{"id":50794,"date":"2025-11-24T20:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/50794\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T20:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:39:12","slug":"all-31-suspects-in-bombshell-nba-poker-case-hauled-into-nyc-court-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/50794\/","title":{"rendered":"All 31 suspects in bombshell NBA poker case hauled into NYC court"},"content":{"rendered":"

All 31 suspects in the explosive NBA poker case<\/a> were hauled into Brooklyn court Monday, squeezing into the largest courtroom in the building \u2014 as the feds hinted at least some may be\u00a0 trying to cut deals.<\/p>\n

Hoops Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups, 49, landed $5 million bail at the federal proceeding, while fellow defendants Sophia \u201cPookie\u201d Wei, reputed Bonanno crime-family mobster Thomas \u201cTommy Juice\u201d Gelardo and the rest of the alleged crew tied to the headline-grabbing case were there for status conferences.<\/p>\n

Chauncey Billups (center), suspended NBA head coach for the Portland Trailblazers, exits Brooklyn federal court on Monday. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Billups stands with lawyer Marc Mukasey before US District Judge Ramon Reyes in Brooklyn court Monday. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Billups \u2014 who has been suspended\u00a0 as head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers over the scandal \u2014 appeared in a gray suit and monogrammed \u201cCB\u201d socks at the\u00a0 hearing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A prosecutor disclosed to the court that several suspects accused in the scheme \u2014 which allegedly defrauded victims of more than $7 million \u2014 may reach plea deals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith respect to some of the defendants, plea negotiations have already begun,\u201d Assistant US Attorney Michael Gibaldi told the court.<\/p>\n

Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones arrives at Brooklyn federal court Monday. AP<\/p>\n

Billups pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering and was released after posting the $5 million bond secured by his Colorado home and signed by his wife and daughter, who attended the hearing.<\/p>\n

The scene unfolded in a ceremonial, oil-painting-filled courtroom that is typically used for naturalization ceremonies, but which court officials made available for the unusually large number of defendants in the case.<\/p>\n

Billups sat with his lawyers at one defense table, while a separate table was filled by Gelardo and another reputed gangster who allegedly dealt into the high-stakes scam: Angelo Ruggiero Jr.<\/a>, the son of the late Gambino captain Angelo \u201cQuack Quack\u201d Ruggiero Sr., who was close friends with notorious Gambino boss John Gotti.<\/p>\n

Sophia \u201cPookie\u201d Wei (left) leaves Brooklyn court Monday. Gregory P. Mango<\/p>\n

Gelardo and Ruggiero Jr. wore tan jail scrubs and were brought to court from Brooklyn\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center, where they are the only two defendants being held without bail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The courthouse gallery behind Billups and the jailed reputed mobsters was filled with other alleged participants in the plot, including former NBA player Damon Jones<\/a> and poker players Saul Becher and Wei.<\/p>\n

Billups and Jones are accused of acting as \u201cface cards\u201d to attract high rollers to big-money poker games that were fixed using sophisticated cheating tech, including rigged X-ray card tables, card shufflers and special glasses and contact lenses.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department announced the splashy poker case at the same time as another\u00a0eyebrow-raising NBA indictment charging Miami Heat guard Terry \u201cScary Terry\u201d Rozier, Jones\u00a0\u2014 a former teammate and close pal of\u00a0NBA superstar LeBron James\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and others with leaking secret insider information to a sports betting ring. Jones is charged in both cases.<\/p>\n

Billups had been coaching the Trail Blazers at the time of his stunning October arrest and was formerly the MVP of the 2004 NBA Finals as a point guard for the Detroit Pistons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All 31 suspects in the explosive NBA poker case were hauled into Brooklyn court Monday, squeezing into the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3283,98,100,99,57,21,10378,9,24,63,319],"class_list":{"0":"post-50794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-arrests","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-gambling-scandal-2025","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50794","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=50794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}