{"id":14375,"date":"2025-10-23T23:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T23:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/14375\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T23:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T23:58:12","slug":"how-mafiosos-and-nba-stars-used-rigged-card-shufflers-x-ray-tables-and-secret-contact-lenses-in-poker-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/14375\/","title":{"rendered":"How mafiosos and NBA stars used rigged card shufflers, X-Ray tables and secret contact lenses in poker scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

NYC mafiosos and NBA stars used a combination of high-tech contraptions and old-school gambling tricks to swindle hapless high-rollers out of $7 million in a sprawling backroom poker scheme<\/a>, prosecutors alleged in an explosive indictment Thursday.<\/p>\n

The years-long con depended on \u201cadvanced wireless technologies,\u201d the indictment read,<\/a> along with a network of operators monitoring games remotely and communicating with handlers planted inside the room \u2014 some of whom filled the poker table and were all working together to gauge their unknowing victims.<\/p>\n

Card shuffling machines that had been tampered with took center stage in the con, with mobsters from four of New York\u2019s Five Families<\/a> allegedly rigging them with card readers and computerized analyzers, which would broadcast the best hands to an operator outside the game room.<\/p>\n

US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella, Jr. speaks alongside FBI Director Kash Patel on the arrests in connection to the gambling scheme involving the mafia and NBA stars. AP<\/p>\n

Portland Trailblazers head coach and NBA Hall of Fame member Chauncey Billups was one of the people indicted in connection to the scheme. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the Rigged Games, the members of the Cheating Teams \u2026 used card shuffling machines that were purportedly randomly shuffling the playing cards to ensure fairness,\u201d the indictment read. \u201cHowever, the Rigged Shuffling Machines were secretly altered to use concealed technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there the operator would send a message by cellphone to a teammate seated at the poker table, who would use \u201csecret signaling\u201d to tell their cronies in the game how to play the hand and bet to manipulate their target.<\/p>\n

Other times, the card table itself would be in on the con \u2014 with the scammers allegedly utilizing surfaces rigged with X-ray cameras that could read cards laying face down on the felt.<\/p>\n

\u201cDecoy cellular telephones\u201d that could similarly read and analyze cards were also used, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

A card shuffler that was rigged up with a reader and analyzer that would tell a remote operator the best hands. US Attorney \/ EDNY<\/p>\n

An x-ray table that can read cards placed on the felt to rig the poker games. US Attorney \/ EDNY<\/p>\n

And most shockingly, poker cards would sometimes be tagged with marks only visible to players wearing special glasses or contact lenses on their very eyeballs \u2014 enabling the cheaters to play a rigged game in full view of their oblivious victims, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s worse \u2014 most of this tech is widely available online, with sites advertising their cheating wares for a few hundred of thousand dollars.<\/p>\n

But that was just at the game table \u2014 the con began long before victims ever sat down to play, and could get scary once the cards were down.<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s latest on the gambling scandal rocking the NBA:<\/p>\n

Mafiosos would lure their high-roller targets \u2014 known within the criminal circle as \u201cfish\u201d \u2014 to their secret games using former NBA players \u2014 known as \u201cface cards\u201d \u2014 which in this scheme allegedly included Hall of Famer and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n

Those players were allegedly in on the scheme, and would receive a cut of the dirty winnings.<\/p>\n

Billups seen playing poker in 2019 with suspects Sophia Wei (center) and Saul Becher (behind). Obtained by NYPost<\/p>\n

Sometimes every player at the table \u2014 except for the mark \u2014 was in on the scam, with players winning and losing hands as needed to trick their target into betting more and more until they lost.<\/p>\n

Then once the game was over \u2014 one series of games in summer 2023 netted $1.8 million from a single victim \u2014 mobsters would allegedly use \u201cthreats and intimidation\u201d to make sure the losers paid up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the Rigged Poker Scheme, the defendants and their co-conspirators defrauded Victims of millions of dollars,\u201d the indictment from the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York read.<\/p>\n

\tThe FBI has arrested 31 people involved in a rigged poker game ring backed by the New York City organized crime families.<\/p>\n

Ernest Aiello \u2014 reputed Bonanno mobster<\/p>\n

Nelson \u201cSpanish G\u201d Alvarez<\/p>\n

Louis \u201cLou Ap\u201d Apicella<\/p>\n

Ammar \u201cFlapper Poker\u201d Awawdeh<\/p>\n

Saul Becher \u2014 professional poker player<\/p>\n

Chauncey Billups \u2014 Portland Trail Blazers coach, NBA Hall of Famer and 2004 NBA champion<\/p>\n

Matthew \u201cThe Wrestler\u201d Daddino<\/p>\n

Eric \u201cSpooky\u201d Earnest<\/p>\n

Lee Fama \u2014 professional poker player<\/p>\n

John Gallo<\/p>\n

Marco Garzon<\/p>\n

Thomas \u201cTommy Juice\u201d Gelardo \u2014 reputed Lucchese mobster charged in 2013 for\u00a0beating porn star girlfriend<\/a><\/p>\n

Jamie Gilet<\/p>\n

Tony \u201cBlack Tony\u201d Goodson<\/p>\n

Kenny Han<\/p>\n

Shane \u201cSugar\u201d Henne<\/p>\n

Osman \u201cAlbanian Bruce\u201d Hoti<\/p>\n

Horatio Hu<\/p>\n

Zhen \u201cScruli\u201d Hu<\/p>\n

Damon \u201cDee Jones\u201d Jones \u2014 NBA player from 1998 to 2009<\/p>\n

Joseph Lanni<\/p>\n

John \u201cJohn South\u201d Mazzola<\/p>\n

Curtis Meeks<\/p>\n

Nicholas Minucci<\/p>\n

Michael Renzulli<\/p>\n

Anthony Ruggiero Jr.<\/p>\n

Anthony \u201cDoc\u201d Shnayderman<\/p>\n

Robert \u201cBlack Rob\u201d Stroud<\/p>\n

Seth Trustman<\/p>\n

Sophia \u201cPookie\u201d Wei<\/p>\n

Julius Ziliani<\/p>\n

\u201cVictims of the Rigger Poker Scheme believed they were participating in \u2018straight\u2019 illegal poker games and that they were gambling against other participants on equal footing,\u201d it added. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn reality, however, the defendants and their co-conspirators, who constituted the remaining participants purportedly playing in the poker games, worked together on cheating teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

The con had begun at least by 2019, prosecutors alleged, with many of the games taking place in the heart of New York City and involving members of the Lucchese, Genovese, Gambino La Cosa Nostra and Bonanno crime families, prosecutors alleged.<\/p>\n

More than 30 people have been charged<\/a> in the poker scheme, with the games allegedly taking place in Manhattan, the Hamptons, Las Vegas and Miami.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NYC mafiosos and NBA stars used a combination of high-tech contraptions and old-school gambling tricks to swindle hapless…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10377,10429,6239,57,6114,10378,9,11,10,10692,10664,9133,10693,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-14375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-chauncey-billups","9":"tag-gambling","10":"tag-mafia","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-nba-betting","13":"tag-nba-gambling-scandal-2025","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-news","17":"tag-organized-crime","18":"tag-poker","19":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","20":"tag-scams","21":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}