Mafiosos and NBA stars used rigged tactics in multi-million-dollar poker scam
In this DML Report…
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York unsealed an indictment on Thursday charging more than 30 individuals in a multi-million-dollar poker scam that defrauded victims of at least $7 million since 2019. The operation involved members of four New York Mafia families—the Lucchese, Genovese, Gambino, and Bonanno—who allegedly collaborated with former NBA players and others to rig high-stakes games in Manhattan, the Hamptons, Las Vegas, and Miami. Victims, termed "fish" or "marks," were lured into what they believed were fair illegal poker sessions but faced coordinated cheating teams that manipulated outcomes to ensure losses. In one series of games during the summer of 2023, a single victim lost $1.8 million. After games, mobsters reportedly used threats and intimidation to collect debts. The indictment states: “Through the Rigged Poker Scheme, the defendants and their co-conspirators defrauded Victims of millions of dollars.”
The scheme employed advanced technologies, including rigged card shufflers with concealed readers and analyzers that transmitted hand information to remote operators, who relayed instructions via cellphone to teammates at the table using secret signals. Other methods involved X-ray tables equipped with cameras to view face-down cards, decoy cellular telephones for card analysis, and marked cards visible only through special glasses or contact lenses. These devices, available online for several hundred thousand dollars, allowed cheating teams—sometimes comprising all players except the victim—to control betting and outcomes. Former NBA players served as "face cards" to attract high-rollers, receiving a share of the winnings.
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The FBI arrested 31 people in connection with the case, including reputed mobsters such as Ernest Aiello of the Bonanno family and Thomas “Tommy Juice” Gelardo of the Lucchese family, along with NBA figures like Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former player Damon “Dee Jones” Jones. Other indicted individuals include Nelson “Spanish G” Alvarez, Louis “Lou Ap” Apicella, Ammar “Flapper Poker” Awawdeh, Saul Becher, Matthew “The Wrestler” Daddino, Eric “Spooky” Earnest, Lee Fama, John Gallo, Marco Garzon, Jamie Gilet, Tony “Black Tony” Goodson, Kenny Han, Shane “Sugar” Henne, Osman “Albanian Bruce” Hoti, Horatio Hu, Zhen “Scruli” Hu, Joseph Lanni, John “John South” Mazzola, Curtis Meeks, Nicholas Minucci, Michael Renzulli, Anthony Ruggiero Jr., Anthony “Doc” Shnayderman, Robert “Black Rob” Stroud, Seth Trustman, Sophia “Pookie” Wei, and Julius Ziliani. US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. and FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrests, describing the operation as a sprawling backroom poker scheme backed by organized crime.