NBA IN A 'FIX'
FEDS PROBING REF IN MAFIA BET SCAM
FOUL! This game may have been clean...
July 20, 2007 -- THE FBI is investigating an NBA referee who allegedly was betting on basketball games - including ones he was officiating during the past two seasons - as part of an organized-crime probe in the Big Apple, The Post has learned.
The investigation, which began more than a year ago, is zeroing in on blockbuster allegations that the referee was making calls that affected the point spread to guarantee that he -- and the hoods who had their hooks in him -- cashed in on large bets.
A law enforcement official told the AP on the condition of anonymity that the referee was aware of the investigation and was planning to surrender next week.
The official said the bets involved thousands of dollars and were made on games during the 2005-2006 and the 2006-2007 seasons.
The NBA issued a brief statement: "We have been asked by the FBI, with whom we are working closely, not to comment on this matter at this time."
Federal agents are set to arrest the referee and a cadre of mobsters and their associates who lined their pockets, sources said.
"These are dangerous people [the referee] was involved with," a source said.
One source close to the probe counted the number of games on which the ref and his wiseguy buddies scored windfalls in the "double digits."
NBA Commissioner David Stern is aware of the investigation and has a report about the referee on his desk, another source said.
The official, whose name was withheld, allegedly wagered on games during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 NBA seasons.
James Margolin, an FBI spokesman, declined comment on the latest black eye for professional sports.
The sources indicated the referee apparently had a gambling problem, slipped into debt and fell prey to mob thugs.
"That's how he got himself into this predicament" by wagering with mob-connected bookies, one source said. |
