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A man with ties to the Montreal Mafia is to be sentenced this month in California for his role in a fraudulent telemarketing ring that bilked elderly people of their savings through false promises of lottery winnings.

Alberino (Rino) Magi, 50, entered a plea agreement last month is expected to learn early next week how long of a prison sentence a U.S. prosecutor will request.

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Magi agreed to plead guilty to one conspiracy charge in a case that began in 2006 when the RCMP broke up a telemarketing ring based in Montreal and arrested 39 people.

At the time, the RCMP alleged the ring made between $8 million and $13 million over a three-year period.

Police said the telemarketers called 500 people a week, urging elderly and vulnerable people to send significant sums of money to collect their lottery winnings. In some cases, victims sent tens of thousands of dollars through wire transfers.

According to court documents, police had firm evidence that 165 victims in Canada and the U.S. lost more than $2 million in the scheme.