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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the arrest of 34 people, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former NBA guard and coach Damon Jones, as part of a widespread investigation into an illegal game plan.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed at a news conference in New York on Thursday that the investigation was linked to an investigation involving members of the La Cosa Nostra crime families centered on an illegal gambling operation and sports manipulation operations that “spanned the course of years.”
“Not only did we uncover the fraud these perpetrators committed on the big stage of the NBA, but we also entered and executed a system of justice against La Cosa Nostra that includes the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families.”
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“It takes brave prosecutors to stand before you and say: we will not allow this type of illicit activity to occur, not only at the national sports level, but also where it hides in La Cosa Nostra,” Patel added. “And when these two collided, they perpetrated a fraud that is historic not only in terms of money, but also the scheme and deception they use to steal and scam people out of money to include crypto fraud.”
NBA coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested Thursday for their alleged involvement in illegal gambling. Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested in connection with rigged illegal poker games linked to the mob, FBI Director Kash Patel said. Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones were arrested in a sports betting case, Patel said at a news conference in New York. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella, clarified that two indictments were announced on Thursday, both related to fraud. The first focused on sports betting and the second focused on illegal gambling involving “rigged poker games.”
“These defendants, who include former professional athletes, used high-tech cheating technology to steal millions of dollars from victims in clandestine poker games that were secretly arranged,” Nocella said. “Gaming in the New York area was supported by the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families of La Cosa Nostra.”
The games are alleged to have taken place in the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Miami and Manhattan. Nocella alleged that Billups and Jones were used as “face cards” to lure specific victims, known as “fish,” who sought to play alongside former professional athletes.
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“What the victims, the fish, didn’t know is that everyone else in the poker game, from the dealer to the players, including the face cards, was involved in the scam.”
Nocella said the crime families became involved as a result of having “pre-existing control over illegal and unrigged poker games” in New York. Of the 34 defendants, 13 are alleged members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families, including “capos and high-ranking soldiers of these families.”
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According to the FBI, the La Cosa Nostra (LCN) crime families evolved from the Sicilian mafia and are a New York-based network consisting of five “families”: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese. Its prevalence in the United States dates back to the 1920s.
Other cities with active ties to LCN include Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago, and the New England area.
Among the alleged crimes these organizations are said to be involved in, several notable cases involve major sports scandals. In the United States, there is a long history of crimes related to sports betting and match fixing that have been linked to organized crime, both directly and indirectly.
Boxing 1950s and 1960s
American gangster and boxing manager Frank Carbo leaves the Beach Street police station in New York after receiving a 10-point charge for irregularities in his professional boxing affairs on August 7, 1959. (Neal Boenzi/New York Times Co./Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Frank “Frankie” Carbo, a well-known Lucchese soldier, and his former partner Frank “Blinky” Palermo, were convicted in 1961 of extortion and conspiracy after using threats and intimidation to control world welterweight champion Don Jordan. The case exposed the mafia’s control over the sport at the time, highlighted by Carbó and Palermo’s influence over fighters and promotions. The convictions were later upheld and the case exposed deep corruption that, decades later, helped fuel reform movements that culminated in the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 and the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000.
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1951 college basketball point docking scandal
Two city college basketball stars, Al Roth (foreground) and Ed Warner (wearing hat), are escorted by detectives to the Elizabeth Street Station House to be booked on bribery charges. Police said the two Beaver stars, along with teammate Ed Roman and three other men, had confessed to their involvement in a new basketball fixing scandal, which involved the “voiding” of several city games this season. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York uncovered a widespread point-shaving scheme involving players from several major programs, including the City College of New York (CCNY) and Long Island University (LIU), who accepted bribes related to organized crime gambling syndicates in New York. The investigation resulted in more than 30 indictments and led to prison terms for key figures and lifetime bans from the NBA for the players involved. No specific crime family was ever formally charged in the case, but one of the main fixers, Salvatore T. Sollazzo, was reported to have known ties to the New York underworld gambling ring.
Boston College men’s basketball point deduction scandal
Rick Kuhn (#35) during the 1978-1979 Boston College men’s basketball season. (Joe Dennehy/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
One of the clearest examples of La Cosa Nostra’s reach in sports was the 1978-79 scandal involving Boston College and two associates of the Lucchese crime family. The two associates, Henry Hill and James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke, paid gamblers thousands of dollars to manipulate game scores and make betting profits during that season with the help of Pittsburgh bookmaker Paul Mazzei. The FBI investigation and federal prosecution led to multiple convictions, including that of Boston College player Rick Kuhn, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Burke was sentenced to 12 years, but Hill avoided direct prosecution for the scandal in exchange for his cooperation with authorities.
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Over the years, several other illegal sports betting and gambling operations linked to crime families have been prosecuted in New York. This year, five members and associates of the Lucchese crime family pleaded guilty to running an illegal online gambling operation that grossed approximately $1 million annually over several years of operation. In 2024, 17 people linked to the Gambino family were charged in a sports betting operation that handled more than $22 million in illegal bets, the New York State Attorney General’s Office announced at the time.
