Heat's Terry Rozier and Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups charged in sports betting and Mafia-backed poker schemes

Portland Trail Blazers coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones were among 34 people charged Thursday in connection to two major cases involving illegal gambling and rigged poker games backed by the mob.

Rozier is accused of participating in an illegal sports betting scheme that exploited confidential information about the NBA. FBI Director Kash Patel described it as “the insider trading saga for the NBA.” Rozier, 31, was arrested in Orlando, Florida,  and appeared in federal court there Thursday afternoon.

Billups, 49, is accused of participating in a separate scheme that involved rigged poker games backed by the mob. He was arrested in Portland and appeared in federal court there Thursday.

Both Rozier and Billups face money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges. They will be arraigned on their indictments in Brooklyn, where a news conference was held to discuss the schemes Thursday morning, at a future date.

Jones, 49, was charged in both cases.

“The indictments in these cases contain only allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until they are proven guilty in a court of law,” said Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “But my message to the defendants who have been rounded up today is this: your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out. Violating the law is a losing proposition, and you can bet on that.”

The investigations remain ongoing.

“We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today," the NBA said in a statement. "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.”

Authorities specifically mentioned “La Casa Nostra” and the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families were involved in the poker games.

The rigged poker games were run across the United States, including in Manhattan and the Hamptons. The scheme targeted victims who were “often lured to participate in these rigged games by the chance to play alongside former professional athletes who were known as ‘face cards,’ ” Nocella said. Both Billups and Jones were among the face cards to make the games appear legitimate.

The technology included rigged card-shuffling machines. The defendants would be able to read the cards in the deck, predict which player in the table had the best poker hand and relay the information to an off-site operator, according to Nocella. The operator would send the info via cellphone to a co-conspirator at the table, who would then secretly signal that info to others at the table. Other cheating technologies included poker chip tray analyzers, special contact lenses and eyeglasses, and an X-ray table that could read facedown cards.

Six Long Islanders were included in the illegal poker game indictment, including three alleged members of the Gambino, Genovese and Bonanno crime families.

The other three Long Islanders charged in the indictment were named as part of the “cheating teams” along with Billups.

The indictment says the organized crime families backed poker games and received a portion of proceeds from them. “t "The rigged poker scheme caused losses to victims of at least $7,150,000," according to the indictment.

The games started in April 2019, when Billups and another Long Island player were part of a plot that used rigged shuffling machines to defraud players of $50,000, the indictment says. In another game in East Hampton in June 2023, several of the defendants defrauded two anonymous players out of more than $150,000, according to the indictment.

The indictment names Ernest Aiello, 46, of Wantagh, as a “high ranking member of the Bonanno crime family.” Investigators said he did not usually visit the poker game but received proceeds from “rigged and non-rigged games.” His attorney could not be reached for comment.

Matthew Daddino, 43, of Franklin Square, was described as a member of the Genovese crime family and helped manage the Washington Place game and collected payments for the games, prosecutors said. An attorney for Daddino was not immediately available in court records.

Another defendant, Nicholas Minucci, 39, of East Northport, was described as an associate of the Gambino crime family. Minucci is accused of playing alongside Billups, and in September 2023 Minucci helped steal a rigged shuffling machine at gunpoint, according to the indictment. His attorney did not return a call for comment.

In the sports betting case, gamblers took advantage of non-public information to place hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent bets, mostly in the form of prop bets, according to Nocella. The information included when specific players would be sitting out future games or when they would pull themselves early from games with purported injuries or illnesses. He said the scheme occurred between December 2022 and March 2024.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch referenced a March 23, 2023, game between the Charlotte Hornets, then Rozier’s team, and the New Orleans Pelicans. Rozier, who started, allegedly told others close to him that he planned to leave the game early with an injury. More than $200,000 in wagers were bet on the “under” of his stat lines, and Rozier exited after only nine minutes and 34 seconds of playing time. The proceeds were later delivered to Rozier’s home, according to Tisch.

“We have represented Terry Rozier for over a year,” Jim Trusty, Rozier’s attorney, told “Pablo Torre Finds Out” on Thursday. “A long time ago we reached out to these prosecutors to tell them we should have an open line of communication. They characterized Terry as a subject, not a target, but at 6 a.m. this morning they called to tell me FBI agents were trying to arrest him in a hotel. It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self surrender they opted for a photo op.

“They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case. They appear to be taking the word of spectacularly incredible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.”

Former NBA player Jontay Porter, who in April 2024 was banned from the NBA for life after disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, previously was charged for his role in the scheme, Nocella said.

The mentioned investigations did not involve college basketball, which reportedly had been targeted by gamblers in point-shaving incidents. On Wednesday, the NCAA approved a rule that will allow its athletes and athletic department staffers to bet on pro sports beginning on Nov. 1.

Newsday's John Asbury and the Associated Press contributed to this story.