NEW CITY – The US Justice Department has presented Rockland County law enforcement agencies with a check for $13.5 million as their part of the distribution of forfeited funds as a result of an illegal criminal enterprise.

These monies stemmed from the investigation in 2004 of a Rockland-based international illegal gambling operation and the arrests of John Veltri of Stony Point and Patrick Robertelli of New Jersey.

The investigation of the operation spread throughout the US and Costa Rica.

As of February 2008, federal officials seized more than $180 million as a result of the ongoing investigation initiated in Rockland.