Mafia family members and NBA stars arrested by FBI over illegal gambling and sports rigging

The FBI has led a "co-ordinated takedown" on illegal gambling and sports rigging, the agency's director has said, with more than 30 arrested on Thursday.

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones were among those arrested.

At a news conference on Thursday, FBI chief Kash Patel said the illegal gambling and sports rigging operation spanned the course of years and the takedown covered 11 states, adding that the case remains ongoing.

The Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese mafia families were also hit by the operation, he said.

Rozier is accused of participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using private insider NBA information, officials said.

Billups is charged in a separate indictment alleging a wide-ranging scheme to rig underground poker games backed by Mafia families.

Both men face wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering charges and were expected to make initial court appearances later on Thursday.

In the first case, six defendants are accused of taking part in an insider sports betting conspiracy that exploited confidential information about NBA athletes and teams, Joseph Nocella, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York said.

He said it was "one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalised in the United States".

The second case involves 31 defendants in a nationwide scheme to rig illegal poker games, Mr Nocella said.

The defendants include former professional athletes accused of using technology to rake in millions of dollars by rigging mafia-backed underground poker games in the New York area, he said.

"My message to the defendants who've been rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out," Mr Nocella said.

In the sports betting scheme, players sometimes altered their performance or removed themselves from games early, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

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In one instance, Rozier, while playing for the Hornets, told people he was planning to leave the game early with a "supposed injury", allowing them to place wagers that brought in thousands of dollars, Ms Tisch said.

The indictment of Rozier and others says there are nine unnamed co-conspirators, including a Florida resident who was an NBA player, an Oregon resident who was an NBA player from about 1997 to 2014 and an NBA coach since at least 2021, as well as a relative of Rozier.

Rozier and other defendants "had access to private information known by NBA players or NBA coaches" that was likely to affect the outcome of games or players' performances and provided that information to other co-conspirators in exchange for either a flat fee or a share of betting profits, the indictment says.

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