombo family during a time when the New York crime families were not accepting new members. Together they amassed millions. After the article published, actor-turned-producer Mark Wahlberg and his team created a true crime The limited series takes a look at the forgotten case through the perspective of the “winners” involved, the FBI agents who caught Jerry Jacobson, and archival footage from the agency’s sting operation. Running Press, 2004.

The company had no idea there had been a network of scammers working together to cheat the game for the last decade. On Aug. 3, 2001, a McDonald’s film crew arrived at the home of $1 million winner Michael Hoover. The shocking report detailed how a 12-year scheme resulted in the arrest of a former cop who had rigged the fast-food company’s popular game with the help of psychics, strip-club owners, mobsters, drug traffickers, and a family of Mormons. In March 2000, Special Agent Richard Dent of the FBI’s Jacksonville Field Office received an anonymous tip informing him about a decade-long scam revolving around the McDonald’s Monopoly contest. In 1994, Carmine Persico appointed Andrew Russo as acting boss. The informant told Agent Dent about “Uncle Jerry” and the large cuts he made off selling people the winning game pieces for the contest.

"The first time I met Jerry, we looked at each other... the chemistry between us was crazy," she recalled of her 1995 meeting with her soon-to-be husband in the HBO documentary "McMillion$," which details the McDonald's Monopoly scandal from the late 1990s.

As a security auditor for Simon Marketing, Jerome Jacobson was in charge of making sure the game pieces safely arrived at McDonald’s packaging factories across the country. Jacobson had a chance encounter with the mobster at Atlanta airport, where Colombo mentioned he was on his way to Atlantic City. Colombo, who called Jacobson “Uncle Jerry,” joined the scam as one of his fake winners then began helping Jacobson to recruit others. It is alleged that he was an associate of Colombo crime family captain Jimmy "Green Eyes" Clemenza during the late 1960s to mid 1970s. Langella is the father of reputed Colombo soldier Vincent Langella. Gennaro Contaldo, (Italian pronunciation: [dʒenˈnaːro konˈtaldo]; born 20 January 1949) is an Italian chef and restaurateur, known for his association with his British protégé, Jamie Oliver, and his partnership with fellow Italian chef Antonio Carluccio and their BBC Two television series Two Greedy Italians.Contaldo is the brand ambassador for the luxury Italian holiday specialist Citalia. One of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, USJoseph Colombo, the namesake of the family was the boss from 1963 to 1971.Changing Face of ORGANIZED CRIME IN NEW JERSEY - A Status Report(May 2004) State of New Jersey Commission of InvestigationWilson, Michael and Rashbaum, William K. December 18, 2008) Teresa, Vincent Charles and Renner, Thomas C. (1973) Gioino, Catherina and McShane, Larry (June 24, 2017). Colombo, who called Jacobson “Uncle Jerry,” joined the scam as one of his fake winners then began helping Jacobson to recruit others. Some of the co-conspirators were strip-club owners, convicts, psychics, drug traffickers, Mormons, and mobsters.The network only expanded when Andrew Glomb, one of Jacobson’s recruiters who was an ex-convict and had gotten rich smuggling cocaine, gave many of the winning game pieces to his old drug trafficking buddies.“It was just the excitement, to have the power,” Glomb said. He was the father of Colombo mobsters Joseph Scopo and Ralph Scopo Jr., and the grandfather of Joseph Scopo Jr. and Ralph Scopo III. The person added that the latest winner of the McDonald’s Monopoly grand prize, Michael Hoover, was a fake winner involved in the fraud.Agent Dent called McDonald’s Spokesperson and “fixer,” Amy Murray, to relay the shocking news. Meanwhile, the case is also being made into a major motion picture after Hollywood duo Ben Affleck and Matt Damon won the rights to the film in a lucrative multi-million deal. Uncle Jerry would soon fill him in on the million-dollar scheme he was running behind the scenes. Jerome “Uncle Jerry” Jacobson, the architect of the McMillions grand heist.Customers needed to collect winning game pieces to earn prizes, possibly winning up to $1 million.Gennaro “Jerry” Colombo, who claimed to be a part of Brooklyn’s Colombo crime family, falsely won a Dodge Viper in the Monopoly scam.

“I knew I was onto a great story when one of the convicted winners told me: ‘McDonald’s didn’t want anyone to know the mob was involved,'” reporter Jeff Maysh Born Jerome Paul Jacobson in 1943, in Youngstown, Ohio, Jacobson always wanted to be a police officer. The family traces its roots to a bootlegging gang formed by In 1991, the third and bloodiest war erupted when acting boss On October 10, 1928, D'Aquila was murdered, resulting in a fight for D'Aquila's territory.Months after the D'Aquila murder, Joe Masseria began a campaign to become Joseph Profaci had become a wealthy Mafia boss and was known as "the olive-oil and tomato paste king of America".On February 27, 1961 the Gallos kidnapped four of Profaci's top men: underboss Magliocco, Frank Profaci (Joe Profaci's brother), capo Salvatore Musacchia and soldier John Scimone.In late November 1961, Joe Gallo was sentenced to seven-to-fourteen years in prison for murder.The Commission rewarded Colombo for his loyalty by awarding him the Profaci family, which he renamed the Colombo family. Gloria Brown, Robin’s friend who Colombo recruited, was based out of Jacksonville, Florida. “I couldn’t even go to the bathroom without someone going with me,” a driver who transported the game pieces said.