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History like in the movies/ Cosa Nostra, NBA stars and poker: Details from the FBI investigation that has shocked America

2025-10-24 20:11:28Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

 

History like in the movies/ Cosa Nostra, NBA stars and poker: Details from the
Details from the FBI investigation that has shocked America

 

Celebrities, professional athletes, and wealthy poker players would sit at a table hoping to win big money at a game of Texas Hold 'Em. But they didn't know that it was almost impossible.

They were simply "fish," victims targeted by the mafia in a sophisticated poker scheme that involved X-ray tables, hidden cameras, analyzers hidden in chip holders, and glasses and contact lenses that could read their cards.

In a story that sounds like something out of the movie Ocean's Eleven, prosecutors say these "unwitting" victims were duped and lost at least $7 million in poker games.

The scheme, which US prosecutors described as "resembling a Hollywood movie", was dismantled after an investigation that led to more than 30 arrests, including members of the La Cosa Nostra mafia families, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones.

Operation against illegal gambling

The BBC writes that Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups were named by federal prosecutors in two separate indictments on Thursday.

Prosecutors said the case involved four of New York's five major crime families and revealed a scheme to lure victims into playing rigged poker with famous sports figures, in order to steal millions of dollars.

According to authorities, the organizers used sophisticated technology, including contact lenses and special glasses that could read the marked cards, as well as an X-ray table that revealed the cards of opponents. In a statement, the NBA announced that Rozier and Billups have been suspended immediately while the league reviews the federal indictments.

"We take this matter with the utmost seriousness, the integrity of our game remains our top priority," the statement said, quoted by the BBC.

Rozier's lawyer denied the allegations to CBS News, saying: "Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of confrontation and he is ready to win this battle."

He appeared in federal court in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday and was released on bail after posting his Florida home, worth $6 million, as collateral.

Billups was arrested in Portland, Oregon, and appeared in court Thursday. He is expected to post a substantial amount of bail.

FBI Director Kash Patel held a press conference in Brooklyn, New York, announcing the two indictments. He called the arrests “extraordinary” and said there had been a “coordinated operation across 11 states.”

“We are talking about tens of millions of dollars of fraud, theft and robbery over a multi-year investigation,” he said.

The federal attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr., said the defendants are innocent until proven guilty, but warned: "Your winning streak is over. Your luck is up."

NBA games under investigation

Prosecutors said the first case involved players and associates who had used non-public information to manipulate bets on major gambling platforms.

History like in the movies/ Cosa Nostra, NBA stars and poker: Details from the

Nocella called this “one of the most egregious sports corruption schemes since the widespread legalization of online betting.”

Seven NBA games between February 2023 and March 2024 have been identified as part of the case.

Rozier was reportedly involved in a game between the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans when he played for the Hornets.

According to the indictment, Rozier told a friend that he would be leaving the game early due to an injury, and then his friend and associates placed or instructed others to place over $200,000 in bets that Rozier would underperform.

He left the game after nine minutes, bringing in tens of thousands of dollars in winnings for bettors, prosecutors said.

According to the NBA's official report, Rozier played about nine minutes and scored just five points, reporting soreness in his right foot. Before this game, he was averaging 35 minutes and scoring about 21 points per game.

"While the NBA season has just begun, his career is already on the bench, not because of an injury, but because of integrity," said New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

Rozier's attorney, James Trusty, said in a statement that prosecutors are "relying on spectacularly unreliable sources rather than using real evidence of wrongdoing."

“Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors are reviving a case that doesn’t exist,” he added.

Former NBA player Damon Jones was also arrested as part of the investigation. He is suspected of being involved in two of the identified games, one between the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks in February 2023, and another in January 2024 between the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

From 1992 to 2018, sports betting was banned in most of the US, until the Supreme Court left regulation to individual states.

Since then, sports betting has exploded to gigantic proportions, with sports leagues and media companies making deals with betting firms to become part of the multibillion-dollar industry.

Rigged poker and the mafia

The second indictment, also announced Thursday, includes 31 defendants accused of participating in a scheme to rig illegal poker games and steal millions of dollars. The case involved 13 members and associates of the Bonanno, Genovese and Gambino crime families in New York.

Nocella said the victims were lured to play with former professional athletes, including Billups and Jones, in Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan and the Hamptons.

History like in the movies/ Cosa Nostra, NBA stars and poker: Details from the
Chauncey Billups

Victims lost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game, while the accused used modified mixing machines, special glasses and lenses to read cards, and X-ray tables to see opponents' cards.

“What the victims didn’t know was that everyone at the table, from the dealer to the players, was part of the scam,” Nocella said.

Tisch added that, when people refused to pay, organized crime families used threats and intimidation to get the money.

The charges include robbery, extortion, financial fraud, bank fraud and illegal gambling. The conspiracy allegedly defrauded the victims of $7 million, with one of them losing a whopping $1.8 million.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Christopher Raia, assistant director of the FBI for New York, adding that the FBI “is working day and night to ensure that members of the mafia families do not continue to sow terror in our communities.”

How did the scheme work?

Tempted by the idea of ​​playing with a celebrity, like Billups or Jones, the "unknowing" victim was invited to illegal underground poker games, where tens of thousands of dollars were at stake, according to prosecutors.

According to the federal indictment, the players who lured the victims, called “fish,” were surrounded by people who were all part of the scam: the players, the dealers, even the technology that shuffled the cards and counted the chips. The people who controlled the game gave secret signals to their associates, stealing money and making it impossible for the victims to win. Authorities estimate that each game cost a victim tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Prosecutors say the defendants laundered the money from the scheme through cryptocurrencies, cash exchanges and shell companies. Some of the profits went to associates, while another part financed the activities of the Italian mafia.

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