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Three NBA figures, Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry “Scary Terry” Rozier, and former player Damon Jones, were arrested Thursday in what federal authorities are calling a “historic” Mafia-linked gambling operation spanning years and several U.S. cities.
The FBI and New York’s Organized Crime Task Force allege that the trio acted as “face cards” for underground poker games orchestrated by members of the Bonanno, Genovese, Lucchese, and Gambino crime families. According to the indictment, mobsters used rigged card shufflers,
high-tech lenses, and marked decks to fix hands while paying NBA players to attract wealthy victims to games in Manhattan, Miami, Las Vegas, and the Hamptons.
Billups, 49, was taken into custody in Portland just hours after coaching the Blazers’ season opener. Rozier was arrested in Orlando, while Jones, also 49, was detained in Miami. Authorities said 31 people have been charged in total, accusing the syndicate of earning tens of millions in illegal profits.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella described the players’ role as central to luring gamblers under false pretenses. “What the victims didn’t know was that every card dealer, player, and celebrity guest at the table was part of the con,” he said. One victim reportedly lost $1.8 million in a single night.
The scandal comes during the NBA’s opening week, casting a shadow over a league already balancing billion-dollar broadcast deals and the growing influence of sports betting. Both Billups and Rozier have been placed on immediate leave pending investigation, the NBA confirmed in a statement emphasizing its “commitment to integrity.”
FBI Director Kash Patel called the case “a reminder that organized crime adapts to modern money,” noting the use of encrypted apps and biometric tech to manipulate poker odds.
The investigation, officials said, began in 2019 and uncovered a sophisticated pipeline connecting professional athletes with long-entrenched mob families. “It’s the intersection of celebrity, corruption, and technology,” Patel added. “And this time, the house always won.”