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07-20-2007, 09:10 AM
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#1 (permalink) |
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: ARMANI@ATSTALK.COM
Posts: 2,832
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Nba Fixed
FEDS PROBING REF IN MAFIA BET SCAM
July 20, 2007 -- THE FBI is investigating an NBA referee who allegedly was betting on basketball games - including ones he was officiating during the past two seasons - as part of an organized-crime probe in the Big Apple, The Post has learned. The investigation, which began more than a year ago, is zeroing in on blockbuster allegations that the referee was making calls that affected the point spread to guarantee that he - and the hoods who had their hooks in him - cashed in on large bets. Federal agents are set to arrest the referee and a cadre of mobsters and their associates who lined their pockets, sources said. "These are dangerous people [the referee] was involved with," a source said. One source close to the probe counted the number of games on which the ref and his wiseguy buddies scored windfalls in the "double digits." NBA Commissioner David Stern is aware of the investigation and has a report about the referee on his desk, another source said. The official, whose name was withheld, allegedly wagered on games during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 NBA seasons. James Margolin, an FBI spokesman, declined comment on the latest black eye for professional sports. The sources indicated the referee apparently had a gambling problem, slipped into debt and fell prey to mob thugs. "That's how he got himself into this predicament" by wagering with mob-connected bookies, one source said. Professional basketball has remained largely unscathed by allegations of game-fixing, although college basketball has been rocked by several scandals involving point-shaving by players, but not officials. One of the most recent was a Boston College point-shaving scam arranged in the 1980s by mobster Henry Hill, who bribed several players. Hill later became a government informant, and his life was depicted in the movie "GoodFellas." Having a referee in their pockets provides a two-fold bonanza to game fixers. Gamblers would be able to directly cash in by betting on games where they knew the point spread was compromised. But having a ref in their pocket could prove even more lucrative to crooks in a bookmaking syndicate. Bookmakers hope to encourage an equal amount of betting on each team and make their money on the "vigorish," which is typically 10 percent of a losing bet. But armed with the inside information, the bookmaking syndicate could set an artificial point spread that would encourage large "layoff" bets from other bookies carrying too much action on one team, that were likely now to lose. An FBI organized-crime squad in the bureau's flagship New York office is handling the case, but the referee traveled the country officiating various games on which he allegedly bet. It was not determined which games were allegedly affected by the referee's actions, or how much money may have been won by him and his cohorts. The FBI got wind of the scheme while conducting a separate mob investigation. The most prominent American sport- gambling scandal in recent history involved Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose, who was banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on his own team. Based largely on testimony of two Rose associates, Ron Peters and Paul Janszen, Major League Baseball determined that from 1985 through 1987, Rose bet on baseball, including 52 Reds games in 1987, at a minimum of $10,000 a game. All of Rose's bets on Cincinnati were to win.
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07-20-2007, 06:42 PM
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#3 (permalink) |
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Degenerate
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 655
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FBI investigating whether NBA ref bet on games
By BRIAN MAHONEY, Associated Press Writer July 20, 2007 AP - Jul 20, 6:23 pm EDT More Photos David Stern led the NBA through drug problems and work stoppages. Now his league faces the stigma of a point-shaving scandal involving a referee. The NBA acknowledged Friday that the FBI is investigating Tim Donaghy for betting on games, including ones in which he officiated. According to a law enforcement official, authorities are examining whether the referee made calls to affect the point spread in games on which he or associates had wagered over the past two seasons. The referee had a gambling problem and was approached by low-level mob associates through an acquaintance, said the official, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. Donaghy is perhaps best-known previously as one of the referees in the 2004 game at Detroit that ended with Indiana Pacers players fighting with Pistons fans, among the biggest black marks in league history. ADVERTISEMENT This could top it. "We would like to assure our fans that no amount of effort, time or personnel is being spared to assist in this investigation, to bring to justice an individual who has betrayed the most sacred trust in professional sports, and to take the necessary steps to protect against this ever happening again," Stern said in a statement. Donaghy officiated 68 games in the 2005-06 season and 63 games in 2006-07, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He also worked 20 playoff games, including five last season -- Pistons-Magic on April 23; Warriors-Mavericks on April 27; Suns-Lakers on April 29; Nets-Raptors on May 4; and Spurs-Suns on May 12. The National Basketball Referees Association did not return calls for a statement, and Donaghy reportedly has resigned from the league. A woman came to the door of the Bradenton, Fla. home where Donaghy lives and shouted through the door: "We have no comment." Defense attorney John Lauro confirmed Donaghy is under investigation but refused to comment on the allegations or the case. Stern's statement said the FBI is investigating allegations a "single" referee bet on basketball. But the law enforcement official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the ongoing case, said other arrests are expected. Those studying Donaghy's games might have noticed some trends. When the home team was favored by 0-4 1/2 points, it went 5-12 in games officiated by Donaghy this season, according to Covers.com, a Web site that tracks referee trends. Home underdogs were 1-7 when the spread was 5-9.5 points. AP - Jul 20, 6:23 pm EDT More Photos Donaghy was part of a crew working the Heat-Knicks game in New York in February when the Knicks shot 39 free throws to the Heat's eight, technical fouls were called on Heat coach Pat Riley and assistant Ron Rothstein, and the Knicks won by six. New York was favored by 4 1/2 . NBA players in Las Vegas for USA Basketball minicamp were surprised and disappointed to learn of the accusations. "As a competitor, as hard as I play, it is disappointing, definitely," LeBron James said. Pistons guard Chauncey Billups said he was surprised to learn of Donaghy's situation. "I think everybody had the same kind of reaction whether you played in the league or just a regular citizen," Billups said. Gambling long has been a problem in sports, and leagues have made a point of educating players of the potential pitfalls. The NBA, for example, discusses gambling at rookie orientation, even bringing in former mobster Michael Franceze to speak. And the NBA dealt with negative stories about its officials earlier this year when an academic study detailed a bias by referees against players of the opposite color. The league requires its officials to file reports and defend or discuss every questionable call they make in a game. The law enforcement official said the referee was aware of the investigation and had made arrangements to surrender as early as next week to face charges. The law enforcement official said the bets involved thousands of dollars. The investigation first was reported Friday by the New York Post. "I'm shocked, terribly shocked," said Gary Benson, an NBA official for 17 years who retired two years ago because of knee problems. "Those are people that you work with and that you literally -- you spend more time with those people than you do with your family." Benson said he didn't work with Donaghy much. "You have a lot of acquaintances and very few friends. ... I probably worked a handful of games with him overall, just a handful." AP - Jul 20, 4:23 pm EDT More Photos Donaghy's neighbors in Bradenton also knew little about the man who has grabbed the attention of the NBA and FBI. Bob Girard, who lives near Donaghy in a gated community along a golf course, said he only noticed one thing out of the ordinary about his neighbor. "His house just went up for sale," said Girard, who recalled Donaghy moving into the neighborhood less than a year ago. When Girard saw the news of the NBA betting scandal on TV, he wondered whether it might involve his neighbor, the NBA referee with daughters who sometimes sold lemonade in front of their house for five cents a cup. "They've got a nice family," Girard said. "They seem to be a pretty normal family to me." Next-door neighbor Earle Swan said he had not spoken more than four words to Donaghy since he moved in. Nevada gambling regulators were not involved in an investigation and had no information about the allegations, said Jerry Markling, enforcement chief for the state Gaming Commission and Gaming Control Board. Veteran oddsmaker John Avello, at the Wynn resort on the Las Vegas Strip, said that without specific information it would be difficult to identify wagering irregularities over the last two seasons. "At this point, it's too early to know if any games were affected," Avello said, adding that no regulators or investigators had contacted him about the case. Jay Kornegay, executive director of the sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton, said he had never seen any unusual activity in NBA betting, and was surprised not to have heard about an investigation until Friday. "Whispers would have happened on the street, and we would have heard something," Kornegay said. "Any type of suspicious or unusual movements, you usually hear in the industry. We're so regulated and policed, any kind of suspicion would be discussed. "We haven't seen anything like that in the NBA that I can remember," he said. Associated Press Writer Pat Milton in New York, AP Writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas, AP Sports Writers Noah Trister in Little Rock, Ark., and Fred Goodall in Bradenton, Fla., contributed to this report |
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07-21-2007, 02:51 PM
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#4 (permalink) |
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Degenerate
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 499
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Armani,I was on LAC on that game and I had 4.5 points,I even said does the ref have money on this,then I clearly remember Yao shooting the free throws and hoping for a miss.I was so piss and knew I got robbed just didnt know why,I do now!
Would not surprise me if thats the Ref,hope it is and they lock him up,I still can feel the anger I had. |
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07-21-2007, 09:08 PM
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#5 (permalink) |
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Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 500
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I like how the media reports it as "Stern's worst nightmare."
Shit! This is the best thing to happen to Stern. He can politick and be politically correct and come out shining after this. Kind of like how Guiliani used Sept 11 to make himself look better. There is no difference between Stern and a mayor or senator. They use other's weakness to strengthen their motives. Phuck em all! Just stay under the radar and build your bankroll and portfolio and then retire out of the blue.
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stillmatic |
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07-23-2007, 09:19 AM
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#6 (permalink) |
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Degenerate
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 655
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Sooner than later, Stern and his underlings need to be accountable for this scandal. Until the FBI makes its arrests, until the Feds lay out the case against Donaghy and his mob co-conspirators, no one can be sure that he wasn't blowing a dirty whistle in Game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series in the Western Conference semifinals. Go back to that game on May 12, see Donaghy's work and your stomach sinks. Perhaps the Feds know precisely which of the apparent 10 to 20 games were tainted across these past two seasons, or perhaps, they're counting on Donaghy and the mob to give them up.
Until further notice, the de facto championship series between San Antonio and Phoenix is tantamount to tainted. Donaghy made one of the worst calls of the playoffs (a phantom, delayed foul on Manu Ginobili in a key late third-quarter run that awarded the Spurs three free throws), and he was part of an officiating crew that sent Suns star Amare Stoudemire to the bench with foul trouble, leaving him available for only 21 minutes in the game. Beyond that, there were plenty of missed calls, and dubious whistles. That game hangs over the league like an anvil now. San Antonio was giving four points on the betting line and won 108-101. Those three Ginobili free throws pushed the Spurs to a six-point lead late in the third, and Phoenix never recovered. As it turns out, that is the last game Donaghy will ever officiate in the NBA. Looking back, you wonder how that end didn't come sooner for Donaghy. But then again, the league always seemed to be cutting breaks to its refs, forever fostering a sense of entitlement. One of Michael Jordan's women targeted official Eddie Rush as the matchmaker who introduced her to him. Bob Delaney had real-life NBA stars appearing at his summer referees academy in Florida, a favor that you would think a player would realistically figure could curry him favor later. |
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07-23-2007, 11:04 AM
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#7 (permalink) |
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: ARMANI@ATSTALK.COM
Posts: 2,832
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[Editor's note: Brandon Lang, whose life story was immortalized by Matthew McConaughey in the 2005 film, "Two for the Money," considers himself the best big-game handicapper in the country. The man who gives wagering advice on his Web site, Brandon Lang, is the self-proclaimed "most honest man in the business."
He never has lost a Super Bowl in his career, going 15-0-2. With NBA referee Tim Donaghy under investigation for allegedly betting on NBA games the past two seasons -- including games he officiated -- ESPN.com senior writer Wayne Drehs asked Lang to explain how sports gambling works in America and how Donaghy and his bookies might have been able to take advantage.] ESPN.com: Brandon, explain what types of bets can be made on the NBA. Brandon Lang: You can bet on who's going to win, by how many points. You can bet whether it's going to be a high-scoring or low-scoring game with the over/under. You can bet the first, second, third or fourth quarter. You can bet the first-half and second-half winner or loser. What you have to understand is that gambling is always designed to keep people watching. If it's a televised game or the playoffs, you can bet the over/under on total points for a player, say whether or not LeBron James is going to score 30. You can bet over/under on rebounds for a guy like Tim Duncan. There are a lot of individual prop bets, but normally those are only in the playoffs or for major regular-season televised games. ESPN.com: What are the various ways that a bettor can place his bets? BL: If you're in the state of Nevada, you can do it 100 percent legal at any sports book. If not, you can do it [albeit illegally] with your corner-store bookie at just about any bar in any sports city in America. Or you can do it offshore with offshore sports books. That's pretty much it. ESPN.com: How does placing a legal bet in Las Vegas differ from placing a bet offshore or with the bar bookie you refer to? BL: Most of the time, when you bet with a bookie, you can bet on credit. When you bet offshore, you have to post up that money. I have to wire that offshore sports book $1,000 so I have $1,000 in my account to play with. As soon as I double my money, I can ask them to send $1,000 back or all $2,000, whatever. With your bookie, you typically settle up once a week. And that's when people get in trouble. It's credit -- usually somebody vouches for you, they'll give you a $5,000 line or something like that. Then you start getting behind, you start chasing and the next thing you know you just lost $7,000 and you don't have it. In Vegas and offshore, you have to post your money before you gamble with it. ESPN.com: On a December night in the regular season, how much money would you guess is bet on the NBA -- legally and illegally -- in our country? BL: In our country, so that's just Vegas and the bookmakers … you figure on any given night, you have an average of eight games. So in my calculations, on a random given night, I'd say about $50 million. That's legally and illegally. A random December night in the United States of America. But that number has been declining. Brandon Lang, Matthew McConaughey. Lester Cohen/WireImage.com Brandon Lang, left, with the man who played him on the big screen, Matthew McConaughey. ESPN.com: Describe for me the average individual who bets on an NBA game? BL: They're college students, middle-aged businessmen -- they're the people who crave action every single night. There was a time, in the winter, when the NBA and NHL were the only real betting options between football games each week. We never used to have a MAC game on Tuesday night followed by a Conference USA game on Wednesday, an SEC game on Thursday and an ACC contest on Friday. You needed the NBA to connect Monday Night Football to the following Saturday's games. And why bet two or three NBA games where guys don't always seem to show up every night when you have a college football game on Tuesday where you know the players are going to give maximum energy and effort? ESPN.com: What role does a bookie play in placing bets? BL: He's basically the sports book. He has his own line, his own money. He runs his own book. Different bookies will have different lines. To get into the various intricacies, most players want to have multiple bookies because lines can vary. If I have a guy in New York who has the Knicks as a 6.5 point favorite against the Nuggets and I have another guy in Florida who has the Knicks at 5.5, I'm going to take my bookie in New York and take Denver and then take New York with the bookie in Florida and lay the 5.5 points. If the final margin is six points, then I'll win both. ESPN.com: So explain then, how a referee could control the outcome of a game so that he or associates of his could win a bet? BL: Totally with the fouls he calls. If he has fixed the total and has a number he's thinking of, he can get the team in the bonus earlier in the quarter. Let's say he wants a final score where both teams tally more than 205 points and he needs 59 points in the fourth quarter to make that happen. If he puts both teams in the penalty with 8:00 to go and every foul is a free throw, it's not too hard to have a 60-point quarter. ESPN.com: So what do you think, given your experience, might have happened with Tim Donaghy? BL: You see a lot of calls in the NBA, "Hey -- he didn't even touch him." But he's [under suspicion] because they will go back and watch every game he officiated, know the spread, know the totals, they'll watch the fourth quarter and they'll know exactly what games he [allegedly] fixed. One hundred percent, no questions asked, they'll know exactly. They just have to look at the fourth quarter. That's where you'd be able to tell. I'm telling you -- it would have to be the total, not the winners or losers. You can't dictate a side, especially in the NBA. He couldn't take that chance. If someone gets injured or doesn't show up or is having a terrible night or whatever, you can't do it. But manipulating the total you can control from the very tip. If you need an over, a referee can dictate a high- or low-scoring game just by how he's calling it. It's going to come out. ESPN.com: Given your expertise in watching and wagering on games, what influence does a referee or official have in the gambling outcome? BL: If he has action on the game and wants something in particular to happen, I'd say 75 percent. I've been asked for years if games could be fixed. And I always told people not by players. Because the guys in the key positions who could get something done, your quarterbacks and running backs, are making millions and aren't going to risk it all to help some friend make $100,000. An official, though, could do it. In the NFL, there's a task force that on Monday reviews every critical call that came anywhere near the point spread. I don't believe that's ever been done in the NBA. ESPN.com: What sort of precedent is there for scandals like this in the betting world? And does this surprise you? BL: The mob has had its hands in fixing and shaving games going back to the late '40s. They've always been under question for getting teams to shave points. The fact that they finally got to an official -- well, at least an official who got caught -- isn't surprising. Listen, this is just the first guy to get caught. I think, without question, there are more officials out there who have shaved points. I guarantee you there are. This is just the first guy to get caught. And it's going to be fascinating to see how this all plays out because [if the allegations are true, it's my opinion that] he's going to cut a deal and rat on everybody. And it was a mob bookie that supposedly turned him in. That was the worst thing they ever could have done. They turned him in, now he's going to give them all the evidence, spill everything and then go in the witness protection program. I don't get it. He was their meal ticket. Whatever risk they had with him, turning him in was a bad move. Now he's going to be dropping dimes on them. ESPN.com: What sort of an effect do you think this scandal will have on NBA wagering and sports wagering as a whole? BL: I think it will have a solid impact on people betting the NBA. Because really, college and pro football -- that's what people live for. Wagering on the NBA has already been dropping because of the intensity of play. On some nights, these guys just don't seem to care. And you don't want your money on that. This will only have even a greater impact and keep people away from betting the NBA.
__________________
EVERYPLAY posted here and everywhere else is UNCONFIRMED unless you buy it and post it yourself! |
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07-24-2007, 10:33 PM
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#8 (permalink) |
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Banned
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 29
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i think it will be difficult to prove him guilty without having some type of evidence or testimony. For example testimony from his bookie or evidence of which games he bet on. Obviously they must have some evidence but they have not revealed the actual details.
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