Gambling scandal involving NBA figures shows how mob has made a comeback in NYC and on LI

The recent round of federal indictments in a nationwide gambling ring involving NBA figures and reputed mob members is a fresh sign that Italian organized crime in New York City and on Long Island — despite years of prosecutions and deaths of key leaders — has made a comeback, law enforcement and crime experts said.

"It is a wake-up call, that the mob is still alive and well in New York City," said Bruce Mouw, retired supervisory special agent of the FBI who was known for getting the conviction in 1992 of the late Gambino crime boss John Gotti. "What people don’t realize is they have just as many members as John Gotti had in his heyday."

Mouw, who helps monitor labor unions in cooperation with the federal government to keep mobsters away, has been watching crime trends for years and believes the five organized crime families in the metropolitan area — Genovese, Gambino, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo — have reinvented themselves and are going back to their old ways.

"They are out there, you see them in social clubs," said Mouw, noting that illegal gambling operations, particularly late at night, are key ways for the mob to make money.

Card cheating games

Two weeks ago, the FBI, NYPD and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, along with other agencies, announced the indictment of 31 people, including big-name NBA figures and reputed mobsters and associates from Long Island and New York City, and others on charges they took part in card cheating games that bilked unwary players out of an estimated $7 million. The defendants relied on modern electronic card shuffling machines and special X-ray tables to find out what cards the players held and ensure that they lost, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Joseph Nocella Jr said.

The games took place at two locations in Manhattan — one at 147 Lexington Ave. and the other at 80 Washington Place — as well as an undisclosed address in East Hampton, where they allegedly carried out the swindle and enriched mob coffers, officials said.

The alleged scammers recruited well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes, known as "face cards," to attract unsuspecting card game players and cheat them out of millions of dollars, Nocella said.

Among those charged for attracting victims was Chauncey Billups, 49, head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. Billups was placed on administrative leave by the team and has yet to be arraigned on the indictment. A number of defendants were arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn last week, and other defendants are scheduled to appear in court on the indictment in the comings days and weeks.

Former FBI agent Joseph Pistone, who gained fame by spending six years undercover as "Donnie Brasco" with the mob in New York, told Newsday the gangster life is the only way some know how to live.

"The American mafia will never go away, the reason being they are born to the life, born to be thieves, born to be hustlers," said Pistone. "As long as you have individuals who have larceny in their blood, they are going to do illegal things."

Not-guilty pleas from reputed mobsters

According to the indictment, seven reputed mob members, including two from Long Island and one from Queens, were charged. Among the Long Island defendants: Ernest Aiello, 46, of Wantagh, alleged by the FBI to be a member of the Bonanno crime family; and Matthew Daddino, 43, of Franklin Square, alleged member of the Genovese crime family. Reputed Gambino crime family member Angelo Ruggiero Jr., 53, of Howard Beach, son of the late Gambino captain Angelo Ruggiero, also was charged. Another defendant, Seth Trustman, 43, of Queens, is said by the FBI to be a Lucchese crime family associate.

All have entered not-guilty pleas in the case. Aiello was released on a $2.5 million bond to be secured by property and Daddino was released on $3 million bond, according to court records. Trustman was released on a $250,000 bond. Ruggiero, who has a significant federal criminal record, was denied bail last week and remained in custody. Seven other defendants from Long Island face charges as part of the indictment.

Organized crime expert Geoff Schumacher, vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, said the gambling case is a new twist on old mob gambling rackets.

"The mob has been running backroom poker games for decades, no surprise," Schumacher said. “ What is interesting is the introduction of technology. Clearly the mob guys partnered with guys with tech savvy."

Innovative new tactics

The use of altered card shuffling machines and X-ray-equipped playing tables is an indication of a new approach being taken by the mob, Schumacher said. Because the indictment also alleges strong-arm tactics and coercion to collect money, the mob seems to be also willing to use old street tactics of enforcement, he said.

As innovative as the new tactics alleged in the card cheating seem, Schumacher noted that they are really a modern version of what happened at the Friars Club in California in the 1960s. It was then that the FBI uncovered how secret observers in the roof of a card playing room at the club drilled holes in the ceiling and clandestinely viewed the hands of gin rummy players. The results were then electronically transmitted to those running the game, ensuring players lost.

In the late 1970s, Lucchese crime family associate James "Jimmy The Gent" Burke, the brains behind the fabled 1978 Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport, was involved in a point-shaving scandal involving Boston College basketball players. Burke and several others were convicted on federal charges and received prison sentences.

In 2007, the NBA was again rocked by allegations that basketball referees were betting on games, making foul calls during games that helped their betting odds and tipping off gamblers about the health of certain players. Ultimately, NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and transmitting wagering information over the telephone, and he was sentenced to 15 months in prison by Brooklyn federal judge Carol Amon. Donaghy’s attorney filed court papers alleging that other NBA referees fixed games and the FBI began looking for such evidence that other referees might be involved but was unable to bring additional cases, said the source.

Experts said gambling is still a staple of the mob and is a moneymaker not only for the way winnings from cheating can find their way up the chain to the mob bosses but also because gamblers often run out of cash and have to resort to mob loan sharks, who also generate cash for organized crime.

Mob adjustments

The mob has adjusted to shield itself from law enforcement, which today has a number of competing priorities. The FBI in New York once had separate squads handling intelligence and investigations for each of the five organized crime families. But they have been consolidated into one unit, law enforcement sources said.

The work of law enforcement is now more difficult because the crime families, betrayed for years by informants, have become more secretive, making it harder to develop confidential sources, law enforcement experts said.

The FBI has identified in court papers a number of new leaders in the New York crime families. Among them are Domenico Cefalu, 78, from Brooklyn and of Sicilian ancestry, considered by the FBI to be the boss of the Gambino family. Michael "Mickey Nose" Mancuso, 70, is the reputed head of the Bonanno family, the group most damaged in recent years by federal prosecutions. Liborio "Barney" Bellomo, 68, has been mentioned in court records as being the acting boss of the Genovese family and in news accounts as the reputed boss since the death of Vincent "The Chin" Gigante in 2005.