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please let it bee crawford or javie.. please god please.
The FBI is preparing to arrest an NBA referee and several organized crime associates for fixing the outcomes of games the referee worked in, according to the New York Post.
The report says the number of games in which the group won large bets was in the "double digits" and includes games from the past two seasons.
Sources told the paper the referee had a gambling problem and wound up indebted to mob-related bookies.
The name was not released, but the Post says David Stern has a report on the referee and is aware of the investigation.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7042010?MSNHPHMA
please let it bee crawford or javie.. please god please.
Wow. This could be big, especially if he ever admitted to which games he did this in (aka playoffs).
Can we get a vBookie on this Kori?
I've got to go with Salvatore or Bavetta.
I said the same thing.
Cue the Mavericks fans and their 'the Finals were fixed' meltdown of the summer of 2007 in 3...2...1...
Well this could finally prove what we've known all along: Stern fixed the series so that the Spurs could win four championships.
"This could be big?" Gee, do you think?
If this turns out to be true, it would be the most disastrous story in the history of the NBA.
Clearly he just wanted to up the ratings by putting the Spurs in the finals. Obviously if the Spurs weren't the media's darlings then they never would have made it since they obviously lack talent.
wow there you have it, The dark cloud that will loom over our Spurs from trolls. we are already dirty, we are already Sterns babies, we are already floppers, we already challenge every damn call, now we will be tied to a "stupid" referee that fixed some of our games or games that we played in that we shoulda lost yet we won.
I can hear it now.
ps. Tony Soprano did bet on the spurs and mavs, it be hysterically funny if that was one of the games the referee bet on and officiated.
Who knew Peter Holt was a mob boss? I guess it makes sense... he's in the "construction" business.
Nevermind the poor Mavericks in the Finals. Dallas would have lost to the Spurs in five games last year if it wasn't for the charity handed out to Dirk Nowitzki.
The timing of this is almost as su ious as when NASA killed Anna Nicole to get the crazy astronaut off the front page. CIA Goodell???
Are we all forgetting the ing we took in the 2006 playoffs against Dallas?
This doesn't surprise me at all. Wasn't it just a few short years ago, several of the leagues's tops refs, got convicted of tax evasion for using airline tickets supplied to them by their employer (NBA) for monetary gain. Basically liars and cheats, and screwed their employer and were fired by the NBA. All pleaded guilty, some did time now are convicted felons, and many were REHIRED by the NBA. Rehired to do a job where one's character, honesty and reputation are paramount in doing the job. I wonder how many other NBA refs are doing the same thing?
Cue the Mavericks fans and their 'the Finals were fixed' meltdown of the summer of 2007 in 3...2...1...
Bullcrap...if the WCSF wasn't fixed, we would be talking about a potential 4-peat right about now.
Full article from the New York Post
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.
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.
Professional basketball has remained largely unscathed by allegations of game-fixing, although college basketball has been rocked by several scandals involving point-shaving by players, but not officials.
One of the most recent was a Boston College point-shaving scam arranged in the 1980s by mobster Henry Hill, who bribed several players. Hill later became a government informant, and his life was depicted in the movie "GoodFellas."
Having a referee in their pockets provides a two-fold bonanza to game fixers.
Gamblers would be able to directly cash in by betting on games where they knew the point spread was compromised.
But having a ref in their pocket could prove even more lucrative to crooks in a bookmaking syndicate.
Bookmakers hope to encourage an equal amount of betting on each team and make their money on the "vigorish," which is typically 10 percent of a losing bet.
But armed with the inside information, the bookmaking syndicate could set an artificial point spread that would encourage large "layoff" bets from other bookies carrying too much action on one team, that were likely now to lose.
An FBI organized-crime squad in the bureau's flagship New York office is handling the case, but the referee traveled the country officiating various games on which he allegedly bet.
It was not determined which games were allegedly affected by the referee's actions, or how much money may have been won by him and his cohorts.
The FBI got wind of the scheme while conducting a separate mob investigation.
The most prominent American sport- gambling scandal in recent history involved Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose, who was banned from baseball in 1989 for betting on his own team.
Based largely on testimony of two Rose associates, Ron Peters and Paul Janszen, Major League Baseball determined that from 1985 through 1987, Rose bet on baseball, including 52 Reds games in 1987, at a minimum of $10,000 a game.
All of Rose's bets on Cincinnati were to win.
Link
huge story
You can't speculate and be fair. It's easy to think back on certain games that were called strangely over the past couple of years. Remember the Spurs game in Utah where the Salt Lake City fans went ballistic throwing stuff out on the floor? Joe DeRosa and Steve Javie were working that game. Sure you tend to think of people like the Knick Bavetta, Bennett Salvatore, Eddie F. Rush, DeRosa, or even swallow-the-whistle Callahan...but you get into trouble trying to guess.
The only thing I see in this thread so far is Spurs fans complaining about our "league-assisted" win in the semifinals two years ago. We lost to Miami fair and square.
Cue the Mavericks fans and their 'the Finals were fixed' meltdown of the summer of 2007 in 3...2...1...
Violet Palmer?
One would think she could trade sexual favors in exchange for forgiveness of gambling debts.
from a gambler's standpoint...it's a kick in the gut to hear this come to light.
from a fan's standpoint...it's demoralizing because it goes straight to the game's credibility.
asterisks in the making
Sometimes, the people you least expect to be involved wll be brought to light.
I'm sure there will be fans questioning lots of things after this, even into next season's games. Organized crime will always be looking for the next person to help them make money.
So far....
If even one of the games listed is a game in which the Mavs lost in the playoffs, particularly if it was a Miami game from last year in the Finals, you and your buddies will be drowning this site in tears.
This could go way beyond asterisks.
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