Cobb's trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 31 before Judge Leonard Wexler. white basketball player named Rick Kuhn, who has hopes of playing in the NBA. Mazzei in turn contacted Henry Hill, a Lucchese crime family associate from New York who had befriended Mazzei while both men were serving sentences in a federal prison. Forty-four years later, the full truth about the Boston College points-shaving scandal is still unknown. Also involved were bookmakers across the East Coast. Greg Abbott to not follow through with his "inhuman and dangerous" plan to send more migrants and asylum seekers from his southern state to her city. The fixing was over. Hello I am making a movie on the scandal and my Director would like me to pursue the story as told by the players. But what was I going to do, take it to court?It was here that they began telling Perla we would have to have Cobb. And after they put my name out there, and after I admitted to taking that $1,000, they didnt have enough evidence to prosecute me. The sources for this article include interviews he gave in 1981, 1985 and 2014, and while the framework of this story is reliable, the specific details change. They kept saying that they liked the idea of just shaving points and not blowing the games." "The kid wants to do business," said Tony. Ernie, dont lie to me, Alswanger instructed him. Nothing in sports comes with a guarantee, though. #ada-button-frame { If the scheme worked, he said, the gamblers would win large wagers placed on Boston College's opponent. Perla and his brother, Rocco, were into numbers rackets. Burke instructed Hill to warn the players to keep to their end of the deal because "you can't play basketball with broken hands.". All say that when watching the games, its impossible to determine if muffed plays were done purposely or just honest mistakes. The initial informa tion came from Henry Hill, a Government informant in the Lufthansa case, who casually toldthe investigators that Mr. Burke had been inv olved in a collegebasketball point-shaving scheme. I opened up the door and it was these guys from the F.B.I., said Cobb. Rocco comes up to me and says, Hey, sometimes I bet on games and I wanna know how you think you guys are gonna do against Stonehill and Bentley? said Cobb. For example, if the Eagles were favored by 10, the mobsters would want the players on the take to make sure the team won by nine points or less. The Shadow League is a narrative company. To allay any suspicions of foul play, they decided to bet on Boston College to win by more than the point spread ("cover the spread") in a game that they were confident the Eagles would win handily. I want to be disassociated from it as well. Sweeney spoke with a very nervous Kuhn afterward. He stopped in my office with his bike with the flat tire and borrowed $20 to get it fixed and to get home. On August 12, 2008, an anonymous user edited the Wikipedia article on the scandal, naming former player Joe Streater as an accomplice in the point-shaving, recruited by Kuhn alongside Sweeney. Jimmy loved to beat bookmakers and Paulie liked to beat anybody., Hill flew to Boston in December 1978 for a meeting with the men involved. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. In another, he says the fixing began with a big win for the wise guys when Boston College, favored by 12 points, beat Harvard by just three, 86-83. There were a lot of rich kids who went to Boston College. After Cobb was not charged, he thought he was finally past the sordid affair. After reading this I feel its the right story to add in to existing script. '', See the article in its original context from. Sweeney and Kuhn were best friends at Boston College. Investigation Is Continuing. I was doing well academically and the dream of playing professional basketball was getting closer.. Their strategy was effective Boston College, a five-point favorite, covered the spread with a 9080 win over Connecticut. He didn't want to be bothered with these kids anymore." Everything Id worked so hard for was coming to fruition.. He says he took it under duress though, with Kuhn telling him he needed him to be involved, whether he liked it or not. https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/06/sports/rick-kuhn-sentenced-to-10-years.html. It wasnt until I actually saw him play that I realized how special he was as an offensive talent. Mr. Kuhn, a reserve forward on the 1978-79 Boston College team, and four other men were convicted last November of a plot to manipulate the scores of six games that season to provide betting. I was focused in the moment. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. like that until he got there. I didnt know what that was all about. Kuhn apologized to his family, fiancee and college, and vowed to counsel high school and college athletes about the dangers of gambling after he is freed from prison in December. Yet in Wiseguy, published four years later, Hill claimed he attended the opening game of the season against Providence on December 6, which Boston won 83-64. Rick Kuhn, the former Boston College basketball player convicted with four other men last November of taking part in a point-shaving conspiracy, has told Federal authorities that he was threatened . It had to cost around $200,000 at the time to defend me.. The true story of the famous Boston College point shaving scandal. The February 6 game against St. John's was a "push" (winning back exact bets), as the syndicate neither won nor lost when St. John's prevailed 8576, the exact point spread (nine) the bookmakers had offered.[i]. The Eagles managed to lose by 22 points, 10381, with the syndicate winning its bet. Learn how your comment data is processed. Nobody knows for certain how much money was made. Julie has contributed to stories on many big sports moments, from the NFL's 100th season to Super Bowls to Justin Verlanders trade to the closing of the Palace of Auburn Hills. I dont know if the losses can ever be made upnot the losses me and my family and friends have suffered. Yet when Sweeney retold his story for ESPNs Playing For The Mob documentary in 2014 [3] he claimed to be stringing Hill along. Cobb eventually cleared his name and Sweeney was never charged. Theres a whole network., The odds were set in Sin City. The drug dealer, Paul Mazzei, introduced the mobster, Henry Hill, to his friend, Tony Perla. On February 10, Boston College faced Holy Cross. The campus was so beautiful. I saw Ernie score 28 points against the Celtics in one of the final pre-season games when he was with the Nets, said Alswanger, Cobbs former high school coach. The ringleaders knew having just one player wouldnt ensure the desired outcome. The abbreviated version of events reads like this:the Perlas brought in a Pittsburgh hood named Paul Mazzei, who contacted his friend Henry Hill, an associate of New Yorks Lucchese crime family that had befriended him during a stretch in federal prison. He made other African-American ballers feel like they could go there and really showcase what they could do on a national level. ----Wider Inquiry at Memphis State A former FBI agent hired by Memphis State earlier this year to adviseathletes on how to stay away from drug dealers and gamblers is now taking his job a step further. All of those guys walkedin his footsteps., He was the African-American guard in the modern era of B.C. Early on, before the season got underway, Cobb says that he was approached by a man from Pittsburgh named Rocco Perla, who hed seen hanging around campus with his teammate, senior forward Rick Kuhn. Theres no way you can tell if a referee or player is shaving points, absolutely no way, he once told Sports Illustrated. As the wallets, Burke and Co. ultimately became the schemes kingpins. Its very hard to detect. Gambling can be addictive. Boston College's basketball team ended their 197879 season with a 229 record. I never got to realize my dream of playing in the NBA, but Ive been all over the globe and have experienced so many different and beautiful cultures. Hill was listed as a co-conspirator, but was not named as a defendant. Kuhn, 28, was one of five people found guilty of conspiracy to engage in racketeering and other charges that stemmed from a point-shaving scheme hatched for the 1978-79 school season. Convinced that Cobb was innocent after his mentee walked him through everything that had transpired, and certain that he was being used by the federal government to send more organized crime figures to prison, Alswanger began working the phones. Rocco Perla was sentenced to four and Kuhn was released after 28 months. Kuhn was released after serving 28 months, and rarely speaks about what happened. Visser became the NFLs first female beat writer in 1976, when she was assigned by the paper to cover the New England Patriots. I was so frustrated at one point that I got on my bike in Stamford, Connecticut and just started riding. A BC captain, Cobb was implicated in the scheme but denies fixing games. A few blocks from Boston College, the place that held so much meaning to him, where hed worked so hard to create his lifes purpose, the symbolism was inescapable when he found that he had a flat tire. The Boston Globe reported on Friday that Cobb and Bowie are targets of the federal probe into allegations of point-shaving in three Eagles games. I was eating Rory Sparrow up, who went on to have a decent NBA career, in that camp. I understand that they want to disassociate themselves from the scandal. The 80-minute documentary tells how BC forward Rick Kuhn conspired with two of his hoodlum friends from Pittsburgh to bet against the Eagles. However, he later told McDonald that everything said at the trial was true except for one thing: despite his denials, Sweeney was an active participant in the scam. I thought he might have been a student, because he was young and I saw him hanging around Rick Kuhn all the time. He is appealing Mr. Kuhn's conviction, and the defendant will remain free on $50,000 bail pending the outcome of that appeal. Anyone can read what you share. You gotta tell me the truth, because I gotta know how to go on this?. Sweeney allegedly only took one envelope with $500 but maintains he didnt really participate. 1 killed in shooting at Massachusetts house party. Your email address will not be published. The bookies began to smell a rat, and not just the one Hill himself would become 18 months later. Please play Responsibly. The story: Three Boston College players -- leading scorer Ernie Cobb, forward Richard Kuhn and Sweeney, the team's point guard -- were fingered by Hill for participating in the point-shaving scheme. Ernie Cobb played professional basketball in Israel for 17 years, where he learned to speak fluent Hebrew. Sign up to receive The Shadow League Newsletter in your inbox. I never lied about that. Same here, and yet when they did their list of greatest sports scandals a few weeks back (when Miami broke) they didn't have it on there the first day. In this case, while the spread was as high as 5, the syndicate was able to lay just 2 points, and therefore pushed when Holy Cross won by 2. And who better than the teams top scorer, Ernie Cobb? I walk in the bathroom, and who was in there but Peter Vario, the big-time mobster that was on trial with Ernie, said Alswanger. Daughter of Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Shaquil Barrett drowns in family pool. My parents have suffered. According to Dr. Roy Nicks, chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents, the investigator, Ben Hale, will direct an inquiry into published reports that athletes at the school have been given money and special favors. This page is not available in other languages. But Im so proud of him because he picked his life back up and made the best of it. While the season of points-shaving unfolded, an even bigger crime went down that year. Golden State Warriors Draymond Green Feels Former Teammate Harrison Barnes To This Day Dont Like Me For KD Coming Here. Burke was sent to prison for 20 years (though he later died of cancer in 1996). BOSTON - FEBRUARY 14: Rick Kuhn (#50) during Boston College men's basketball's 1977-1978 season. The conviction of former Boston College basketball player Richard Kuhn for his involvement in the point shaving scandal during the 1978-79 basketball season was upheld last Friday by a unanimous decision of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. Oh, yeah. Instead, theyd shave points to win against the spread. He bet $35,000 on a game with Connecticut and it paid off. I was shining at the camp. The game was televised so Hill and Burke watched together, having staked $85,000 between them. They contacted a local friend, Paul Mazzei, who was known to have influence within major New York gambling circles. She knew the terrain in terms of what I needed to be doing, said Cobb. The center is a 6 ft. 8 in. We've analysed the best Fantasy Premier League picks ahead of Game Week 34. Hed often say that, compared with other stuff they had done, shaving a few points here and there didnt even feel like a crime. The court papers said Kuhn of Swissvale, Pa., has agreed to testify against former teammate Ernie Cobb, 27, a basketball player from Stamford, Conn. Cobb has pleaded innocent to a charge of conspiring to commit sports bribery,a charge stemming from the point-shaving scandal. Kuhn was sentenced to 10 years in prison, later reduced to 28 months. We had a good old time. May 1 (UPI) -- The 2-year-old daughter of Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Shaquil Barrett has drowned in the pool of their Florida family home, authorities said. Thats why I got into education and coaching. He sold copy machines and paved driveways for an asphalt company, which was ironically the same job his father found when hed relocated from North Carolina to Connecticut some twenty years earlier. We were looking good as a team and my goal was to be the best player I could possibly be. The conspirators decided that these games presented especially good opportunities because New York bookmakers generally accepted large bets for New York teams. After the investigation was completed, Cobb was not named as a defendant in the initial trial, U.S. vs Burke, which opened to a circus of media attention on October 27th, 1981. Mizzougrad96, Aug 31, 2011. Other notable players selected in that draft included Sidney Moncrief, Bill Laimbeer, Bill Cartwright, Mark Eaton and Jim Paxson. Hill claimed to have earned about $400,000, but Rocco Perla said he pocketed thousands of dollars, not tens of thousands, while Mazzei only succeeded once. At trial in 1981, the government's case consisted primarily of the testimony of Hill and three other witnesses: Sweeney and Joseph Beaulieu, both Boston College players, and Barbara Reed, a 23-year-old nurse who lived with Kuhn during the 197879 Eagles season. But that didnt matter. (Rick Kuhn, Photo Credit: bostonglobe.com). Sweeney was a self-confessed bookworm from an exclusive Jersey prep school, where he was all state in three sports. Loughery told me that I had the ability to play in the NBA. Shes worked on two sports desks, including at The Oakland Press and most recently at The Detroit News. We were all so excited for him. The spread was +12 on Boston College, so as they won 86-83, Hill was in the money. Despite pursuing charges against Burke for other crimes, a conviction for fixing basketball games is finally what got him 20 years in prison, where he died of cancer in 1996. I dont know, but people are always going to speculate, he later said. Ultimately, nothing happened. Mr. Zimmerman called the length of the sentence ''outrageous.'' Id call Rick (Kuhn), Id tell him the point spread on the Boston College game, and Rick would say if theyd have a chance or not.. Mr. H ill subsequently identified the other figures involved, includ ing Mr. Kuhn. You want to tell people what they want to hear, then you want to go away.. Bets in this column are given in the format ", Winner is given as either Opp or BC and the margin of victory. The conspirators chose the January 17, 1979, game against Connecticut to implement this plan. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. That really happened. May 1 (UPI) -- Pope Francis has revealed that there is an ongoing peace mission involving the Vatican to secure an end to the war in Ukraine. As it was, BC were beaten 98-96 and the money was lost, thanks to Cobb scoring eight points in the final minute. I got through it on my own, and I didnt get whacked, is how Sweeney looks back on the matter now, which is probably the healthiest view to take. Many details of the scandal remain murky. As he walked across the scenic campus, marveled at the schools architectural splendor or ate until his hearts content in the dining hall, hed often pause to quietly give thanks for his fortunate circumstances. The scheme was conceived by Rocco Perla and his brother Anthony in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the summer of 1978. GDC Media Ltd takes no responsibility for your actions. Bruce Pearl, now a successful college basketball coach who studied at BC, says Sweeney was a perfect undergraduate. Knowing they were in serious trouble, the players agreed to cooperate. Kuhn was convicted for his role in the scheme and now lives in southwest Pennsylvania. However, Kuhn did receive ''several thousand dollars'' for his efforts, according to Edward A. McDonald, the attorney in charge of the Organized Crime Strike Force for the Eastern District of New York, which conducted the investigation in 1981. They were just doing their jobs. I had everything I could have possibly asked for. Burke, through Hill, would front the money to pay the players, forwarding the money through Mazzei and the Perla brothers. I just knew that not only was I going to make the team, but I was going to be a factor in the NBA. Kuhn said the gamblers did not keep their promise to pay him $2,500 for every game, some of which Boston College lost. '', ''This crime has reminded millions of sports fans that athletes can be compromised,'' Judge Bramwell said. won the gangsters some serious money by falling short of the spread. The Nets coaches were telling me, Coach, hes gonna be a great pro., I had a great camp with the Nets and was poised to make the team, said Cobb. Hill revealed his involvement in the point-shaving scheme, offering to relate the full story if federal officials would guarantee him full immunity and would agree to intercede on his behalf to convince state officials to drop the drug charges pending in state court. Almost $6 million in cash and $875,000 in jewelry was stolen at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Dec. 11, 1978. Today, Cobbs relationship with Boston College remains strained. Kuhn, whose 10-year prison sentence for his part in the 1978-79 Boston College scheme was reduced to four years after he testified against a teammate, will be released from federal prison in. I had told him I'm not interested in doing this. In addition, they were given the opportunity to bet the money they were paid and double their winnings. The Perla brothers had a connection to the Eagles through forward Rick Kuhn, who was a high school friend of Rocco. Rick Kuhn - Point Guard for the Mob Boston College point shaving scheme was conceived by Rocco Perla and his brother Anthony (Tony) in Pittsburgh during the summer of 1978. Federal prosecutor who investigated the case and BC graduate. The Perlas figured Kuhn would be up for making a quick buck, and susceptible to their advances. As he said regarding point shaving, the shit I was doing, that was going on in my life? Chicago mayor calls on Texas to cease sending migrants to the city. The fact that I went to court and fought for my name, that I stood up for myself and cleared my name, that I was exonerated and acquitted, its a travesty that Im still associated with this., My name is indelibly linked to it, Cobb continued. Alswanger, my high school coach inspired me to rise above my circumstances, he continued. Hill flew into Boston, at the behest of Jimmy Burke, late in 1978 to meet with Mazzei, the Perlas, Kuhn and Sweeney at the Logan Airport Hilton and ensure that everything was in place. They mentioned the $1,000 that Rocco Perla gave my girlfriend and I told them the truth. He was furious. A grand jury indicted Burke, Mazzei, Kuhn, and the Perla brothers. For all I know, he told them I was in, that it would cost an extra $2,500 per game and he was trying to hustle the gangsters while pocketing the extra money. [3] Kuhn was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment,[4] later reduced to 28 months. Best Massachusetts Sports Betting Promos Coming In March, DraftKings To Launch Streaming Service Of Sports Betting Content, Kentucky Derby 2023 Basic Bets And Tips For Beginners, Proposed Encore Boston Harbor Expansion Draws Mixed Opinions, Pro Sports Leagues Form Responsible Sports Betting Advertising Coalition, NFL Draft Betting Rules Set By Massachusetts Gaming Commission, Online Lottery Seemingly A Matter Of When, Not If In Massachusetts. This is Part II of The Shadow League's feature story on former Boston College basketball player Ernie Cobb. And in that article in Sports Illustrated, Henry Hill says, The word came back that Cobb was enthusiastic. The key phrase there is The word came back. I dont know what Rick Kuhn was telling Henry Hill or the Perla brothers. The Perla brothers mobilized a betting syndicate to maximize their potential gain from the scheme. But my high school coach got his friends to take my case, pro bono. Enter Rick Kuhn, a senior forward for the Boston College basketball team during the 1978-79 season. When Henry Hill started threatening Kuhn and Sweeney, promising that they couldnt play with broken limbs, the players, according to Hill, claimed that they were doing their best, but the scheme would never work unless Ernie Cobb was in on the fix. When New York mobster Jimmy Burke got involved,. Henry Hill avoided going to prison, and he went off into the sunset of the governments Witness Protection Program, said Alswanger. But for many, there is a fierce bitterness that still lingers to this day. On June 23rd, 1983, more than four years after hed played his final game at Boston College, Ernie Cobb was indicted and charged with taking cash bribes to alter the outcomes of games against Harvard, Rhode Island and Fordham. The aim is to manipulate spread betting, rather than deliberately losing. Golub was a brilliant lawyer, and he told me that hed have to interview Ernie first to see if he was gonna take the case on. Mazzei, Hill and the Perlas devised a plan to rip off bookies without having players throw games. Henry Hill later played by Ray Liotta in GoodFellas - was serving time for extortion, and befriended a drug dealer called Paul Mazzei. Fourteen hours later, I arrived in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.. Hill had no issue telling people what they wanted to hear, as was seen when he spoke to the FBI in order to save his own skin. Jim Sweeney admits that Kuhn gave him cash. The test run for the scheme proved unsuccessful when Boston College's team established an early lead and ultimately won the game by nineteen points. If you missed Part I, you can read it here. Yet its hard to believe it wouldve been had the bets won.
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