Greater Long Island coverage is funded in part by Toresco & Simonelli, a boutique injury and family law firm in West Islip. They fight for their clients. Click here to get in touch.
In what authorities are calling one of the most sprawling gambling fraud cases in recent memory, federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed indictments charging 31 defendants — including Portland Trail Blazers head coach and NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones — in schemes to rig illegal poker games.
The seven-count indictment, unsealed at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, alleges that members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese organized crime families of La Cosa Nostra conspired with professional athletes, technology suppliers and game organizers to defraud victims of at least $7 million in rigged poker games at locations that included East Hampton, Manhattan, and throughout the United States.
Authorities said the scheme relied on sophisticated wireless technology to rig the games and NBA players to attract victims to play in the games.
“Members and associates of organized crime families fixed illegal poker games as part of a highly sophisticated and lucrative fraud scheme to cheat victims out of millions of dollars and conspired with others to perpetrate their frauds,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. said. “Well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes, acted as ‘Face Cards’ to lure unsuspecting victims to high-stakes poker games, where they were then at the mercy of concealed technology, including rigged shuffling machines and specially designed contacts lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big.
“Today’s indictment and arrests sounds the final buzzer for these cheaters,” he added.
The technology behind the scheme
Embed from Getty ImagesThe conspiracy began as early as 2019 and involved an elaborate array of cheating technology deployed at underground poker games, most commonly Texas Hold’em, federal authorities said. The defendants used altered shuffling machines containing hidden technology that could read all cards in the deck and determine which player would get the winning hand.
Because the cards were always dealt in a particular order to the players at the table, the machines could determine which player would have the winning hand, the indictment states. That information was transmitted to an off-site conspirator, who then relayed it via cellphone to a player at the table known as the “Quarterback” or “Driver.”
The Quarterback would secretly signal other conspirators at the table through prearranged signals, such as touching certain chips, according to court documents.
The defendants also allegedly employed other sophisticated tools, including chip tray analyzers with hidden cameras, x-ray tables that could read face-down cards, and special contact lenses or eyeglasses designed to read pre-marked cards.
Organized crime’s role
The scheme had deep roots in New York’s organized crime families, federal authorities said. La Cosa Nostra associates and members controlled two major illegal poker venues in Manhattan: the Lexington Avenue Game, on record with the Bonanno family, and the Washington Place Game, on record with the Gambino family, according to the indictment.
The crime families received a percentage of proceeds from both legitimate illegal games and rigged games, federal authorities said.
“Using the allure of high-stakes winnings and the promise to play alongside well-known professional athletes, these defendants allegedly defrauded unwitting victims out of tens of millions of dollars and established a financial pipeline to La Cosa Nostra,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher Raia said.
“This alleged scheme wreaked havoc across the nation, exploiting the notoriety of some and the wallets of others to finance the Italian crime families,” he added.
FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized the investigation’s scope.
“Today, over 30 people were arrested and charged for their alleged roles in criminal schemes to rig illegal poker games to win large amounts of money,” he said. “These individuals used technology and deceit to scam innocent victims out of millions of dollars – eventually funneling money to La Cosa Nostra and enriching one of the most notorious criminal networks in the world.”
Violence and intimidation
The indictment details multiple instances of violence used to enforce debts and maintain the operation. Between November 2022 and February 2023, defendants Thomas Gelardo, Zhen Hu, and Julius Ziliani allegedly extorted one victim to secure repayment of a gambling debt, with Hu and Gelardo both punching the victim to get him to pay off his debt.
In September 2023, defendants Ammar Awawdeh, Osman Hoti, John Mazzola, Nicholas Minucci, and Robert Stroud allegedly arranged and committed a gunpoint robbery of a co-conspirator to steal a rigged card shuffling machine.
The NBA connection
Embed from Getty ImagesBillups, 49, of Lake Oswego, Oregon, is in his fifth season as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, having signed a multiyear contract extension in April 2025. The Hall of Fame player, who won the 2004 NBA Finals MVP with the Detroit Pistons and later played for the New York Knicks, coached the Trail Blazers to a season-opening 114-104 loss to Minnesota on the eve of his arrest.
The indictment identifies Billups as a member of the cheating teams that used insider information to win poker games against unsuspecting victims. Jones, 49, of Houston played 11 seasons in the NBA, reaching the NBA finals with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007.
“For years, these individuals allegedly hosted illegal poker games where they used sophisticated technology and enlisted current and former NBA players to cheat people out of millions of dollars,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “This complex scheme was so far reaching that it included members from four of the organized crime families, and when people refused to pay because they were cheated, these defendants did what organized crime has always done: they used threats, intimidation, and violence.”
Among the locations where rigged games allegedly occurred was in East Hampton. The games were also held in New York City, Las Vegas, Miami and in other spots across the country.
The four-year investigation involved coordination among the FBI’s New York Field Office and nine other FBI offices in the United States, Homeland Security Investigations in New York and Newark, the New York City Police Department, and the New York Waterfront Commission.
NBA response
The NBA placed Billups on immediate leave following the arrests. Assistant coach Tiago Splitter assumed interim head coaching duties for the Trail Blazers.
In a statement, the NBA said: “We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today. Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups are being placed on immediate leave from their teams, and we will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities. We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that bettors who were defrauded in the rigged games may be victims under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. Anyone who believes they were victimized is urged to contact 1.800.CALLFBI.
Separate but related case
Embed from Getty ImagesIn a separate but overlapping indictment unsealed Thursday, six defendants including Jones and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy for allegedly using inside NBA information to place fraudulent sports wagers.
That case involves sharing non-public medical information and lineup decisions to gain an unfair advantage in betting markets, leading up to NBA games.
The Lakers, Raptors, Hornets and Trailblazers were teams bet on using insider information, authorities said.
Three defendants — Eric Earnest, Shane Hennen and Damon Jones — appear in both indictments.
The arrests occurred in 11 states Thursday morning, with defendants scheduled to make initial court appearances at federal courthouses throughout the United States.
Top photos: (main) poker table from Unsplash; (inset, from left are Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones. (AP Photo/File)
