Forsyth, Gray men indicted in mob-linked poker-rigging scheme involving NBA head coach
Federal prosecutors say 31 people, including two men from Middle Georgia, used hidden technology to rig high-stakes poker games linked to organized crime families and NBA figures.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Two Middle Georgia men are among 31 people indicted in a nationwide scheme to rig high-stakes poker games linked to organized crime families and an NBA head coach, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Federal prosecutors say 52-year-old Tony Goodson, of Forsyth, and 43-year-old John Mazzola, of Gray, were arrested Thursday as part of a four-year investigation that exposed the use of hidden wireless technology to cheat players in underground poker games across the country.
Authorities say the defendants include members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families, along with Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones. All 31 suspects were arrested in 11 states Thursday and are facing multiple federal charges.
“As alleged, members and associates of organized crime families fixed illegal poker games as part of a highly sophisticated and lucrative fraud scheme to cheat victims out of millions of dollars and conspired with others to perpetrate their frauds,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella, Jr. said in the release. “Well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes, acted as ‘Face Cards’ to lure unsuspecting victims to high-stakes poker games, where they were then at the mercy of concealed technology, including rigged shuffling machines and specially designed contacts lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big. Today’s indictment and arrests sounds the final buzzer for these cheaters.”
Investigators say players used rigged shuffling machines, contact lenses and sunglasses designed to read the backs of playing cards, allowing co-conspirators to signal which hands would win. Prosecutors say the games generated more than $7 million in losses for unsuspecting victims, with proceeds funneled to La Cosa Nostra crime families.
“Today over 30 people were arrested and charged for their alleged roles in criminal schemes to rig illegal poker games to win large amounts of money,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “These individuals used technology and deceit to scam innocent victims out of millions of dollars.”
The release says those accused “fulfilled different roles” to ensure the schemes’ success. Goodson is accused of supplying cheating technology. Mazzola is among the defendants charged for arranging and committing a gunpoint robbery of a co-conspirator to steal a rigged shuffler machine.
Bettors who were defrauded in the rigged games may be victims under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act. If you believe you were a victim of the scheme, call 1-800-CALLFBI.
