An ex-enforcer for the Gambino crime household thinks the Mafia may have “one thing” on Chauncey Billups — and the NBA coach could also be as a lot of a sufferer because the gamblers he fleeced.
“For them to do that, they most likely knew any person and requested him for a favor . . . he’s obtained a spouse he’s dishonest on, they caught him sniffing coke, or no matter, they obtained him in some way,” John Alite theorized, although there is no such thing as a public proof to recommend he’s engaged in these behaviors.
Or the suspended 49-year-old Portland Trailblazers coach may have requested the mob for assist, Alite steered, after which discovered himself in over his head.
“Both they’re blackmailing him or he requested for a favor previously . . . and so they slowly use him after which they pull his neck, you recognize, they choke him slightly and inform him do that or else,” he stated.
The DOJ charged 31 folks Wednesday — together with Billups, the Miami Warmth’s Terry Rozier and ex-Cleveland Cavalier Damon Jones — in an enormous unlawful playing bust involving the Gambino, Bonanno, Genovese and Lucchese crime households.
The FBI has arrested 31 folks concerned in a rigged poker sport ring backed by the New York Metropolis organized crime households.
- Ernest Aiello — reputed Bonanno mobster
- Nelson “Spanish G” Alvarez
- Louis “Lou Ap” Apicella
- Ammar “Flapper Poker” Awawdeh
- Saul Becher — skilled poker participant
- Chauncey Billups — Portland Path Blazers coach, NBA Corridor of Famer and 2004 NBA champion
- Matthew “The Wrestler” Daddino
- Eric “Spooky” Earnest
- Lee Fama — skilled poker participant
- John Gallo
- Marco Garzon
- Thomas “Tommy Juice” Gelardo — reputed Lucchese mobster charged in 2013 for beating porn star girlfriend
- Jamie Gilet
- Tony “Black Tony” Goodson
- Kenny Han
- Shane “Sugar” Henne
- Osman “Albanian Bruce” Hoti
- Horatio Hu
- Zhen “Scruli” Hu
- Damon “Dee Jones” Jones — NBA participant from 1998 to 2009
- 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
- Julius Ziliani
The FBI accused Billups and Jones of serving as “face playing cards” to lure gamblers to rigged, mob-run card video games working out of 80 Washington Pl. in Greenwich Village.
Professional athletes and celebrities are sometimes drawn to the mob, the ex-Gambino button man stated, as a result of the underworld gives pleasure of their high-profile lives.
“We used to stick with plenty of actors, when John [Gotti] was round, DeNiro would come round, Steven Segal would come round, Mickey Rourke would come round,” he stated.
Alite, who spent 14 years behind bars for convictions involving six murders and not less than 37 shootings, stated the mob typically makes use of a mixture of coercion and presents to entrap folks.
“They provided ladies and medicines, no matter they need,” he stated.
Comply with The Publish’s newest on the playing scandal rocking the NBA:
Mafiosos have a “gradual course of” for ensnaring in any other case trustworthy folks into their clutches, he defined, including Billups and Rozier may have been groomed and in the end pressured to take part within the card video games.
“You don’t simply dive in, you slowly work the man,” Alite stated. “I had a detective with me, Phil Baroni, he was a strait-laced cop.
“I began bringing him to Atlantic Metropolis, he appreciated to gamble, earlier than you recognize it he turned my bookmaking companion, then he turned my drug companion, then he turned a killer with me.”
Alite dismissed the concept Billups obtained concerned for the cash, claiming he was already wealthy sufficient that cash wouldn’t matter to him.
“It’s type of ridiculous to suppose that he’s there simply to make $50,000, it simply doesn’t make a f–king little little bit of sense.”
Billups, via his legal professional Chris Haywood, has denied the allegations and vowed to combat to clear his title.
“Anybody who is aware of Chauncey Billups is aware of he’s a person of integrity; males of integrity don’t cheat and defraud others,” Haywood stated in an announcement.
Haywood, didn’t reply to The Publish’s request for remark.
