The NBA Ref and the Gambino Family
Tim Donaghy, the former NBA referee who was convicted for betting on games he was officiating, appeared on 60 Minutes last night to talk about, among other things, how the Gambino crime family allegedly got its hooks into him:
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The mob found out about it and wanted in on the action. That's when Donaghy discovered what it means to be really scared. It started outside a hotel at Philadelphia's airport: the FBI says two men associated with the Gambino crime family requested a meeting with Donaghy and took him for a ride. "They came down and picked me up," Donaghy remembered. "They basically told me that I needed to give them the picks. And if I didn't that it's a possibility that somebody would go down and visit my wife and kids in Florida." Donaghy said he believed them and was scared. From then on his picks were relayed to the mob. Asked how he communicated his bets to the mob, Donaghy said, "I would discuss it with a high school friend of mine, who would pass the information along to them." * * * [T]he FBI made a very conservative estimate that the mob made at least a few million dollars off Donaghy's picks. Donaghy said the mob was paying him $2,000 per correct pick - peanuts considering they were making millions. * * * As it turned out, his mob connection brought him down. The FBI, which was monitoring mob phone calls, heard that an NBA ref was betting on games.
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