In early February, Boston College was scheduled to play two New York State teams, Fordham and St. John's. Cuba postpones International Workers' Day parade over fuel shortages. In one of Hills versions, that game inspired Cobbs recruitment. The Return Of Bing Bong? I was shining at the camp. The scheme was hit or miss early on. 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. By my junior year, it was show-time, said Cobb. The Providence game was played on December 6, 1978, and Boston College was favored to win by six to seven points. He is benched in his final year. Kuhn's attorney, Gary Zimmerman, said his client recognized the seriousness of his crimes and that his stiff jail sentence 'was a stern warning to other college athletes.'. Democrats, Republicans remain split on debt ceiling plan. He didn't want to be bothered with these kids anymore." Theres no way you can tell if a referee or player is shaving points, absolutely no way, he once told Sports Illustrated. 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. Other notable players selected in that draft included Sidney Moncrief, Bill Laimbeer, Bill Cartwright, Mark Eaton and Jim Paxson. Using Kuhn for an introduction, the men also lured in point guard Jim Sweeney. Rocco Perla approached Cobb about working for them, and says it was explained clearly what was expected of him; Cobb says thats not so, and that their conversations were vague. Due to his Irish heritage, Burke never received a formal induction into the Lucchese crime family of New York, but he operated as an associate. He told me to keep playing and working hard and that one day I might get another chance., When the story first broke in January of 1981, Cobb was in shock. I didnt like dealing with a third party I didnt know and had never metBut the word came back that Cobb was enthusiastic and, dont worry Henry, nothing can screw up now., In the 30-for-30 documentary that ESPN just aired, Henry Hill admits that he never talked to me, said Cobb. Mizzougrad96, Aug 31, 2011. McDonald has answered questions about Mr. Cobb's status by say ing that the Justice Department's investigation is continuing. Anyone can read what you share. Burke was sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment. I dont know, but people are always going to speculate, he later said. Instead, theyd shave points to win against the spread. But Kuhn was a player of limited ability, so he recruited his roommate and best friend, who also happened to be the most important player on the floor, the teams senior point guard, Jim Sweeney. Ernie, dont lie to me, Alswanger instructed him. With his name swirling down the vortex of the mob cesspool from the moment the story broke, Ernie Cobb found it difficult to make a living. Bookmakers, on seeing the heavy action, moved the line as high as twelve to discourage bets on the favorite (St. John's) and attract more bets on the underdog. He also connected with Hill to power the ring. To this day, both Sweeney and Cobb admit taking money but say they didnt really participate. 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. I thought he might have been a student, because he was young and I saw him hanging around Rick Kuhn all the time. Everything Id worked so hard for was coming to fruition.. Its from Martin Scorseses GoodFellas, a film widely considered one of the best ever and among the greatest examples of the gangster genre. Hill got picked up on drug trafficking charges in 1980. The other defendants were all found guilty, with Kuhn, Mazzei and Tony Perla sentenced to 10 years, while Rocco Perla got four. 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. Former Boston College basketball player Rick Kuhn will go on trial today for his alleged participation in a "point shaving" incident during the 1978-1979 basketball season. When he finished with his testimony, he made a beeline straight for the restroom. Teammate Rick Kuhn, a former minor league baseball player with connections to small-time Pittsburgh mobsters, conspired with the mobsters to initiate the point-shaving process, in which some BC. They had Kuhn approach Ernie Cobb, the leading scorer on the team, but it has never been proven if Cobb agreed to cooperate. Perla and Kuhn had gone to high school together and were good friends. I had everything I could have possibly asked for. Overall, more legality increases transparency, making it more difficult for shady characters to hide. Theyd place bets on the underdog and win, thanks to the points, while the players still delivered victories for their team. As a freshman, he played sparingly and averaged 4.5 points per game while the Eagles finished with a disappointing 9-17 overall record. A look at who the key figures were in the Boston College point shaving scandal: Rick Kuhn Read full article Get 6 Months of Unlimited Access for $1 Laura Segall for the Boston Globe Ernie. 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. In the movie, Liotta played Hill and DeNiro played Jimmy Conway, whose character was based off Hills real-life mob associate Jimmy Burke. Sent Weekly. Cool and wet conditions return to California, West Coast. NEW YORK -- The ex-girlfriend of a former Boston College basketball player accused of trying to rig games testified that her former boyfriend and another player once joked about how they. Your email address will not be published. Some had connections to various upper-level gambling circles and some were connected to the mob as we take a look back at one of the biggest betting scandals seen during the 1980's in America. Suspecting that some bookmakers might be getting wise to the scheme, the conspirators temporarily revised their strategy after the UCLA game. Federal investigators first learned of the point-shaving scheme while looking into Mr. Burke's suspected role in the $5.8 million robbery of the Lufthansa freight terminal a t Kennedy International Airport in December 1978. But I know that its not really in vain, because I know the truth.. NEW YORK -- Former Boston College basketball player Rick Kuhn, jailed for his 1981 conviction in a point-shaving scandal, has asked for a reduction of his 10-year prison sentence. Opponents of legalized college sports betting argue that adding regulations will only encourage irresponsible gambling. Fourteen hours later, I arrived in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.. I said, If this dude has cash like that to burn and wants to give me $1,000 because I told him wed destroy Stonehill, sure, Ill take it. Maybe he was trying to cultivate a relationship with me and soften me up for something down the road. Confident from their recent success, the conspirators viewed the February 10 game against Holy Cross as an opportunity to reap the full benefits of their scheme. I didnt know what that was all about. On the stand during the trial, Rick Kuhns girlfriend, Barbara Reed, with whom he shared an apartment during his senior year at Boston College, testified that she overheard Kuhn and Sweeney discussing the Fordham game, saying that they had to keep the ball away from Cobb because he shot the ball all the time. But you might not know that the mobsters portrayed in the film were responsible for one of the biggest scandals in basketball history, and that it was this scam, rather than the numerous robberies and murders, which saw the most powerful Irish-American gangster of all time incarcerated for the rest of his days. If the scam was to work, they needed another player. Proponents argue that legal and regulated sports betting would actually reduce the chances of another BC scandal. Im stuck. In among the many questions he asked, McDonald enquired as to why he had been going to Boston so frequently. Visser became the NFLs first female beat writer in 1976, when she was assigned by the paper to cover the New England Patriots. Its gonna be no contest. They said they were trying like hell but they couldnt get the job done because Cobb was the key man on the team., After Boston College beat Holy Cross 89-87 in the first game between the two schools that season, Hill said in SI, Well, B.C. It wasnt until I actually saw him play that I realized how special he was as an offensive talent. Regulated operators also have safety checks in place to help protect those with gambling addictions. Henry Hill avoided going to prison, and he went off into the sunset of the governments Witness Protection Program, said Alswanger. The aim is to manipulate spread betting, rather than deliberately losing. You just say, yeah, I'll do it with no intention of doing it. He traveled throughout the world, getting paid to play the game that he loved. [ii] Holy Cross ultimately won by only two points, as Cobb scored eight points in the final minute to bring the Eagles close, and everyone involved lost a substantial amount of money. They left, and that was that. I was eating Rory Sparrow up, who went on to have a decent NBA career, in that camp. Sweeney and Kuhn were best friends at Boston College. A former Boston College basketball player who has spent two years in prison for conspiring with professional gamblers to rig games told a Federal commission on crime yesterday about his role in the scandal and warned college athletes not to ''jeopardize their futures'' by succumbing to the temptations of ''big money.''. Admitting he accepted $1,000 for the game only fuels the speculation. According to Hill, Jimmy went nuts. 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. Sweeney spoke with a very nervous Kuhn afterward. I feel like if I can change one life, like he changed mine, man, it makes everything Ive been through worthwhile.. While the season of points-shaving unfolded, an even bigger crime went down that year. 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. But that didnt matter. My parents have suffered. He worked hard in class. '', See the article in its original context from. 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. Sweeney claiming he didnt fix is equally undermined by his admission he accepted $500. 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. At the close of the two-week trial, Alswanger was the last character witness who took the stand in Cobbs behalf. and I were the victims of the same circumstances that were beyond our control. Nobody knows for certain how much money was made. It was one of the most tremendous feelings Id ever experienced.. Ultimately, nothing happened. 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. Red Auerbach coached the Celtics to nine NBA championships between 1957 and 1966, and knew all there is to know about basketball. I had a relentless type of game.. Once the FBI arrested Hill the following year though, it all came out. It would also increase the likelihood of scandals like the BC one, they say. The Perlas had a high school pal they thought might want to earn some extra dollars. Heading into his senior season in 1978-1979, as the team captain, Cobb was hoping that he could lead his team to the NCAA Tournament. Sports Promos. Thus, for example, if participating bookmakers determined Boston College to be an eight-point favorite in a particular game, Kuhn would be paid a bonus, usually $2,500, if they won by less than eight points. April 30 (UPI) -- Intense Russian shelling took place overnight in Kherson and Kharkiv, Ukraine, pounding residential areas and killing a 58-year-old civilian. Sweeney took out one of those little schedule cards, circled the games he thought we could fool around with, and gave the card to me. There were times when the work got really hard, when I wanted to give up, when I had to stay up all night reading or studying or writing papers, and shed be right there pushing me, telling me, You cant give up! He said, these guys were irate. The Globe, quoting an unnamed source in New York, said the three games in which point-shaving was alleged were a Feb.3 game against Fordham, a Feb. 6 game against St. Johns and a March 1 game in the ECAC Regional Playoffs against Connecticut. Hill reportedly cleared over $100,000 ($373,400 today) and bettors higher up the line were said to have made up to $250,000 ($933,400 today). Heavy shelling in Kherson, Kharkiv destroys residences. 1 killed in shooting at Massachusetts house party. Cleanly summarizing this story feels futile, but well try. With Roccos high school buddy Rick Kuhn entering his senior year at Boston College, where he was expected to be a contributor to the schools basketball team, the brothers figured they could make a ton of money. Rocco Perla received a four-year sentence and Rick Kuhn was sentenced to a ten-year bid as well, which was later reduced to 28 months. I was back at home, visiting for the summer and about to return to Israel, Cobb said. Kuhn recounted that in the summer of 1978, a Pittsburgh bookmaker he knew, Anthony Perla, offered him $2,500 a game if he could ''see to it'' that in games Boston College was favored to win, the margin of victory did not exceed the point spread. Can I play slot games for free? Our story begins in the mid-1970s at a penitentiary in Lewisburg. 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. I was forthright and honest with them. Mazzei and Tony Perla were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Hill said in Wiseguy, Jimmy and I put a few bucks down; in Playing For The Mob, Tony Perla says New York were cut down for over $250,000.. Nobody will ever know the full truth, as everyone involved has their own story. Rocco Perla was sentenced to four and Kuhn was released after 28 months. Kuhn agreed to participate, and brought in his teammate Jim Sweeney.[1]. I dont know what went down because I wasnt involved. In testimony before the President's Commission on Organized Crime, the former player, Rick Kuhn, said he thought college basketball players were most vulnerable to offers from gamblers ''in their junior and senior years, when it becomes reality that they're not going to have lucrative careers as players.'' The bookies began to smell a rat, and not just the one Hill himself would become 18 months later. 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. But as a drug-using gangster who feared for his life, its unsurprising that his recollections were inconsistent. Boston College was favored by twelve to thirteen points, but won the game by only a three-point margin, 8683. This page is not available in other languages. Apparently, someone called into the online editor the second to inform them of the "miss." I think you could poll a lot of people in the business and the Boston College scandal is off their radar. In a point-shaving scandal that sticks in the memories of many, three Boston College players became embroiled in a betting scheme conceived by gamblers Henry Hill, Rocco and Tony Perla, and Paul Mazzei. 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. Point shaving is a form of fixing. If the scheme worked, he said, the gamblers would win large wagers placed on Boston College's opponent. I know he lost about fifty thousand dollars.. The ringleaders knew having just one player wouldnt ensure the desired outcome. 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. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. They mentioned the $1,000 that Rocco Perla gave my girlfriend and I told them the truth. I admitted to receiving that money, and spending it. Thats why I got into education and coaching. Its very hard to detect. Rick Kuhn College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Rick Kuhn Position: Forward 6-5 (196cm) School: Boston College (Men) SUMMARY Career G 75 PTS 4.9 TRB 3.9 AST 0.6 FG% 48.8 FT% 48.6 Kuhn Overview On this page: An ad blocker has likely prevented this video content from loading. would play a few games each year, Cobb was awash with emotions. Im going off on the basketball court, scoring like crazy, the gamblers are losing their shirts, and they start talking about, We have to have Cobb. Anybody thats ever seen me play knows that I was only stuck in one gear, and that was super-charged-turbo! 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. A grand jury indicted Burke, Mazzei, Kuhn, and the Perla brothers. Kuhn was convicted for his role in the scheme and now lives in southwest Pennsylvania. He says he took it under duress though, with Kuhn telling him he needed him to be involved, whether he liked it or not. 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. 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. The centerpiece of today's hearing was the testimony of Kuhn, who was convicted in 1981 along with four gamblers for conspiracy to commit sports bribery and other crimes stemming from a point-shaving plot at Boston College during the 1978-79 season. Many details of the scandal remain murky. He was furious. Do you recognize him? And my answer every time was, No! I didnt recognize any of those mobsters because I had never met them. I loved it in Israel, the fans loved me and the people were so beautiful. Adding more legal operators to choose from also means bettors wont need to risk their money with illegal, and possibly dangerous, bookies. Of course, the damn players had a million excuses, Henry Hill wrote in Sports Illustrateds bombshell story, How I Put The Fix In, which was the magazines cover story on February 16th, 1981. Due to this the cause of this scandal remains unclear to this day. While residents eagerly await March 10 for legalized Massachusetts sports betting, we look back on the breach that mixed gamblers and mobsters with student-athletes in the late 1970s. 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. Who was asking and how much they were paying probably influenced what Hill revealed each time. And as some of his wagers were unsuccessful, the bookmakers became less suspicious and allowed him to stake more. Contribute to The Shadow League today and help us share our narratives. Mazzei, Hill and the Perlas devised a plan to rip off bookies without having players throw games. Man, I would watch Jo Jo White, Dave Cowens and John Havlicek playing on television, on that same famous floor where Bill Russell and Bob Cousy and all of those great Celtics teams won all those championships, said Cobb. 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. As the wallets, Burke and Co. ultimately became the schemes kingpins. Sweeney was a businessman like me. Yet when Sweeney retold his story for ESPNs Playing For The Mob documentary in 2014 [3] he claimed to be stringing Hill along. #10. Henry Hill later played by Ray Liotta in GoodFellas - was serving time for extortion, and befriended a drug dealer called Paul Mazzei. He just kept swishing them in, 30 or 35 points, I dont remember., Hill went on to say, And they (Kuhn and Sweeney) were still saying, We got to have Cobb. I realized that and so I passed the word through Tony (Perla), At all costs, talk to him. Next thing I heard Cobb was all set, but it was going to take another $2,500 for his share. They contacted a local friend, Paul Mazzei, who was known to have influence within major New York gambling circles. They showed me these pictures of these mafia guys and were asking me, Do you know him? In 1978, Rick Kuhn was in his final season at Boston College,amarginal player with little going for him. The scheme continued to work successfully in the December 23 game against UCLA. In imposing what are believed to be the stiffest punishments ever given to a college athlete for fixing games, Judge Bramwell rejected an appeal for leniency by Gary Zimmerman, Mr. Kuhn's lawyer, who had asked the judge to consider an alternative sentence, such as publicservice work. Acknowledged taking $500 from conspirators, but claimed he acted under duress and was never charged. 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. Live Betting. My family has suffered. But I never agreed to fix any games or shave any points. ESPN's latest 30 for 30 film tackles the Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal. All Rights Reserved. The second day of the three-day hearing on organized crime's involvement in gambling operations focused on sports betting, particularly in college basketball. So the scam continued. He bet $35,000 on a game with Connecticut and it paid off. As such, its impossible to be certain which game was the first they attempted to fix. 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. No source was given for this claim, with Streater's last appearance for the team occurring in the 197778 season, but this claim remained for more than five years, resulting in a number of media sites including Bleacher Report, ESPN and Yahoo News erroneously naming him as a point-shaver.[5]. talked to the Nets, their head coach Kevin Loughery called him in and said, You know why I have to let you go, said Alswanger. At that point, I was looking forward to a trial, said Cobb. By Brian Carome. Or vice versa? Record-breaking warmth will soon be a distant memory for residents along the West Coast, according to AccuWeather meteorologists. Rocco and Tony Perla were giving money to Rick Kuhn. Hill brought in his mentor, Jimmy Burke, to finance the operation and set up a network of bookies who could advance the financial potential of the scheme. What made it worse was that the champion City College of New York were one of them. (Sadly, Liotta, who was brilliant in Goodfellas and Field of Dreams, among other films, died Wednesday at 67.). ESPNs Playing for the Mob, a 30 for 30 documentary narrated by Liotta, interviews all the living participants, including former coaches and law enforcement officials. Alswanger, my high school coach inspired me to rise above my circumstances, he continued. Any recount of the BC points-shaving scandal should come with a free CharlieCard for a story with more twists and turns than the citys T system. While the line may have been as low as 13 at some point, the syndicate had to lay 15, and therefore lost their bet when Rhode Island won by only 13. Jack Molinas engineered a larger scheme in 1961, which resulted in 37 arrests of students from 22 colleges. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. He jumped in the air, as if soaring for a rebound, as cheers filled the courtroom. Privacy and Cookies Policy I told him, I think were gonna blow them out, we look really good. The December 16 game against Harvard was chosen as the second test for the scheme. Judge Bramwell noted that no witness at the trial had suggested that Mr. Kuhn had been a reluctant participant in the scheme. But for Bowie, it was too little, too late. 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. Ernie Cobb played professional basketball in Israel for 17 years, where he learned to speak fluent Hebrew. They were touting me as the next sub-6-footer to have an impact in the NBA. The documentary, narrated by Ray Liotta (who portrayed Hill in the film), was set up so that the viewer needed to watch Goodfellas beforehand to understand many of the references in the story. Said Hill, "He wanted me to fly up to Boston. To cover his tracks, Hill also bet on BC to win games without involving the players. It is your responsibility to check your local regulations before playing online. A BC captain, Cobb was implicated in the scheme but denies fixing games. GDC Media Limited. We were looking good as a team and my goal was to be the best player I could possibly be. SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches following aborted mission, delays. His girlfriend, whom hed met during his first week on campus, was an upperclassman that knew how to navigate the schools academic landscape. But I found out that I wouldnt be allowed to leave the United States because the government was going to bring me to trial.. Forty-four years later, the full truth about the Boston College points-shaving scandal is still unknown. In 1949/50, 33 players across seven teams shaved points. And who better than the teams top scorer, Ernie Cobb? 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