BOSTON – Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last week that Assistant Attorney General Patrick Hanley has been appointed chief of the new Mass. Gaming Enforcement Division.

Coakley described Hanley as having a “strong investigative and prosecutorial record.” Most recently, he served as senior counsel in the attorney general’s Enterprise and Major Crimes Division.

Coakley said that Hanley was instrumental in the investigation and prosecution of numerous individuals connected to a widespread drug-distribution operation in Boston. Hanley was also part of the prosecution team that indicted 31 individuals, including alleged mob captain Mark Rossetti, who were connected to a highly organized and violent criminal enterprise that operated throughout eastern Massachusetts.

The Gaming Enforcement Division was created to handle the statutory duties assigned to the Office of the Attorney General under the expanded gaming legislation signed into law by Gov. Deval L. Patrick in November 2011. •