As a hard core player of Zynga Games‘ Mafia Wars on Facebook, I often imagine that making money in the real world is as easy making money in Mafia Wars. I’m nearing my first billion dollars in the New York area and I always wish that money can just pile up like that with the minimum of effort.

Well, it looks like Zynga is living the reality of our collective fantasy. The prolific game developer for Facebook (who is responsible for many game properties in the popular social networking site) is reportedly now worth $1 billion if the sale price of a small competitor is going to be the basis.

Electronic Arts recently bought Playfish for about three to four times what the company is making and since Zynga’s revenue is so much bigger than Playfish, the computation is that Zynga could be valued at $1 billion. That’s a lot of money to buy Casinos and Beach Front Properties although it’s still chump change compared to what you earn in Mafia Wars.

Zynga’s value could easily make it the third largest videogame publisher in the United States. Expect the clamor for Zynga to go public to increase in the next few months. If I can withdraw my Mafia Wars money, I’d bet it all on Zynga.

US authorities recently filed 20 people with securities fraud in what is probably the largest inside trading case since the 1980s.

This news may be considered par for the course for greedy stockmarket brokers but what has made this case more titillating is inclusion of a 44-year-old former teenage beauty queen who used more than her business acumen to get a leg up on other traders.

Danielle Chesi, an analyst for New Castle Funds LLC, reportedly used her feminine charms to get insider information on various technology companies. Her tactics were so effective that she amassed an impressive list of contacts that included the former Chairman of AMD and other top executives in IBM and Akamai Technologies.

What’s surprising here is how such well-established and successful businessmen fell for the oldest trick in the book. I guess deep down inside these powerful men are still nerds who are hungry for the attention of the prom queen.