{"id":18031,"date":"2025-10-27T09:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T09:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/18031\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T09:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T09:04:08","slug":"antonio-gates-allegedly-hosted-and-played-in-rigged-miami-poker-game-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/18031\/","title":{"rendered":"Antonio Gates allegedly hosted and played in rigged Miami poker game: report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Antonio Gates allegedly hosted and played in a rigged Miami poker game, according to a new report.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PabloTorre\/status\/1982512633996870047\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sports investigative journalist Pablo Torre reported<\/a> on Sunday that the Hall of Fame tight end hosted and participated in an allegedly rigged game that was organized by Curtis Meeks, who was indicted by federal prosecutors as part of the massive gambling scandal that rocked the NBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Details were limited, but Torre\u2019s report follows a <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/25\/us-news\/shellshocked-nba-mob-poker-victim-was-shaken-down-for-1m\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">report by The Post on Saturday<\/a>, where one purported victim said that he and his friends had been scammed of nearly $1 million, with an ex-NFL player serving as the \u201cface card\u201d for a game in which Meeks was a main participant.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37493880\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2025-pro-football-inductee-antonio-109135114.jpg\" alt=\"Antonio Gates speaking at his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.\" class=\"wp-image-37493880\"  \/>Antonio Gates speaking at his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Aaron Josefczyk\/UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n<p>The federal indictment that was unsealed last week named more than 30 people and painted a picture of separate elaborate sports betting and rigged poker game schemes that involved Trail Blazers head coach Chauncy Billups, Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Federal prosecutors alleged that Billups had been involved as a \u201cface card\u201d for the rigged poker games, with mob-linked organizers using him to lure \u201cfish\u201d into the high-tech scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gates has not publicly commented on the report and it\u2019s unclear if his alleged involvement is related to the rigged poker scheme that federal prosecutors had been probing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Follow The Post\u2019s latest on the gambling scandal rocking the NBA:<\/p>\n<p>The source that spoke with The Post could not say if the game he played in was part of the same poker ring, but he said Meeks was participating in the game that they were playing in and noted that \u201cwe would never have been there if not for the professional athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The person did not name the athlete in The Post\u2019s report.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\tThe FBI has arrested 31 people involved in a rigged poker game ring backed by the New York City organized crime families.<\/p>\n<p>Ernest Aiello \u2014 reputed Bonanno mobster<\/p>\n<p>Nelson \u201cSpanish G\u201d Alvarez<\/p>\n<p>Louis \u201cLou Ap\u201d Apicella<\/p>\n<p>Ammar \u201cFlapper Poker\u201d Awawdeh<\/p>\n<p>Saul Becher \u2014 professional poker player<\/p>\n<p>Chauncey Billups \u2014 Portland Trail Blazers coach, NBA Hall of Famer and 2004 NBA champion<\/p>\n<p>Matthew \u201cThe Wrestler\u201d Daddino<\/p>\n<p>Eric \u201cSpooky\u201d Earnest<\/p>\n<p>Lee Fama \u2014 professional poker player<\/p>\n<p>John Gallo<\/p>\n<p>Marco Garzon<\/p>\n<p>Thomas \u201cTommy Juice\u201d Gelardo \u2014 reputed Lucchese mobster charged in 2013 for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2014\/06\/12\/reputed-mobster-sues-city-for-keeping-him-locked-up\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">beating porn star girlfriend<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jamie Gilet<\/p>\n<p>Tony \u201cBlack Tony\u201d Goodson<\/p>\n<p>Kenny Han<\/p>\n<p>Shane \u201cSugar\u201d Henne<\/p>\n<p>Osman \u201cAlbanian Bruce\u201d Hoti<\/p>\n<p>Horatio Hu<\/p>\n<p>Zhen \u201cScruli\u201d Hu<\/p>\n<p>Damon \u201cDee Jones\u201d Jones \u2014 NBA player from 1998 to 2009<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Lanni<\/p>\n<p>John \u201cJohn South\u201d Mazzola<\/p>\n<p>Curtis Meeks<\/p>\n<p>Nicholas Minucci<\/p>\n<p>Michael Renzulli<\/p>\n<p>Anthony Ruggiero Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Anthony \u201cDoc\u201d Shnayderman<\/p>\n<p>Robert \u201cBlack Rob\u201d Stroud<\/p>\n<p>Seth Trustman<\/p>\n<p>Sophia \u201cPookie\u201d Wei<\/p>\n<p>Julius Ziliani<\/p>\n<p>The federal indictment sent shockwaves through the sports world and the idea that athletes from outside the NBA could be involved is sure to shake things up even more.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gates was just inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August after spending his entire career with the Chargers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"37493883\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/san-diego-chargers-tight-end-108805064.jpg\" alt=\"San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates reacts after a reception.\" class=\"wp-image-37493883\"  \/>San Diego Chargers tight end Antonio Gates reacts after a reception against the Houston Texans during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013. AP<\/p>\n<p>In 16 seasons in the NFL, Gates recorded 11,841 receiving yards and 116 receiving touchdowns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He last played in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Antonio Gates allegedly hosted and played in a rigged Miami poker game, according to a new report.\u00a0 Sports&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[12439,10378,9,11,10,22,319,6115],"class_list":["post-18031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-antonio-gates","tag-nba-gambling-scandal-2025","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-sports-betting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18031","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=18031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}