November 14, 2025 • 19 mins
Emily and Shane are in Las Vegas for BravoCon and diving into the criminal enterprise that put this city on the map. They talk about the mafia’s influence on the city and the crimes they’re associated with in 2025.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, guys, Welcome to another episode Illegally Brunette. I will
be your host, Emily Simpson and Shane Okay, we are
recording this podcast from Vegas and we are here at Bravocon.
So we thought it would be appropriate to do an
episode on the Mob and the new NBA scandal that's
(00:21):
come out, because if you know anything about Vegas, you
have to know that Vegas was.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Built by Ugsy.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I had the Mob? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
So organized crime played a foundational role in shaping early
Las Vegas. Beginning in the forties, mobsters from cities like Chicago,
New York, Cleveland, and Kansas City invested heavily in building casinos.
Along this trip, figures such as Bugsy Siegel, Meyer, Lansky,
and later Midwest crime syndicates help finance and operate major resorts,
(00:53):
using them both as profit centers and as fronts for
laundering money. So Jeff Shoemaker, who is the vice president
of Exhibits and Programs at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, says,
organized crime in New York, Chicago, Miami they saw that
Vegas was an opportunity to pretend to go legit. There
had been illegal gambling clubs all over the country. For years,
(01:16):
the Mob would pay off the local sheriff and judges,
but still they'd raid the place every so often and
shut it down to give the appearance of law and order.
Rather than that, every couple of months, the Mob decided
to emigrate to Las Vegas to get involved with the
casino industry.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
You know, we've been to the mall. I think I've
been to the Mob Museum twice.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Actually, well, once with me, I don't know, another time.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
You want must have been with some.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Other man, probably, yes, but I've been. I think I've
been for them one time. You love that place, I do.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Know, I do.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I first of all, I love the Mob, I do.
And I love Mob movies like casino. Great movie The Godfather.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Remember when, yes, Emily watched The Godfather backwards?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I did.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
She can't read, she watched it backwards.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Okay, this is two thousand and six. I was living
in Sacramento.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Alone and was very confused.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Shane and I worked together. This is pre like I
had no This is like pre streaming services. So the
only way I could watch TV was I had to
go to Blockbuster, and I had to rent movies, and
so I rented The Godfather, And because the Godfather's Father
is so long, it came with two discs, and I
think someone put the discs in backwards.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
So I thought you watched Godfather too, And then you
watched one. No, I watched disc two.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Godfather one.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yes, I watched the second half of Godfather.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
This is why you shouldn't live alone.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
And then and then I watched the beginning and I
was so confused. Yes, okay, anyway, and you loved the
Mob ever since, and I was still entertained.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I loved it, So I love Mob movies.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
The MOB quickly demonstrated that it knew how to operate
casinos efficiently, and its presence helped accelerate Las vegas transformation
from a small desert stopover into a major urban center.
As Shoemaker notes, remember he's the vice president of programming
at the Mob Museum. He noted that the city needed
people with real gambling industry experience, So the state's gaming
(03:21):
regulations included a grandfather clause that permitted gaming applicants who
had been involved in illegal gambling and other jurisdictions.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
To work in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So all those people that got banned from other jurisdictions
to get to come to Vegas and start over. Yeah,
and then they have all this experience and how to cheat, and.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Here we are and here we are.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
All right?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So what that?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So it was Bugsy I think his name was Bugsy Malone.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
No, that's a TV that's a movie with Scott Bao
and Jodi Foster.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Oh, yes, musical.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
So it's Bugsy Seagull. Okay, got it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So let's talk about this recent NBA scandal that has
gone on that the Mob is involved in. So in
October of twenty twenty five, which is now, no, it's November.
It was last month, federal authorities unsealed indictments and a
major gambling operation involving mafia members, former and current NBA
(04:19):
figures and high stakes poker games.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
What state does this end?
Speaker 1 (04:23):
These poker games and all the scandals going on in
Las Vegas, Manhattan, Miami and the handles multiple jurisdictions. I
feel like that's like different crowds the Hamptons. Well, yeah,
like you have your Las Vegas crowd, then you have
like your Hampton's crowd.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
I don't know if there's any boundaries to be drawn
for crime, but.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I don't know. It just seems like different.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
But it's also.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
People sports betting. Well, no, it wasn't sports bank. It
was truly just gambling with cards, right, yeah, I'm telling
you not okay, the look out your face was so
I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So there's two related criminal schemes that are at the
heart of the case, A rigged underground poker ring and
an illegal sports betting using insider NBA information. So those
are the sports betting and cards, it's right. So let's
talk about who is involved in this. So Chauncey Billups
(05:17):
is the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers and a
former NBA All Star. He is charged in the poker scheme.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Was he okay? Go ahead? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Damon Jones, a former NBA player and coach, is also implicated.
Terry Rosier Rosier Rosier, current Miami Heat player you can
clearly tell I don't follow sports, is accused in the
sports betting part of the case, allegedly providing insider information
to betters. What is the insider information, like who's hurt,
(05:47):
who's playing like that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Well, I don't know, but it also might be pulling
people out like hey, so and so is not going
to be starting up on this game, you know, yeah,
I mean that's an example of some things.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, like who's in the lineup, who's hurt?
Speaker 4 (06:02):
I think if I remember correctly, assuming this is the
correct one, they would do things like that. So they
would actually pull like the coaches might pull players from
the court so that way they have less chance of winning.
Or whether it be maybe maybe there's bets on points
from certain players.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
So they would pull them out because much thing.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
But there's a lot of different ways to bets, not
just win or lose. It could be by how many
points and things like that, or what player gets so
many points and so then if this coach is in
on it and he pulls you know, so and so out,
and then now they win the.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Bets, so prosecutors. Prosecutors say, associates from four New York
mafia families.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I don't why wasn't I born into a mania family?
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Why do moms families have associates? Like is there a
junior associate a senior associate? Well, there's a hierarchy to
partner after seven years. Yeah, I just want to know why.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I wasn't born into a mafia family. There's the there's
four New York mafia families, the Banano family, the Gambinos,
the Genovies, and the Luccicies.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You don't want to be in a mob family.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I don't know, it sounds no eccentric, no, no, no.
So these four families, these New York mafia families helped
run this ring.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
This is my favorite part.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
A Las Vegas figure named Shane sugar Hennan is among
those arrested, and he is to have He is alleged
to have ties to betting networks O Sugar Shade.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
All right, so.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
How did this scam work? So the poker games were
not ordinary? Prosecutors alleged that the participants use sophisticated cheating technologies,
and sophisticated it was. Some of the tech reportedly use
was altered shuffling machines that secretly read the cards. See
this is crazy. This is when you get to the
(07:56):
point where there is so much tech, like, how do
you how do you play these games anymore in a
leget way without there just being some Well.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Clearly these people didn't know that they're being duped, but
they put the cards in the misshuffling machines and the
shuffling machines would shuffle, but it would also read the
card and then it didn't just read the cards to
know like what card is where, but it would know.
So you would insert in the machine five players for example,
and then you shuffle shuffle the cards, and then it
(08:27):
would know player one has is going to win or
player two is gonna win because of the way the cards,
because it could read the card is so fast, and
then you know, I don't know how, but there's obviously
communications and things like that, so then I would know,
you know, player number two is gonna win. So maybe
I would fold or mean I would be hard, or
I don't know because I don't know if they're playing
Texas hold them, or what kind of cards you were playing,
But it would determine the outcome before the before anyone
(08:48):
even looked at their cards.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
So they were also used X ray poker tables, hidden
cameras and chip trays, and even contact lenses or glasses
that could detect marked cards.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Yes, and they had they had some technology where you
could shuffle like one deck without a machine. You shuffle
the deck and stack the deck right and just put
it on the felt table and then you'd have your
the dealer, for example, or someone would have their phone
on the table face down or whatever, just looking like
that's where they're placing their phone, but it's not a
(09:20):
real phone. Their phone would have a camera some type
of scanning device and it would scan the side of
the deck that's stacked, and it's like a barcode and
it would read and it would know right then and
there who's.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Going to have what card and who's going to win.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Okay, So I feel like the only way that you
could legitimately play poker is if everybody just shows up
naked and with a card table and that's it.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
It's kind of that's my kind of card game.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
That's that's it.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's all you're allowed to have in the room is
like a card table, a plastic fold out card table.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Wow, you should net.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
You should sho no phones, no clothes, no glasses, no
contact lenses.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Sounds like fun, but you may be getting into this
when you're looking into it further. But they would use
NBA stars also to attract big.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Players because they get to play with them.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Yeah, So it's like, hey, we're having a card game,
so and so and so and so and all these people.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Are gonna be there, and you know, I don't know
what NBA.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Players, and I don't want to like claim, but they're
saying all these people are gonna be there. So then
you're thinking, sweet, I'm gonna go be with some high rollers,
some some athletes. If you're an NBA fan, there's a
big deal. You're gonna bet big, You're gonna you know,
you're gonna play, and then you're gonna lose all your money.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
So there was an organized system. Information from the rigged
machines would be passed to co conspirators, who then signaled
winning hands to other players to exploit the rig.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
When players lost and refuse to pay, Prosecutors say the
mob used intimidation or threats to collect the debts. I mean,
that's that's a win when like you lose and then
you have the mob comes after you. The profits were
laundered through shell companies, cash exchanges, and even cryptocurrency. According
(11:10):
to officials, this game defrauded victims of tens of millions
of dollars. This case is being seen as a stark
reminder that organized crime LaCOSA Nostra is still operating and
adapting even using modern technology to pull off fraud for
the NBA. The scandal raises serious questions about integrity, given
that active and former players coaches are implicated in both
(11:30):
gambling and rigged poker.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
That's like, how can you watch a.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Game and not think that now that people there's you know,
like they're playing a certain way or losing or missing
shots or I mean, there's no integrity in the game
when you know things like this, that's what it's crime. Like,
how do you restore what I'm saying, but I'm saying,
how do you restore integrity to a game? Now?
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Well, you know, because they came in and they cleaned house,
so you kind of hope it. You know, they're they'll
probably regulate a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I don't know. I don't know for that. Ask your
mob family.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I don't have a mob family. I was not born
into the mob. I was born in midwest Ohio.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, well, ask your mom why she wasn't part of
a mob family.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
A separate related indictment also accused Damon Jones and others
of being part of a sports betting scheme that utilized
insider information about player injuries or intentions to influence bets
on NBA games. How did here's my question, how did
they How did it get to the point that the
FBI was investigating?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Did someone was there? Was there a league started it? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I don't know, but someone had to come forward, don't
you think.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yeah, something some hint, some some whistle blow or something,
some whistleblower, right, But I did. I think they were
investigating as far as back as like ten years, right,
So I mean it's it's been ongoing.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So they just allow this to go on for a decade.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Well, I don't know if it's quite a yet. Well, no,
you have to investigate. You have to.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
What are you gonna do just walk into the mob
and say, let me see your card shuffling machines?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
No, no, no, no, no, you have to. I've seen
this and mob movies. You have to. When they're you
find out where they meet.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Like at what restaurant, and then you have to put
surveillance in. But you have to wait until they're all gone,
and then you have to sneak in and you have
to put surveillance cameras in and then you sit in
the van and you listen.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Is that what you saw on disc two of Godfather.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yes, it is the indictment's name members of old.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
In a panel van out in the story. I've seen
it or something.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
And then they're listening the terminator termites, terminator, not termite
inspection whatever.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Yeah, that's that's very comical, like school, like old school.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
So you're saying it's more sophisticated now, I would think so.
I would think so.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
The indictment's name members and associates of the Gambino Genevie's,
Banano and Lucisi. I don't know if I'm saying that right,
but I like to say it. Lucii, Lucci Si mafia
families are being as being a moddyre she s here
you go, as being involved in organizing the games, collecting debts,
and using threats and violence to enforce payments. So the
(14:09):
question is is the mob still as active as it
once was? Apparently so, federal agencies consistently confirmed that LaCOSA Nostra,
the Italian American mafia and Sicilian mafia, remains active, with
families in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Chicago, and a
few smaller regions.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I believe it.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
They still maintain traditional high hierarchical hierarchical structures. Boss, here's
your structure, you ready, Boss, underboss, captains, soldiers, junior associates
and associates. No, it's associated junior associates in them.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I'm going to I'm going to reach out.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
However, fbicked crackdowns throughout the eighties and nineties, especially Rico prosecutions.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Well, we know why Rico was enacted. Why was Rico enacted.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Because of the mob?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Exactly because that was their way to get stand.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
For Oh man, No, it's not Rico suaveianization.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yes, that's it.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
However, FBI crackdowns throughout the eighties and nineties, especially Rico,
crippled many families.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Membership numbers are the membership numbers are down.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Recruitment is low.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
It's really it's low.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Morale, the mob morale right now.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, they got to get their numbers out, and their
political influence is nowhere near what it once was.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
There.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
What their political influence? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:41):
What's that mean? Like? Did they campaign? No?
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I think they were able to bribe politicians. Yes, I
don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Did you ever watch Growing Up Gottie, I've seen I
remember seeing it like here and there, Yes, I thought
it was ridiculous because I don't like glamorizing that stuff.
I remember an episode where he got his grandfather tattooed
on his arm or something like.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
The grand the grandson's.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's why I said his grandfather.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Right, yeah, so it's a Victoria Gotti was the mother
and she was the daughter of John Gotti. Correct, And
then they there was a reality show about their family,
and then she had the two boys.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Right. I don't know if the multiple boys.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
What year do you think that was.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I think it was premor it was pre emily, definitely
pre emily, so it was prior to two thousand and
twenty years ago.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
But I remember thinking like, they, Okay, that's fine, you
can you probably had he probably had experiences with his
grandfather as a grandson and grandfather.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
That's fine. I want to take away from that.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
But I'm sorry, he's a murderer and you're you're trying
to like and he's dead and gone and you're tattooing
him on your shoulder to look.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Like I don't know, it's just like he's a killer.
You can't do that. You can't.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
But I mean, that's like you is that what you
want to do? That kind of person you want to be.
You want to glamorize your grandfather, Like I'm telling he's
murdered many people, maybe not with his hands.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
But at his instruction.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Right, Yeah, he's dead now, John Gotti's dead, right, didn't
die in prison?
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Yeah, yeah, he died in his celf. Twenty three hour Lockwow.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
I think the mom in Mafia is glamorized in all
the movies. Even though it shows all the murders and
the corruption, it's still I don't.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Know, I know, I just I just remember thinking that.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
It's about the family.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, it's family values, it's about the family.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Wait, did the mafia?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
The mafia came into existence because of prohibition?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (17:37):
That's where it came from, right in the twenties.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
I think it grew there. I think goes back to
Italy though it truly does. And then but then they
can actually go back thousands of years biblically.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But go ahead, Oh well that was very profound.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, say that for another conversation. That's a different pods.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
But it became the mafia became I don't want to
say popular, but during the twenties, during prohibition, right, because
they it was the underground of the beau.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Was illegal and so yeah, but I mean they do
all kinds of things, and they have like garbage trucks
and stuff, and you know that's probably how they hide
the bodies they go pick up.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
No, but you know what, I started watching the other
day and I watched I think like the first three episodes.
It was The Sopranos. I've never watched that before, okay,
because I read an article about the ending of the Sopranos,
so how so many people don't know how to interpret it,
and it was like this bizarre ending and the very
last episode in the finale.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
So then I go to watch that one in order
or backwards.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
I'm going to try to start at the beginning and
go in order. Okay, that's my plan.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
If you need help, okay, let me know, thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
So the mafia is not as powerful or visible as
it once was during the mid nineteen hundreds, but it
is still active, organized and profitable in several regions. It's
just evolved into a quieter, more financially driven version of itself.
And they are recruiting more members currently, okay, because membership
numbers are down.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
I hope they file bankruptcy that would be better. They
need to go away. They're killers. Mafia is killed. You
say you want to be born in a family of killers?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
No?
Speaker 1 (19:08):
No, well you know I did see in The Godfather
they killed the horse and that that just did it.
That's where the line I draw the line at that.
When he woke up with the horse head in the bed,
I was like, I'm out. I don't want to be
a part.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Of a horse killers. We got a problem.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
I have a serious problem with that.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Okay, okay, if it was a pony, would that be
even more.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, I can't even go there. Thank you everyone for
listening to this episode of Legally Brunette. As always, you
can follow us on our own feed, so please make
sure to do that. That's where all our episodes will be.
And also please leave us a review. And if you
have any cases that you would like us to discuss
or argue about or banter about, we would love to
hear from you, so please dm me on Instagram and
(19:47):
thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Thank you
Hi, guys, Welcome to another episode Illegally Brunette. I will
be your host, Emily Simpson and Shane Okay, we are
recording this podcast from Vegas and we are here at Bravocon.
So we thought it would be appropriate to do an
episode on the Mob and the new NBA scandal that's
(00:21):
come out, because if you know anything about Vegas, you
have to know that Vegas was.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Built by Ugsy.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I had the Mob? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
So organized crime played a foundational role in shaping early
Las Vegas. Beginning in the forties, mobsters from cities like Chicago,
New York, Cleveland, and Kansas City invested heavily in building casinos.
Along this trip, figures such as Bugsy Siegel, Meyer, Lansky,
and later Midwest crime syndicates help finance and operate major resorts,
(00:53):
using them both as profit centers and as fronts for
laundering money. So Jeff Shoemaker, who is the vice president
of Exhibits and Programs at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, says,
organized crime in New York, Chicago, Miami they saw that
Vegas was an opportunity to pretend to go legit. There
had been illegal gambling clubs all over the country. For years,
(01:16):
the Mob would pay off the local sheriff and judges,
but still they'd raid the place every so often and
shut it down to give the appearance of law and order.
Rather than that, every couple of months, the Mob decided
to emigrate to Las Vegas to get involved with the
casino industry.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
You know, we've been to the mall. I think I've
been to the Mob Museum twice.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Actually, well, once with me, I don't know, another time.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
You want must have been with some.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Other man, probably, yes, but I've been. I think I've
been for them one time. You love that place, I do.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Know, I do.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I first of all, I love the Mob, I do.
And I love Mob movies like casino. Great movie The Godfather.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Remember when, yes, Emily watched The Godfather backwards?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I did.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
She can't read, she watched it backwards.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Okay, this is two thousand and six. I was living
in Sacramento.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Alone and was very confused.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Shane and I worked together. This is pre like I
had no This is like pre streaming services. So the
only way I could watch TV was I had to
go to Blockbuster, and I had to rent movies, and
so I rented The Godfather, And because the Godfather's Father
is so long, it came with two discs, and I
think someone put the discs in backwards.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
So I thought you watched Godfather too, And then you
watched one. No, I watched disc two.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Godfather one.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yes, I watched the second half of Godfather.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
This is why you shouldn't live alone.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
And then and then I watched the beginning and I
was so confused. Yes, okay, anyway, and you loved the
Mob ever since, and I was still entertained.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I loved it, So I love Mob movies.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
The MOB quickly demonstrated that it knew how to operate
casinos efficiently, and its presence helped accelerate Las vegas transformation
from a small desert stopover into a major urban center.
As Shoemaker notes, remember he's the vice president of programming
at the Mob Museum. He noted that the city needed
people with real gambling industry experience, So the state's gaming
(03:21):
regulations included a grandfather clause that permitted gaming applicants who
had been involved in illegal gambling and other jurisdictions.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
To work in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So all those people that got banned from other jurisdictions
to get to come to Vegas and start over. Yeah,
and then they have all this experience and how to cheat, and.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Here we are and here we are.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
All right?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So what that?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So it was Bugsy I think his name was Bugsy Malone.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
No, that's a TV that's a movie with Scott Bao
and Jodi Foster.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Oh, yes, musical.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
So it's Bugsy Seagull. Okay, got it.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So let's talk about this recent NBA scandal that has
gone on that the Mob is involved in. So in
October of twenty twenty five, which is now, no, it's November.
It was last month, federal authorities unsealed indictments and a
major gambling operation involving mafia members, former and current NBA
(04:19):
figures and high stakes poker games.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
What state does this end?
Speaker 1 (04:23):
These poker games and all the scandals going on in
Las Vegas, Manhattan, Miami and the handles multiple jurisdictions. I
feel like that's like different crowds the Hamptons. Well, yeah,
like you have your Las Vegas crowd, then you have
like your Hampton's crowd.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
I don't know if there's any boundaries to be drawn
for crime, but.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I don't know. It just seems like different.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
But it's also.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
People sports betting. Well, no, it wasn't sports bank. It
was truly just gambling with cards, right, yeah, I'm telling
you not okay, the look out your face was so
I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So there's two related criminal schemes that are at the
heart of the case, A rigged underground poker ring and
an illegal sports betting using insider NBA information. So those
are the sports betting and cards, it's right. So let's
talk about who is involved in this. So Chauncey Billups
(05:17):
is the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers and a
former NBA All Star. He is charged in the poker scheme.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Was he okay? Go ahead? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Damon Jones, a former NBA player and coach, is also implicated.
Terry Rosier Rosier Rosier, current Miami Heat player you can
clearly tell I don't follow sports, is accused in the
sports betting part of the case, allegedly providing insider information
to betters. What is the insider information, like who's hurt,
(05:47):
who's playing like that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Well, I don't know, but it also might be pulling
people out like hey, so and so is not going
to be starting up on this game, you know, yeah,
I mean that's an example of some things.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Yeah, like who's in the lineup, who's hurt?
Speaker 4 (06:02):
I think if I remember correctly, assuming this is the
correct one, they would do things like that. So they
would actually pull like the coaches might pull players from
the court so that way they have less chance of winning.
Or whether it be maybe maybe there's bets on points
from certain players.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
So they would pull them out because much thing.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
But there's a lot of different ways to bets, not
just win or lose. It could be by how many
points and things like that, or what player gets so
many points and so then if this coach is in
on it and he pulls you know, so and so out,
and then now they win the.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Bets, so prosecutors. Prosecutors say, associates from four New York
mafia families.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I don't why wasn't I born into a mania family?
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Why do moms families have associates? Like is there a
junior associate a senior associate? Well, there's a hierarchy to
partner after seven years. Yeah, I just want to know why.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I wasn't born into a mafia family. There's the there's
four New York mafia families, the Banano family, the Gambinos,
the Genovies, and the Luccicies.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
You don't want to be in a mob family.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I don't know, it sounds no eccentric, no, no, no.
So these four families, these New York mafia families helped
run this ring.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
This is my favorite part.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
A Las Vegas figure named Shane sugar Hennan is among
those arrested, and he is to have He is alleged
to have ties to betting networks O Sugar Shade.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
All right, so.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
How did this scam work? So the poker games were
not ordinary? Prosecutors alleged that the participants use sophisticated cheating technologies,
and sophisticated it was. Some of the tech reportedly use
was altered shuffling machines that secretly read the cards. See
this is crazy. This is when you get to the
(07:56):
point where there is so much tech, like, how do
you how do you play these games anymore in a
leget way without there just being some Well.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Clearly these people didn't know that they're being duped, but
they put the cards in the misshuffling machines and the
shuffling machines would shuffle, but it would also read the
card and then it didn't just read the cards to
know like what card is where, but it would know.
So you would insert in the machine five players for example,
and then you shuffle shuffle the cards, and then it
(08:27):
would know player one has is going to win or
player two is gonna win because of the way the cards,
because it could read the card is so fast, and
then you know, I don't know how, but there's obviously
communications and things like that, so then I would know,
you know, player number two is gonna win. So maybe
I would fold or mean I would be hard, or
I don't know because I don't know if they're playing
Texas hold them, or what kind of cards you were playing,
But it would determine the outcome before the before anyone
(08:48):
even looked at their cards.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
So they were also used X ray poker tables, hidden
cameras and chip trays, and even contact lenses or glasses
that could detect marked cards.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
Yes, and they had they had some technology where you
could shuffle like one deck without a machine. You shuffle
the deck and stack the deck right and just put
it on the felt table and then you'd have your
the dealer, for example, or someone would have their phone
on the table face down or whatever, just looking like
that's where they're placing their phone, but it's not a
(09:20):
real phone. Their phone would have a camera some type
of scanning device and it would scan the side of
the deck that's stacked, and it's like a barcode and
it would read and it would know right then and
there who's.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Going to have what card and who's going to win.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Okay, So I feel like the only way that you
could legitimately play poker is if everybody just shows up
naked and with a card table and that's it.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
It's kind of that's my kind of card game.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
That's that's it.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
That's all you're allowed to have in the room is
like a card table, a plastic fold out card table.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Wow, you should net.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
You should sho no phones, no clothes, no glasses, no
contact lenses.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
Sounds like fun, but you may be getting into this
when you're looking into it further. But they would use
NBA stars also to attract big.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
Players because they get to play with them.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
Yeah, So it's like, hey, we're having a card game,
so and so and so and so and all these people.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Are gonna be there, and you know, I don't know
what NBA.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Players, and I don't want to like claim, but they're
saying all these people are gonna be there. So then
you're thinking, sweet, I'm gonna go be with some high rollers,
some some athletes. If you're an NBA fan, there's a
big deal. You're gonna bet big, You're gonna you know,
you're gonna play, and then you're gonna lose all your money.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
So there was an organized system. Information from the rigged
machines would be passed to co conspirators, who then signaled
winning hands to other players to exploit the rig.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
When players lost and refuse to pay, Prosecutors say the
mob used intimidation or threats to collect the debts. I mean,
that's that's a win when like you lose and then
you have the mob comes after you. The profits were
laundered through shell companies, cash exchanges, and even cryptocurrency. According
(11:10):
to officials, this game defrauded victims of tens of millions
of dollars. This case is being seen as a stark
reminder that organized crime LaCOSA Nostra is still operating and
adapting even using modern technology to pull off fraud for
the NBA. The scandal raises serious questions about integrity, given
that active and former players coaches are implicated in both
(11:30):
gambling and rigged poker.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
That's like, how can you watch a.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Game and not think that now that people there's you know,
like they're playing a certain way or losing or missing
shots or I mean, there's no integrity in the game
when you know things like this, that's what it's crime. Like,
how do you restore what I'm saying, but I'm saying,
how do you restore integrity to a game? Now?
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Well, you know, because they came in and they cleaned house,
so you kind of hope it. You know, they're they'll
probably regulate a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
I don't know. I don't know for that. Ask your
mob family.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I don't have a mob family. I was not born
into the mob. I was born in midwest Ohio.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, well, ask your mom why she wasn't part of
a mob family.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
A separate related indictment also accused Damon Jones and others
of being part of a sports betting scheme that utilized
insider information about player injuries or intentions to influence bets
on NBA games. How did here's my question, how did
they How did it get to the point that the
FBI was investigating?
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Did someone was there? Was there a league started it? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
I don't know, but someone had to come forward, don't
you think.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Yeah, something some hint, some some whistle blow or something,
some whistleblower, right, But I did. I think they were
investigating as far as back as like ten years, right,
So I mean it's it's been ongoing.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
So they just allow this to go on for a decade.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Well, I don't know if it's quite a yet. Well, no,
you have to investigate. You have to.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
What are you gonna do just walk into the mob
and say, let me see your card shuffling machines?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
No, no, no, no, no, you have to. I've seen
this and mob movies. You have to. When they're you
find out where they meet.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Like at what restaurant, and then you have to put
surveillance in. But you have to wait until they're all gone,
and then you have to sneak in and you have
to put surveillance cameras in and then you sit in
the van and you listen.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Is that what you saw on disc two of Godfather.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yes, it is the indictment's name members of old.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
In a panel van out in the story. I've seen
it or something.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
And then they're listening the terminator termites, terminator, not termite
inspection whatever.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Yeah, that's that's very comical, like school, like old school.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
So you're saying it's more sophisticated now, I would think so.
I would think so.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
The indictment's name members and associates of the Gambino Genevie's,
Banano and Lucisi. I don't know if I'm saying that right,
but I like to say it. Lucii, Lucci Si mafia
families are being as being a moddyre she s here
you go, as being involved in organizing the games, collecting debts,
and using threats and violence to enforce payments. So the
(14:09):
question is is the mob still as active as it
once was? Apparently so, federal agencies consistently confirmed that LaCOSA Nostra,
the Italian American mafia and Sicilian mafia, remains active, with
families in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Chicago, and a
few smaller regions.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I believe it.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
They still maintain traditional high hierarchical hierarchical structures. Boss, here's
your structure, you ready, Boss, underboss, captains, soldiers, junior associates
and associates. No, it's associated junior associates in them.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I'm going to I'm going to reach out.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
However, fbicked crackdowns throughout the eighties and nineties, especially Rico prosecutions.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Well, we know why Rico was enacted. Why was Rico enacted.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Because of the mob?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Exactly because that was their way to get stand.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
For Oh man, No, it's not Rico suaveianization.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yes, that's it.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
However, FBI crackdowns throughout the eighties and nineties, especially Rico,
crippled many families.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Membership numbers are the membership numbers are down.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Recruitment is low.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
It's really it's low.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Morale, the mob morale right now.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, they got to get their numbers out, and their
political influence is nowhere near what it once was.
Speaker 4 (15:37):
There.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
What their political influence? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:41):
What's that mean? Like? Did they campaign? No?
Speaker 3 (15:44):
I think they were able to bribe politicians. Yes, I
don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Did you ever watch Growing Up Gottie, I've seen I
remember seeing it like here and there, Yes, I thought
it was ridiculous because I don't like glamorizing that stuff.
I remember an episode where he got his grandfather tattooed
on his arm or something like.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
The grand the grandson's.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
That's why I said his grandfather.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Right, yeah, so it's a Victoria Gotti was the mother
and she was the daughter of John Gotti. Correct, And
then they there was a reality show about their family,
and then she had the two boys.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Right. I don't know if the multiple boys.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
What year do you think that was.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I think it was premor it was pre emily, definitely
pre emily, so it was prior to two thousand and
twenty years ago.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
But I remember thinking like, they, Okay, that's fine, you
can you probably had he probably had experiences with his
grandfather as a grandson and grandfather.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
That's fine. I want to take away from that.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
But I'm sorry, he's a murderer and you're you're trying
to like and he's dead and gone and you're tattooing
him on your shoulder to look.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Like I don't know, it's just like he's a killer.
You can't do that. You can't.
Speaker 4 (16:52):
But I mean, that's like you is that what you
want to do? That kind of person you want to be.
You want to glamorize your grandfather, Like I'm telling he's
murdered many people, maybe not with his hands.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
But at his instruction.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Right, Yeah, he's dead now, John Gotti's dead, right, didn't
die in prison?
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Yeah, yeah, he died in his celf. Twenty three hour Lockwow.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
I think the mom in Mafia is glamorized in all
the movies. Even though it shows all the murders and
the corruption, it's still I don't.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Know, I know, I just I just remember thinking that.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
It's about the family.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Yeah, it's family values, it's about the family.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Wait, did the mafia?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
The mafia came into existence because of prohibition?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (17:37):
That's where it came from, right in the twenties.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
I think it grew there. I think goes back to
Italy though it truly does. And then but then they
can actually go back thousands of years biblically.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
But go ahead, Oh well that was very profound.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah, say that for another conversation. That's a different pods.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
But it became the mafia became I don't want to
say popular, but during the twenties, during prohibition, right, because
they it was the underground of the beau.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
Was illegal and so yeah, but I mean they do
all kinds of things, and they have like garbage trucks
and stuff, and you know that's probably how they hide
the bodies they go pick up.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
No, but you know what, I started watching the other
day and I watched I think like the first three episodes.
It was The Sopranos. I've never watched that before, okay,
because I read an article about the ending of the Sopranos,
so how so many people don't know how to interpret it,
and it was like this bizarre ending and the very
last episode in the finale.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
So then I go to watch that one in order
or backwards.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
I'm going to try to start at the beginning and
go in order. Okay, that's my plan.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
If you need help, okay, let me know, thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
So the mafia is not as powerful or visible as
it once was during the mid nineteen hundreds, but it
is still active, organized and profitable in several regions. It's
just evolved into a quieter, more financially driven version of itself.
And they are recruiting more members currently, okay, because membership
numbers are down.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
I hope they file bankruptcy that would be better. They
need to go away. They're killers. Mafia is killed. You
say you want to be born in a family of killers?
Speaker 3 (19:07):
No?
Speaker 1 (19:08):
No, well you know I did see in The Godfather
they killed the horse and that that just did it.
That's where the line I draw the line at that.
When he woke up with the horse head in the bed,
I was like, I'm out. I don't want to be
a part.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Of a horse killers. We got a problem.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
I have a serious problem with that.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Okay, okay, if it was a pony, would that be
even more.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, I can't even go there. Thank you everyone for
listening to this episode of Legally Brunette. As always, you
can follow us on our own feed, so please make
sure to do that. That's where all our episodes will be.
And also please leave us a review. And if you
have any cases that you would like us to discuss
or argue about or banter about, we would love to
hear from you, so please dm me on Instagram and
(19:47):
thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Thank you
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com