Federal prosecutors unsealed a 22-page indictment Thursday alleging that New York’s Italian crime families ran an elaborately rigged poker game.
Basketball Hall of Famer and current Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones are accused of being “face cards” that organized crime figures used to lure unsuspected gamblers into unwinnable games where they ultimately lost millions of dollars.
The indictment, which you can read below, alleges that the games used rigged shuffling machines, decoy phones, card markers visible only through special glasses, and “electronic poker chip trays that could secretly read cards placed on the poker table.” Some images of the technology can be seen here.
