"Wiseguys Tickets charged with hacking into Ticketmaster, LiveNation to illegally grab best seats"

“It’s disgraceful that this situation went on for as long as it did, depriving fans of seeing performers whom they support,” said Camille DeSantis, a New Yorker still steaming she was shut out of an online sale of Ringo Starr tickets at Radio City Music Hall.

“Four Nevada men who called themselves the Wiseguys were busted Monday for hacking into online ticket sellers like Ticketmaster and illegally grabbing up prime seats for concerts, ball games and Broadway shows.

The massive conspiracy – which allegedly netted the men $25 million between 2002 and 2009 – blocked ordinary fans from buying tickets, forcing them to turn to scalpers and price-gouging ticket brokers, officials said.

“The public thought it had a fair shot at getting tickets to these events, but what the public didn’t know was that the defendants had cheated them out of that opportunity,” said U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, unsealing a 43-count indictment in New Jersey.

Wiseguys Tickets was charged with using a computer program to virtually muscle to the head of the line when an online sale began.” [Daily News]