The 5 Craziest Allegations Made During Rollercoaster NBA-Mafia Conspiracy Presser

The FBI on Thursday morning held a press conference detailing two separate cases of illegal gambling that saw multiple NBA figures arrested.

Shortly before the presser, news broke that Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones had been among the 31 charged by the federal law enforcement. Billups was charged for his alleged role in a Mafia-backed illegal poker operation; Rozier was charged for his role in a sports betting operation; and Jones was allegedly involved in both.

Here are five of the most shocking details.

1. NBA Figures Were in Cahoots with Major NY Crime Families

While news of the arrests were shocking enough, the mention of the Mafia was even more of a surprise across the sports world. That detail was reported by ABC, who were informed by law enforcement sources that Billups was associated with an “illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia.”

2. Disgraced Former NBA Player Jontay Porter Was Involved in Same Betting Operation as Terry Rozier

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella named Jones and Rozier among the defendants in the sports betting case. Also included in that list was Jontay Porter, a former Toronto Raptors player was banned last year for betting on games. An investigation into suspicious betting activity at the time revealed that Porter communicated with bettors to inform them on which bets to place. On at least one occasion, Porter sat out for nearly an entire game due to an injury after playing just a few minutes. On Thursday, the FBI confirmed that case was part of the much larger operation that has now come to light.

3. Jontay Porter Was Extorted for Insider Information in Gambling Ring

Porter’s relationship with the bettors apparently took a more sinister turn when he was threatened into giving them insider information. According to Nocella, there was at least one instance in which the alleged co-conspirators held Porter’s outstanding gambling debts over his head:

And in at least one instance, they got their information by threatening a current player, Porter, because of his pre-existing gambling debts. Defendants use this nonpublic information to place hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent bets, mostly in the form of prop bets on individual player performance. The bets were placed through online sports books and also in person at casinos.

4. Billups Was Used to Lure Unsuspecting Victims Into Rigged Poker Games

On the subject of the illegal poker operation, Nocella, revealed that Billups played the role of a “face card.” In the scheme, “face cards” were high-profile players that would entice victims — known as “fish” — to join the poker games. The victims, in theory, would jump at the opportunity to play poker with someone famous. Unbeknownst to them, however, the game would be rigged against them.

Nocella continued:

What the victims, the fish, didn’t know is that everybody else at the poker game, from the dealer to the players — including the face cards — were in on the scam. Once the game was underway, the defendants fleeced the victims out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game.

5. The Poker Operation Used Sophisticated Technology to Rig the Games

The defendants allegedly used multiple pieces of sophisticated technology to influence the poker games in their favor. This included modified shuffling machines, hidden cameras, and an “X-ray table.”

Nocella explained:

Defendants used other cheating technologies, such as poker chip tray analyzers — which is a poker chip tray that secretly reads cards using a hidden camera — special contact lenses or eyeglasses that could read pre-marked cards, and an X-ray table that could read cards face down on the table. What you see depicted on screen right now is an example of the X-ray table that reveals the cards. Although they are face-down on the table, they can be red because of the X-ray technology.

The Mafia, specifically members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese organized crime families, had pre-existing control over non-rigged illegal poker games around New York City. As a result, they also became involved in the rigged poker games, helping to organize the games and taking a cut of the proceedings and working to enforce the collection of debts.

Watch above via Fox News.