The New York mafia is alive and an “historic” FBI bust has shown that underworld crime is still kicking across the United States.
Mob bosses from four different crime families — the Gambinos, the Bonannos, the Luccheses and the Genoveses — were last month accused of orchestrating one of the “most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalised in the United States”.
The alleged criminal network infiltrated the National Basketball Association (NBA) and generated millions of dollars in fraudulent bets.
The FBI says that for the victims of an alleged underground poker ring that blended its way into the US’s premier basketball competition, a seemingly innocuous opportunity to sit at the same table as stars of the sport was enough to land them in a tangled web of violent and influential crime figures.
Here is an alleged breakdown, provided by federal and New York authorities, of the network’s key members and how they operated.
The play
It’s alleged crime families ran rigged poker games to cheat victims, known as “fish”, out of millions.
The games, which were usually Texas Hold ‘Em and played in New York and locations across 11 other US states, dated back to at least 2019.
The scam was orchestrated by a cast of accomplices who made up “cheating teams” that used concealed technologies and secret signals to fix poker games in their favour.
The face cards
To capture their fish, prosecutors say the mob families first needed a hook.
Enter the “face cards”. These were a set of high-profile athletes and coaches who were allegedly recruited to attract wealthy players to the games.
These athletes were members of the cheating teams and would receive a portion of the winnings in exchange for their cachet.
Chauncey Billups
Nickname: None
Affiliation: Portland Trail Blazers head coach, NBA Hall of Fame
State: Oregon
Background: Billups played for almost two decades in the NBA after being picked by the Boston Celtics in 1997. He went on to play for multiple other teams, including the Toronto Raptors, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers.
In his career, he was a 2004 NBA Finals Champion and MVP and a five-time NBA All-Star. He began coaching in 2020 and joined Portland in 2021.
Additional role
Cheating team member
Damon Jones
Nickname: None
Affiliation: Former Cleveland Cavaliers combo guard, assistant coach
State: Texas
Background: Jones played for 10 different teams in the NBA throughout his career and is mostly known for his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers between 2005 and 2008.
Additional role
Cheating team member
The intermediary
To recruit face cards, the alleged crime ring first needed an introduction.
That’s where prosecutors say the intermediary came in — a low-profile smooth-talker who could enlist big names who would attract wealthy victims to their tables.
Robert L Stroud
Nickname: Black Rob
Affiliation: None
Past convictions
Local media reports in the US claim that Stroud’s criminal history dates back to at least 1994.
In that year, he was in the Jefferson Circuit Court in Kentucky for allegedly shooting a man dead during a night of gambling at a home in Louisville, WAVE News reported.
Additional roles
Cheating team member, organiser, supplier
The cheating teams
The ring needed more than just a face card at the table to pull off the ruse.
This is where the alleged “cheating teams” — the criminals making up the rest of the players in the games — came in.
They would be fed information about the cards on the table and work together to cheat the fish out of money.
Sometimes, prosecutors said in one court document, the corrupt players “tried to coordinate how to lose purposefully on occasion to keep the victim at the table for longer, or to avoid suspicion of cheating”.
A text message from “Big Mikey” to another person who was in on the scheme read: “Guys please let him win a hand he’s in for 40k in 40 minutes he will leave if he gets no traction,” according to court papers.
Nelson Alvarez
Nickname: Spanish G
Affiliation: None
State: New York
Louis Apicella
Nickname: Lou Ap
Affiliation: The Gambinos
State: New York
Eric Earnest
Nickname: Spook
Affiliation: None
State: Missouri
Marco Garzon
Nickname: None
Affiliation: None
State: New Jersey
Jamie Gilet
Nickname: None
Affiliation: None
State: New York
Kenny Han
Nickname: None
Affiliation: None
State: New York
Horatio Hu
Nickname: H
Affiliation: None
State: New York
John Mazzola
Nickname: John South
Affiliation: None
State: Georgia
Nicholas Minucci
Nickname: None
Affiliation: The Gambinos
State: New York
Past convictions
Minucci was previously convicted on counts of robbery as a hate crime for an incident in which he beat a Black man in the head with a baseball bat.
He was sentenced to 25 years and was released on parole in 2018.
Michael Renzulli
Nickname: None
Affiliation: None
State: New York
Sophia Wei
Nickname: Pookie
Affiliation: None
State: New York
Background: Wei was known to socialise with celebrities and musicians as an artist who painted portraits for the rich and famous, including actor Kevin Hart, according to a New York Post report.
Her social media accounts portrayed a carousel of influential stars, such as Drake, Ne-Yo and the sons of basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal.
The operator and the quarterback
So, how did the cheating teams know what cards were dealt and which plays to make?
Prosecutors say they had a crew working behind the scenes.
A person known as the “operator”, who was off-site during the games, would allegedly receive information relayed from rigged shuffling machines that were altered to read and predict who had the best hands.
They would pass that data via a mobile phone to someone in the poker room, known as the “quarterback”. That person would secretly give signals to the remaining members of the cheating team on how best to leverage the information.
Court documents do not identify which of the cheating teams’ members also acted as operators or quarterbacks.
The organisers
A handful of defendants in the indictment are accused of having orchestrated the rigged poker games in New York and other locations.
Ammar Awawdeh
Nickname: Flappy, Flapper Poker
Affiliation: The Gambinos
State: New York
Saul Becher
Nickname: None
Affiliation: None
State: New York
Zhen Hu
Nickname: Scruli, Stanley
Affiliation: None
State: New York
Seth Trustman
Nickname: None
Affiliation: The Luccheses
State: New York
Additional roles
Cheating team member
Past charges
In October 2009, Trustman was one of 19 people arrested over an illegal gambling, sports betting and loan-shark ring being operated by the Lucchese mafia family.
At the time, prosecutors alleged that Trustman was involved in a criminal network that used coded language, nicknames and meeting locations impacted by loud background noise to conceal their crimes.
The suppliers
To pull off their alleged crimes, prosecutors say the ring used rigged technology to inform their moves at the poker tables.
The following men, as well as Robert L Stroud, were named in court documents as having supplied the cheating technology, including rigged card-shuffling machines, electronic poker chip trays, and card analysers.
Prosecutors also told reporters that the ring was alleged to have used a rigged X-ray table that was capable of taking secret images of cards that were placed face down.
Curtis Meeks
Nickname: Curt
Affiliation: None
State: Texas
Tony Goodson
Nickname: Black Tony
Affiliation: None
State: Georgia
Additional roles
Cheating team member
Shane Hennen
Nickname: Sugar
Affiliation: None
State: Pennsylvania
Additional roles
Cheating team member
Past charges
Hennen spent more than two years in prison for drug charges and a stabbing assault, CNN reported.
The muscle
For games held in the New York area, members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families would allegedly threaten and intimidate fish to make sure they paid their debts, and to protect the illegal games from competition elsewhere.
In exchange, the crime figures would get a cut of the winnings.
Some of the mafia members who acted as muscle also participated in cheating teams playing in the poker games.
Ernest Aiello
Nickname: None
Affiliation: The Bonannos
Matthew Daddino
Nickname: The Wrestler, Matty
Affiliation: The Genoveses
Lee Fama
Nickname: None
Affiliation: The Gambinos
John Gallo
Nickname: None
Affiliation: Gambinos
Additional role
Cheating team member, organiser
Thomas Gelardo
Nickname: Juice
Affiliation: The Bonannos, the Genoveses
Joseph Lanni
Nickname: Joe Brooklyn, Mommino
Affiliation: Alleged captain of the Gambinos
Past charges
In 2023, Lanni and other associates of the Gambino crime family were indicted on racketeering conspiracy, extortion and union-related corruption charges for attempting to “dominate” New York’s demolition and rubbish businesses.
He pleaded guilty to the charges in October 2025.
Angelo Ruggiero Jr
Nickname: None
Affiliation: The Gambinos
Past charges
In 2008, Ruggiero was charged with conspiracy to murder and attempted murder as part of a racketeering act.
Prosecutors alleged a victim was shot by Ruggiero and other Gambino crime family members several times as he was leaving for work in 2003.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 84 months in prison.
Julius Ziliani
Nickname: Jay
Affiliation: The Bonannos
The cleaner
Prosecutors allege the ring engaged in money laundering through shell companies and third parties to conceal the nature of the rigged games.
The indictment names Anthony Shnayderman as having played a key role in laundering the winnings, in return for a cut.
It’s alleged he and his associates received payments from the fish and paid others in the gambling ring through cash or cryptocurrency.
Anthony Shnayderman
Nickname: Doc
Affiliation: None
State: New York
The fish
The identities of victims have remained anonymous, but authorities have revealed examples of how some people were defrauded of money they gambled during poker games.
In one case in April 2019 in Las Vegas, multiple people collectively lost as much as $US50,000 ($75,942) at a game that was also played and organised by Chauncey Billups, Eric Earnest, Jamie Gilet, Robert L Stroud and Sophia Wei.
Authorities say that collectively the fish were defrauded of at least $US7.15 million between 2019 and 2025.
Fish #1
In June and July 2023 in New York, a person only known as “John Doe #1” lost about $US1.8 million in a game orchestrated on behalf of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese families.
Court documents allege that this person played poker games that were organised and participated in by seven members of the gambling ring, who used a rigged shuffling machine to trick their fish.
Prosecutors say that at least $100,000 of this victim’s money was illegally laundered by Anthony Shnayderman and his co-conspirators.
Fish #2 & #3
In June 2023 in East Hampton, New York, two other “John Doe” victims lost $US46,500 and $US105,000 respectively.
Prosecutors say these two people played in poker games that were organised and participated in by 10 members of the illegal gambling ring, who used a rigged shuffling machine.
Fish #4
In September 2024 in Miami, Florida, a fourth “John Doe” lost at least $US60,000.
Court documents allege this person played in a poker game that was organised and participated in by seven members of the illegal gambling ring, who used a rigged shuffling machine.
Fish #5, #6 and #7
While court documents do not detail some of the financial losses of some fish, they do reveal how members of the illegal betting ring pursued them to recoup money.
Prosecutors allege that “John Doe #5” was extorted by three members of the ring between November 2022 and February 2023 to settle a debt from poker games.
Between September and October 2023, the same happened to “John Doe #6”.
“John Doe #7” was not a participant in the poker games who was tricked into losing their money. Instead, they are alleged to have previously supplied rigged card-shuffling machines to the criminal network.
Prosecutors say that on September 7, 2023, this person was held up at gunpoint by multiple members of the ring who then stole a specific type of rigged shuffling machine that the network wanted to use.
The second fix
The FBI alleges that the mafia poker gambling ring was directly linked to the NBA.
In revealing the investigation into the ring, authorities also announced they had cottoned on to another illegal ring that operated by defrauding legal betting agencies out of hundreds of thousands by using insider NBA information relating to what would happen during professional games.
That information was distributed among a network of multiple co-conspirators, who used it to place bets and reap the profits.
That network allegedly included at least two current NBA players or staff, one ex-NBA star, and two relatives of NBA or NFL players.
Among them was Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, who allegedly faked an injury during a 2023 game, which resulted in his co-conspirators being paid winnings from bets worth around $US200,000.
ABC/AP