NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
Federal Bureau of Investigation (The 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 wide-ranging investigation into an illegal gambling scheme.
FBI director Kash Patel confirmed at a press conference in New York on Thursday that the investigation is related to an investigation involving members of the La Cosa Nostra crime families, focusing on illegal gambling and sports-rigging operations that have been “spanning many years.”
“We not only uncovered the fraud that these criminals committed on the NBA's big stage, but we also introduced and carried out a system of justice against Cosa Nostra, including the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS RESOURCES ON FOXNEWS.COM
“It takes brave prosecutors to stand in front of you and say: We will not tolerate this type of illegal activity, not only at the national sporting level, but where it hides in Cosa Nostra,” Patel added. “And when these two faced each other, they committed a historic fraud, not only in terms of money, but also in terms of the scheme and deception that they use to steal and defraud people out of money, including cryptocurrency scams.”
NBA coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested Thursday on suspicion of involvement in illegal gambling. Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested in connection with rigging illegal poker games linked to the Mafia, FBI Director Cash Patel said. Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones were arrested in connection with the sports betting case, Patel said at a news conference in New York. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella said two indictments were announced Thursday, both related to fraud. The first focused on sports betting, while the second focused on illegal gambling involving “rigged poker games.”
“These defendants, who included former professional athletes, used high-tech fraud techniques to steal millions of dollars from victims in underground poker games that were secretly recorded,” Nocella said. “Gaming in the New York area was supported by the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families of Cosa Nostra.”
The games were said to have taken place in the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Miami and Manhattan. Nocella alleged that Billups and Jones were used as “face cards” to attract targeted victims known as “fish” who wanted to play alongside the former professional athletes.
NBA PLAYER TERRY ROSIER'S LAWYER CRYS THE FBI AFTER ARREST
“What the victims, the fish, didn’t know was that everyone else in the poker game, from the dealer to the players, including the face cards, was involved in the cheating.”
Nocella said the crime families became involved in the case as a result of “pre-existing control over illegal illegal poker games” in New York. Of the 34 defendants, 13 are alleged members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families, including high-ranking “capos and soldiers from these families.”
La Cosa Nostra
According to the FBI, La Cosa Nostra The Crime Families (LCN) originated 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, as well as the New England region.
Among the alleged crimes in which these organizations are reported to be involved, several notable cases involve major sports scandals. In the United States, there is a long history of sports betting and match-fixing crimes that are directly or indirectly linked to organized crime.
Boxing 1950-1960s
American gangster and boxing manager Frank Carbo leaves the Beach Street police station in New York City after receiving a 10-count indictment for irregularities in his professional boxing dealings, August 7, 1959. (Neil Boenzi/New York Times Co./Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Frank “Frankie” Carbo, a famous Lucchese soldier, and his longtime partner Frank “Blinky” Palermo were convicted in 1961 of extortion and conspiracy after using threats and intimidation to control world welterweight champion Don Jordan. This case highlighted the Mafia's control over the sport at the time, as evidenced by Carbo and Palermo's influence over fighters and promotions. The convictions were later upheld, and the case exposed deep corruption that, decades later, helped spur reform movements that culminated with the Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996 and the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000.
TERRY ROSIER (TERRY ROSIER) ARRESTED IN FBI DISTRIBUTION OF SPORTS BETTINGS
1951 College Basketball Point-Shaving Scandal
Two City College basketball stars, Al Roth (foreground) and Ed Warner (wearing hat), are escorted by detectives to the Elizabeth Street Station building for booking on bribery charges. Two Beavers stars, along with teammate Ed Roman and three other men, have admitted to their involvement in a new basketball scandal involving the “blowout” of several city games this season, police said. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office in New York uncovered a widespread points cheating scheme involving players from several major programs, including the City College of New York (CCNY) and Long Island University (LIU), who received bribes linked to organized crime gambling syndicates in New York City. The investigation resulted in more than 30 indictments, prison sentences for key figures, and lifelong bans from the NBA for the players involved. No specific crime family was formally charged in the case, but one of the main defendants, Salvatore T. Sollazzo, was reported to have known ties to a New York City gambling ring.
Boston College Men's Basketball Losing 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 most striking examples of the influence of Cosa Nostra in sports was the scandal of 1978–1979 associated with Boston College and two Lucchese crime family associates. Two associates, Henry Hill and James “Jimmy the Gentleman” Burke, with the help of Pittsburgh bookmaker Paul Mazzei, paid gamblers thousands of dollars to manipulate betting accounts to profit from bets during that season. The FBI investigation and federal indictment led to multiple convictions, including Boston College player Rick Kuhn, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Burke was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but Hill avoided direct prosecution for the scandal in exchange for cooperation with authorities.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Several other illegal sports betting and gambling operations linked to New York crime families have been prosecuted over the years. This year, five members and associates of the Lucchese crime family pleaded guilty to running an illegal online betting operation that raked in about $1 million annually over several years of operation. In 2024, 17 people associated with the Gambino family were indicted in a sports gambling operation that processed more than $22 million in illegal bets, the New York State Attorney General's Office said at the time.
Follow Fox News Digital sports reporting on Xand subscribe to Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
