This past Thursday, federal agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested over 30 people in two massive gambling scandals. Current and former NBA players and coaches, along with members of New York City’s mafia families, are now being investigated on two different scandals: insider betting on NBA games and rigged underground poker operations backed by organized-crime networks.
Sports Scandal
Sports-betting scandals have been an issue in the NBA for years now. From the permanent ban of Jontay Porter nearly two years ago to the recent scandal of Terry Roizer, this is nothing new.
The NBA has been receiving a lot of criticism for the past couple of years about its star players not playing because of injury. This recent scandal only glorifies the issue.
According to BBC, Terry Rozier is the main culprit of these allegations, and he is alleged to have been faking injuries to help support the illegal sports gambling. If there was a betting line on Terry Roziers, he would tell his associates to bet on his under and leave the game in the first half because of an alleged injury, making the odds in the favor of Rozier and his associates every time.
According to ESPN, this is not the first time Rozier is getting investigated for sports gambling. In a game in 2023, there was an unusual amount of bets on Terry Rozier. The NBA looked into the case but did not find any violations of league policy.
Friends of Rozier and Damon Jones (a former NBA player and assistant coach also implicated in the scandal) — Eric Earnest, Marves Fairley, Shane Hennen, and Deniro Laster — were also charged with giving insider information to other people about these fraudulent bets. According to the New York Times, they also told people to make bets they knew wouldn’t hit.
An important clarification is that Chauncey Billups, an NBA hall-of-famer and the coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, is part of a different case than Rozier, despite being a part of the NBA as well.
Poker Scandal
Along with the sports-betting scandal, the poker side of the scandal could be even more complex. Newsweek reported victims in rigged poker games lost at least $7 million, including one single victim who reportedly lost $1.8 million alone.
According to the FBI, several NBA players, along with members of New York’s mafia families, hosted secret high-stakes poker nights in places like Manhattan, Las Vegas, and Miami. Wealthy guests were invited to play, thinking it was just an exclusive game among prominent athletes and celebrities.
Guests were unaware that the games were fixed. Members of the mafia — who were running these games — used cheating devices and tricks to make sure certain players always won.
BBC reported that tactics used in the alleged fraud case included altered contact lenses that read pre-marked cards and x-ray poker tables used to read face-down cards.
The defendants in the case were all charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Officials also say the suspects in this case committed acts of violence like a gun-point robbery.
According to the FBI, the money laundering actually made the fraud look like legal income rather than gambling money. By taking the gambling profits and hiding where it came from by running it through fake businesses and offshore accounts, the winnings were disguised as regular income.
Members of the Bonanno, Genovese, Lucchese, and Gambino families were involved in the poker scandal. According to the New York Post, notable members include Lucchese mobster Thomas “Tommy Juice” Gelardo, Angelo Ruggiero Jr., Nicholas “Fat Nick” Manucci, and Matthew “The Wrestler” Daddino, a “rising star” in the Genovese crime family.
NBA Hall of Famer and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was also one of the more prominent names indicted in the poker scheme; he has been placed on leave. Billups was not involved in the sports-betting scandal, according to The Athletic.
Mafia’s History in Sports Gambling
While authorities have not alleged any crime families to be involved in the sports-betting scandal, it’s important to know why there is confusion. The mafia’s involvement in sports gambling schemes is not a novel idea.
For decades, organized crime in the United States — particularly with the “Five Families” of New York — has played a role in bookmaking and sports manipulation across multiple leagues, according to ESPN.
For instance, a scandal involving the 1978-79 Boston College basketball team showed point-shaving and game-rigging as ways for organized crime to penetrate sports. In the case of Boston College, players ensured that games would either cover or not cover the point spread, allowing gamblers to know which wager to place, according to ESPN. Lucchese crime family member Henry Hill, notorious for one of the largest cash thefts in U.S. history, was a leading member of this scandal.
So, while the crime families have no noted role in the current NBA sports-betting scandal, only in the poker scandal involving NBA figures, the confusion is understandable.
Conclusion
Investigations are still ongoing in the scandals. More prominent athletes and celebrities are being looped in, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is expected to brief Congress by the end of this week, according to CNN.
Silver is expected to talk to Congress about the scandal and federal regulation of sports betting.
“’I wish there were federal regulation rather than state-by-state,’” Silver told ESPN’s Pat McAfee. “‘I think you have got to monitor the amount of promotion, the amount of advertising around it.’”
