Behind closed doors: How neighbors were oblivious to secret poker games and the Mafia who investigators say helped run them

A person walks by a Kip's Bay apartment where investigators say an illegal poker operation unfolded. Alaa Elassar/CNN

Behind the glass doors of an unassuming building in Manhattan, staring across a shuttered print shop, a shadowy world stirred, coming alive with the flick of cards, the muted clink of glasses and the quiet hum of a dangerous secret.

Inside one of the three units of the lavish Kip’s Bay apartment, linked to the Bonanno family, one of New York’s notorious five Italian American Mafia clans, an illegal poker operation unfolded, according to the US Attorney’s office.

The elaborate scheme, masterminded by members of four Mafia families in collusion with celebrity athletes, ensnared unsuspecting victims, bleeding them of over $7 million through cunning deception, prosecutor