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Tag: mob

  • Gambling Probe Tests The Resilience That Helped Chauncey Billups Soar To The Basketball Hall Of Fame – KXL

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    DETROIT (AP) — Chauncey Billups earned a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame a year ago, recognizing his resilience and clutch play in a championship-winning NBA career.

    His ability to bounce back and make all the right moves is being put to an entirely different test by a gambling scandal.

    Billups, who was placed on leave as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, was one of more than 30 people arrested last week for what federal law enforcement officials described as their involvement in various illicit gambling activities. The coach was alleged to have participated in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes poker games with ties to three Mafia families. He also matches the credentials of someone described only as Co-Conspirator 8 in an indictment detailing how some people gave bettors inside information on player health statuses.

    “My message to the defendants who’ve been rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended,” Joseph Nocella, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, said in outlining the charges.

    Billups’ alleged involvement was stunning for someone with a sterling reputation, earning the NBA’s sportsmanship award in 2009 while playing for his hometown Denver Nuggets.

    Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, who calls Billups his best friend, said he spoke with Billups on the day he was arrested and was encouraged by what he heard during the conversation.

    Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said he hates to see what Billups is going through as a friend he has had since middle school.

    “I think everyone needs to allow due process to happen, and then obviously judgments can be made,” Bickerstaff said on Sunday. “You feel for anyone you’ve known and have a relationship with and know his family well.

    “I know he’s going through it,” he added. “It’s a difficult time for him.”

    ‘Pressure is nothing new to me’
    Billups, who is married and has three daughters, was arrested at his home in Oregon before dawn last Thursday. Hours earlier, the Trail Blazers lost their season opener at home to Minnesota. After tipping off his fifth season in Portland, Billups was asked if he felt pressure because the franchise’s new ownership group attended the game.

    “That pressure thing is nothing to me, man,” Billups said in his last public comments on Oct. 22. “I do the best I can and let the chips fall where they may. You know that about me by now.”

    Billups appeared before a judge in Oregon, and was released from custody on conditions. His attorney, Chris Heywood, denied the allegations.

    “To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his Hall of Fame legacy, his reputation and his freedom,” Heywood said. “He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”

    The 49-year-old Billups grew up in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood and starred in college for the Colorado Buffaloes.

    Boston drafted him No. 3 overall in 1997 and he bounced around the league, getting traded during his rookie year twice more over the next two years.

    Billups signed with Minnesota in 2000 as a free agent and after two solid seasons, he leveraged his value to sign a $35 million, six-year contract with the Pistons.

    Billups was known as Mr. Big Shot
    He was known as Mr. Big Shot because of his knack of making clutch shots in the Motor City, where he found his groove as a player and later had his No. 1 Pistons jersey retired as one of the most popular players in any sport in Michigan.

    Billups guided Detroit to its third NBA championship in 2004 and the NBA Finals the following year during a run of six straight appearances in the Eastern Conference finals.

    The Pistons later traded him to Denver for his second stint with the franchise. After Billups went on to play for the New York Knicks and Clippers, he closed his five-time All-Star career in Detroit during the 2013-14 season with more than $100 million in earnings.

    Billups started his career as a TV analyst the next year, a role he gave up to pursue a coaching career with the Clippers under Lue. He was hired as Portland’s coach in 2021 and signed a multi-year extension with the Trail Blazers last April and has a career 117-212 record as an coach in the league.

    The NBA, in reaction to the arrests of Billups and Miami guard Terry Rozier for their alleged role in gambling schemes, has started a review of how the league can protect not just the integrity of the game but its players and coaches as well.

    The league made those revelations in a memo sent to all 30 teams, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

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    Jordan Vawter

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  • New Netflix series chronicles the ’90s Philly mob war between Joey Merlino and John Stanfa

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    An upcoming Netflix series will examine an infamous chapter in Philly mob history.

    “Mob War: Philadelphia vs. The Mafia” delves into the ’90s power struggle between men loyal to John Stanfa, a veteran crime boss hand-picked by the Five Families, and those aligned with rival Joey Merlino, head of the so-called Young Turks. The factions fought for control of the city’s organized crime syndicate following the 1986 arrest of mafioso Nicky Scarfo. Tensions exploded in 1993, when Stanfa’s men shot and injured Merlino and killed his capo Michael Ciancaglini. A drive-by attack on Stanfa, which severely injured the mobster’s son, followed. The bloodshed continued until both men were arrested.

    MORE: Jimmy Kimmel returns to late night and calls Trump administration’s threats against his show ‘un-American’

    Merlino, who denies being part of the Mafia, now co-hosts a podcast and runs Skinny Joey’s Cheesesteaks at 3020 S. Broad St. Stanfa is currently serving a life sentence at FCI Danbury in Connecticut.

    “Mob War: Philadelphia vs. The Mafia” features interviews with former mobsters, the investigators who tracked them and journalists who covered them. Wiretap recordings and surveillance footage also help recount the conflict.

    The three-part series drops Wednesday, Oct. 22. Check out the trailer below:

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    Kristin Hunt

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  • To find masked mob members who attacked UCLA camp, police using Jan. 6 tactics

    To find masked mob members who attacked UCLA camp, police using Jan. 6 tactics

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    It is shaping up to be perhaps the biggest case in the history of the UCLA Police Department: how to identify dozens of people who attacked a pro-Palestinian camp at the center of campus last week.

    The mob violence was captured on live television, but it took three hours for police to bring it to an end. Those involved left, and no arrests were made.

    But the trail is not cold.

    UCLA detectives are now scanning hundreds of images in an attempt to identify the attackers. They intend to use technology that captures facial images and compares them to other photos on the internet and social media to put names to faces, according to law enforcement sources.

    The same technology has allowed police to identify suspects in smash-and-grab retail burglaries. It also was the heart of the Jan. 6 investigation, in which videos of those storming the U.S. Capitol helped the FBI identify many of the assailants and led federal prosecutors to charge more than 1,300 people. In those cases, investigators often were able to find social media images of the assailant wearing the same clothing as during the attack.

    “Technology has made the entire community into the eyes of law enforcement,” said retired Los Angeles police Capt. Paul Vernon, who led an effort after a mini-riot following the Lakers’ NBA championship victory in 2010 that resulted in dozens of arrests based on videos, social media posts and security footage. “Photo recognition has gotten a lot easier.”

    Vernon said an investigator also could gather cellphone data from the immediate area to prove an individual was there at the time of the incident. In some cases, assailants may have posted to their social media accounts, essentially bragging about their actions. Officers wearing body cameras may have also captured some of the behavior, he said.

    The attackers likely came in vehicles, so UCLA police will be examining data from license plate readers for movements near campus on May 1. Security cameras on streets neighboring the campus where they likely parked could yield more clues.

    Along with continuing protests, finding those who attacked the camp will be a major challenge for newly installed UCLA Associate Vice Chancellor Rick Braziel, a former Sacramento police chief. Braziel will be tasked with bringing to justice those responsible for what Chancellor Gene Block called a “dark chapter in our campus history.”

    On Monday night, Block outlined actions the school is taking in the aftermath of last week’s violence. University police will work with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office to identify and prosecute the assailants “to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. The university “also connected with the FBI about possible assistance,” Block said in a statement.

    Despite the technology, the probe faces hurdles. Some of the attackers wore masks, making it harder to identify them. In those instances, detectives will look for a moment before or after the attack when the perpetrators’ faces were revealed, an official who was not authorized to discuss the investigation told The Times.

    There is also deep anger among some protesters in the camp because it took so long for police to stop the attack. That distrust could take a toll. Many of the students who were injured, some of whom were hospitalized with their wounds, have gone to groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations for Southern California but haven’t spoken with campus police.

    UCLA is a small police department, so it is reaching out to other agencies and private entities to access the technology needed in the investigation, law enforcement sources said. But so far, UCLA hasn’t made a public appeal seeking information on specific suspects.

    In the wake of the Jan. 6 attack, the FBI made arrests based on information from relatives, work colleagues, teammates, former friends and ex-significant others after the FBI released photos of suspects. An army of web sleuths and politically knowledgeable social media watchers known as “sedition hunters” also dedicated themselves to identifying the mob and turning their names over to the FBI.

    Images from the UCLA attack are springing up on Instagram. In one case, a man can be seen using a plank to hit a pro-Palestinian protester and then punching and kicking others. Dressed in a black sweatshirt, white sweatpants and a black cap, his bearded face is not hidden. Police can use that image to track him down or ask for help identifying him.

    “Holding the instigators of this attack accountable and enhancing our campus safety operations are both critical,” Block said. “Our community members can only learn, work and thrive in an environment where they feel secure.”

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    Richard Winton

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  • UCLA faculty protest at Hammer Museum gala, decrying treatment of pro-Palestinian students

    UCLA faculty protest at Hammer Museum gala, decrying treatment of pro-Palestinian students

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    About 20 UCLA faculty members protested Saturday night outside the UCLA Hammer Museum’s celebrity-heavy gala, calling for amnesty to be granted to pro-Palestinian students arrested on campus this week and demanding that Chancellor Gene Block resign immediately.

    As a well-heeled crowd in cocktail attire filed into the museum for the annual Gala in the Garden, sipping bespoke cocktails and noshing on small bites from passed trays, English department professor Jonathan Grossman blamed Block for what he and his colleagues said were dual wrongs done to pro-Palestinian student activists. On Wednesday, they said, students received unnecessarily rough treatment from police as their encampment was cleared. The night before, he said, police failed to protect the same students from violent counterprotesters’ attacks.

    Elizabeth O’Brien, a professor in the history department, said she was present Tuesday night and witnessed “a horrifying mob” attack pro-Palestinian students for four hours.

    “Along with a colleague, I begged the police to intervene,” O’Brien said. “A police officer threatened us with a weapon in response to our pleas to protect the students from the mob.”

    O’Brien showed what she said was an X-ray of broken bones in one of her student’s hands.

    “She was just protesting peacefully, and they shot her with rubber bullets,” O’Brien said, adding, “Chancellor Block failed egregiously to protect the students.”

    UCLA’s police chief, John Thomas, denied allegations of security lapses and said he did everything he could to keep students safe. In a statement, Block described the attack on pro-Palestinian protesters as “a dark chapter in our campus’s history” and said the university was re-examining its procedures as a result.

    The Hammer’s gala, which usually draws one of the starriest crowds in L.A.’s museum fund-raising circuit, had a confirmed guest list that a spokesperson said included Jane Fonda, Ava DuVernay, Keanu Reeves, Will Ferrell, Joel McHale and Owen Wilson. Singer k.d. lang was scheduled to perform.

    Jodie Foster was on hand to honor Ann Philbin, the longtime Hammer director who has announced her forthcoming retirement. Before introducing Philbin, Foster acknowledged the Gaza protests at UCLA as well as at other universities around the country. Speaking out, Foster said, is what the arts are all about.

    “We’re all so keenly aware of what’s happening in the world and the protests,” Philbin said to the gala crowd, adding that the violence on UCLA’s campus tempered the joy of the evening. “I recognize what a difficult time this is for celebration and I appreciate that you’re all here.”

    She added later: “We will defend the sacrosanct right to freedom of expression and the right to protest.”

    Times staff writer Teresa Watanabe contributed to this report.

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    Jessica Gelt

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