New York — Twelve defendants caught up in an investigation into rigged poker games allegedly involving NBA figures and members of the mafia are set to make plea agreements in the federal case, prosecutors said Wednesday. They said the formal plea deals will be entered in the coming days. The names of those pleading were not released.
Prosecutors also said nine other defendants are still in discussions about possible plea agreements.
All 31 defendants in the case — including NBA Hall of Famer turned coach Chauncey Billups and former player Damon Jones — had an appearance Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn.
A source with knowledge of the discussions said Billups is not among those expected to take a plea deal. Billups, Jones and the others have previously pleaded not guilty.
The defendants were snagged during a sweeping FBI crackdown on alleged illegal gambling schemes involving poker games and sports betting in October.
The 12 defendants set to plea were part of the federal case focusing on rigged poker games. The other case revolves around bets on basketball games, which were allegedly placed using insider information related to injury reports. In total, 34 people were charged across two indictments.
Prosecutors allege that the elaborate cheating scheme involving high-stakes poker games operated by mafia figures netted more than $7 million.
Prosecutors said in a court filing that the government has produced over 100,000 pages of financial records and telephone records, over 800 pages of surveillance photographs, and pole camera footage from a series of poker games held at a residence on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.
According to the indictment, wealthy people were invited to “rigged games” with well-known former professional athletes, known as “face cards,” who received a portion of proceeds from “cheating teams.” The games were orchestrated using high-tech gadgets, including X-ray tables, a rigged card-shuffling machine, hidden cameras and glasses designed to detect otherwise invisible markings on cards.
Billups and Jones are accused of participating in a game in Las Vegas in 2019, court documents said, that used a device described as a “rigged shuffling machine” that was secretly altered to read the cards. The FBI said a victim was defrauded of $50,000 in that game.
Several alleged members of the mafia, including Angelo Ruggiero, Jr., who prosecutors say was a member of the Genovese crime family and an organizer of one of the recurring games, are accused of participating in the rigged poker schemes. Prosecutors allege Thomas Gelardo, also known as “Juice,” whom they called an associate of the Bonanno crime family, supervised the Lexington Avenue poker game and took a cut of the proceeds.
Both are being held in the federal detention center in Brooklyn. Another defendant, Curtis Meeks, is also in custody.