Alleged mob ties in NBA scandal recall La Cosa Nostra’s long shadow over sports

FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday unveiled allegations against current and former NBA players allegedly involved in two sports gambling cases.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the arrest of 34 individuals, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA guard and coach Damon Jones, as part of a widespread investigation into an illegal gambling scheme.

FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed at a news conference in New York on Thursday that the investigation was tied to a probe involving members of the La Cosa Nostra crime families focused on an illegal gambling operation and sports-rigging operations that "spanned the course of years."

"Not only did we crack into the fraud that these perpetrators committed on the grand stage of the NBA, but we also entered and executed a system of justice against La Cosa Nostra to include the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese crime families."

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"It takes courageous prosecutors to stand before you and say, we will not allow this kind of illicit activity to happen, not only at the national sporting level, but also where it hides in La Cosa Nostra," Patel added. "And when these two collided together, they perpetrated a fraud that is historic in terms of not just money, but the scheme and the deceit that they utilize to steal and swindle people from money to include crypto fraud."

NBA coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested on Thursday for alleged involvement in illegal gambling. Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and member of the NBA Hall of Fame, was arrested in connection with rigged illegal