These bookies could handle large bets and lay them off and spread the bets among a number of unsuspecting bookmakers around the country so as not to arouse suspicion. Rocco Perla and Kuhn were high-school classmates. This scene gives the audience insight into the type of person Henry Hill was and how hard it was to testify against someone like Burke. Film. This is important because it shows how it was a poorly run operation. Barbara Reed, 25, Kuhn's former girlfriend who was living with him at the time, testified that Kuhn uncharacteristically began buying her presents -- a stereo set, a television set and jewelry -- during the winter of 1978-79. I dont know if the losses can ever be made upnot the losses me and my family and friends have suffered. Kuhn was thus expected to keep the score below the six- to seven-point margin. He recently earned his Masters Degree in Education and is currently considering pursuing a Ph.D. I feel like Ive led a remarkable life, he said. He tried to subsist as a substitute teacher, and even caddied at the Fairview Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, the affluent suburbs where hed previously been arrested for stealing bikes as a kid. The FBI finds all the players and begins asking questions. I was forthright and honest with them. The Perla brothers proposed a simple scheme: they, along with Kuhn, would select certain basketball games where the projected point spread separating Boston College from its opponent was expected to be significant. As a freshman, he played sparingly and averaged 4.5 points per game while the Eagles finished with a disappointing 9-17 overall record. Sweeney hears Tony explain that this is the grand finale, Tony claims he never threatened him. Hes innocent., When they indicted me, they wanted Peter Vario, the mobster, so they tried us together, said Cobb. If youve seen the famous mafia flick, you probably remember Liotta making several references to his Pittsburgh connections, his main partners in a drug ring, among other things. The Perla brothers were small-time gamblers who saw the upcoming 197879 Boston College Eagles basketball season as a perfect opportunity to earn a lot of money. Rick Kuhn, the former Boston College basketball player who was convicted last November, and sentenced last February for his involvement in the point shaving Bowies reputation was immediately sullied and he subsequently lost his job playing pro ball in Europe when the story broke. The goal for making some real money is to get the character a TV gig with ESPN, NBC Sports, or another major sports network. She knew the terrain in terms of what I needed to be doing, said Cobb. Although Cobb maintains that he received money from Rocco, he claims it was just for winning the game even though Rocco claims he knew for sure. ESPN Looks Back On Boston College Point Shaving Scandal And A Player Speaks Out. Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 1 Oct. 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanriper/2014/10/01/espn-looks-back-on-boston-college-point-shaving-scandal-and-a-player-speaks-out/#3f03989d26b8. Today, any coach would be a goner for sure, cited at the very least for that catchall sin, lack of institutional control. Just ask former Ohio St. football coach Jim Tressel, who lost his job in 2011 thanks to a few players swapping some used cleats for free tattoos at a local parlor. As a backup center with limited effect on a games outcome, he won over the mobsters by bringing Ernie Cobb, the teams leading scorer, and Sweeney, the point guard who controlled the ball for much of the game, into the fold. 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. Kuhn would be responsible for ensuring, by his play on the court, that Boston College fell short of the point spread. He gave me every opportunity to tell my story, says Sweeney of Lavine. I had everything I could have possibly asked for. Paul Mazzei explains that there is no time to change your mind in their business. Mazzei and Tony Perla were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. 197879 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal. Riper, Tom Van. In 2014, the ESPN-produced 30 for 30 series debuted Playing for the Mob,[6] the story about how Hill and his Pittsburgh associates, and several Boston College basketball players, perpetrated the point-shaving scheme during the 197879 season, an episode briefly mentioned in the movie Goodfellas. ESPN's latest 30 for 30 film tackles the Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal. less serious, the aftermath was compared to the fallout that would occur today. But I found out that I wouldnt be allowed to leave the United States because the government was going to bring me to trial.. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images I have suffered. . Everybody involved in the scandal got sentenced except for Hill and Sweeney. Sweeney claims that hes heard network execs at a sports business conference in Florida express a desire for such a character to pop up with occasional humorous commentary. will air the latest installment of its acclaimed 30 For 30 series with a look back at the infamous Boston College basketball point shaving scandal from the 1978-79 season. The final player involved in the fix, Rick Kuhn, is introduced. If you missed Part I, you can read it here. And look what he did to the lives of those kids. But conspiring to fix college basketball games got him 20 years. He hugged his tearful mother before walking out into the hallway for a few moments. All Kuhn had to do was ensure that the Eagles fell short of the point spread in the games that they bet on. So, in very basic terms, if B.C. was favored to win a game by ten points, Kuhn had to make sure, if the game was in play with the mobsters and the bookies, that they won by less than ten in order for the gamblers to make money. The Boston Globe story was initially investigated and written by a young Boston College alumnus named Leslie Visser, who would go on to become a very accomplished, groundbreaking journalist and role model for women who aspired to work in the field of sports media. Mizzou understands that Hill was doing what he had to do to survive. 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. You may opt-out by. The move on and they all thought the fixes were history. With Sweeney making it out with no sentence, the mystery still remains of how involved he really was. While Jim Sweeney is also introduced, hes the other captain from a better upbringing: the poster child for BC. The jury is scared to be connected to this case because Burke was so powerful and violent in the mob. It is heartening, by contrast, that the integrity of our coaching and athletic staff, as well as that of our current team, was never in question. For the conspiracy to work, the men knew they would need the cooperation of other players on the team, according to the testimony of Henry Hill, a convicted felon and the key prosecution witness. In early February, Boston College was scheduled to play two New York State teams, Fordham and St. John's. The problem was Cobb. Boston College's basketball team ended their 197879 season with a 229 record. 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. Rick Kuhn was an older player who was friends with Sweeney and a tough, street smart kid with a different upbringing than Sweeney. He says that Hill once referenced his girlfriend Maura (now his wife) in one of his threats, asking Sweeney how would your honey feel if she saw your --- hanging in a bracelet? He also says that other mob clichs like references to cement shoes are not just the stuff of Hollywood. Sweeney, who went on a year later to win the Naismith Award as college basketballs top player under six feet tall, says he was initially recruited into the fix by Kuhn without his knowledge and that he never intentionally threw an errant pass, missed a shot or did anything else to alter a game. For Cobb, the result was far worse. The phone calls flooded in from his friends and family in Boston and Connecticut, with despaired voices on the other end asking, Did you do this? In 1978, Rick Kuhn was in his final season at Boston College,amarginal player with little going for him. He graduated on time with a degree in sociology. I called my buddy Frank Melzer, who was an attorney, said Alswanger. He is a participant in the Federal Witness Protection Program and is receiving government protection in exchange for his testimony. In a formal statement issued by its communications office, Boston College said the school's community "is saddened by the fact that one of our former student basketball players has been found guilty of the serious charges of which he was accused . It had to cost around $200,000 at the time to defend me.. They would also ensure protection for the enterprise in the event that the unsuspecting bookmakers, all of whom had toughs at their disposal to collect unpaid debts, discovered they were being swindled. The syndicate was able to lay nine points when the game was first available to be bet, and therefore pushed. 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. 2015, www.recorder.com/Archives/2015/01/spt-KeepingScore-GR-012415. All because, he says, of those five crinkled $100 bills dropped at his feet one day in the locker room. Sweeney purposefully misses a free throw to help the fixers win even though he is the best free-throw shooter in the nation. My girlfriend and I bought a new stereo, television and some furniture. The six games figuring in the point-shaving case were Boston College against Providence, Dec. 6; Harvard, Dec. 16; UCLA, Dec. 23; Fordham, Feb. 3; St. John's, Feb. 6, and Holy Cross, Feb. 10. A grand jury indicted Burke, Mazzei, Kuhn, and the Perla brothers. The characters and events were later immortalized by the actors Ray Liotta and Robert DeNiro in the classic film, Goodfellas. Kuhn and two money men were The story breaks to the media and the massive investigation followed. indictments charged against them. Fellow player Michael Bowie begins to ask questions, but Sweeney argues that they are still winning. He wasnt a trial lawyer, so he brought in his colleague, David Golub. And now, here I was on that same floor, pumped sky high, giving my defender buckets! Still, he feels lucky. But by his sophomore year, when he was inserted into the starting lineup, it was apparent that the 5-foot-11 scorer brought a dimension to the Boston College squad that it sorely needed when he averaged 17.4 points per game. like that until he got there. 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. Hes a good person. The Texas woman who owned the ring thought she had misplaced it, but it was actually stolen and admitted as evidence in a 1986 drug trial. Henry Hill avoided going to prison, and he went off into the sunset of the governments Witness Protection Program, said Alswanger. He quickly thrived and was recognized as one of the leagues best players. To establish Hills character, the film showcases numerous scenes from Goodfellas, including when Hill, under trial, is rewarded for not snitching on his family associates. 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. Kuhn, who ultimately served four years in prison for conspiracy and racketeering, hatched a plan with Hill associates Tony Perla, his brother Rocco Perla, and 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. Fourteen hours later, I arrived in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.. The conspirators decided that these games presented especially good opportunities because New York bookmakers generally accepted large bets for New York teams. Edward A. McDonald, who coincidentally had graduated from Boston College in 1968 and who had played briefly on the basketball team, prosecuted the case.[2]. The conspiracy unraveled in 1980 after Hill was arrested by New York State authorities on drug trafficking charges and was subsequently implicated in the Lufthansa heist, which occurred while the point-shaving scheme was underway. Sports. When he finished with his testimony, he made a beeline straight for the restroom. The five men could each receive a maximum sentence of 30 years in jail and $45,000 in fines. I cooperated willingly, and Im glad I did, Sweeney says. He didn't want to be bothered with these kids anymore." On October 7, The December 16 game against Harvard was chosen as the second test for the scheme. 197879 Boston College Eagles basketball season, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, "Key figures in the BC point shaving scandal", "James (Jimmy the Gent) Burke, Gangster, 64, of 'Wiseguy' Fame", "Kuhn Gets 10-Year Sentence In BC Point-Shaving Case", "Guilt by Wikipedia: How Joe Streater Became Falsely Attached To The Boston College Point Shaving Scandal", 1946 NFL Championship Game bribery scandal, 2009 Melbourne Football Club tanking scandal, 2012 Olympics women's doubles disqualifications, 2002 Winter Olympics figure skating scandal, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=197879_Boston_College_basketball_point-shaving_scandal&oldid=1112461833, 197879 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, College basketball controversies in the United States, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 September 2022, at 12:41. 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. Hill gave up everybody including the players involved. Snitching is seen as one of the worst things you can do to a business partner, but to these people, it is just water under the bridge. 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. I understand that they want to disassociate themselves from the scandal. A federal jury in Brooklyn yesterday convicted former Boston College basketball player Rick Kuhn and four codefendants of conspiring to manipulate the scores of Boston College games during the 1978-79 season. Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The Justice Department Wednesday filed a complaint against a sheriff's department in Cumberland County, Tenn., alleging it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when firing an officer with an opioid use disorder. Its the same crew that had a connection to BC basketball player Rick Kuhn, who hailed from the area. It was one of the most tremendous feelings Id ever experienced.. I was a senior in high school when Ernie Cobb was a senior at Boston College and Id heard that he was a very good player, said Lemuel Mills, a Boston area hoops aficionado, coach, community mentor and historian. I didnt know what that was all about. I feel like I did all that fighting after I lost my dream of playing in the NBA, and it was all in vain. I was reading about the Boston College point-shaving scandal of the late 70s and I was wondering whatever became of Rick Kuhn in his later life. 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 mobsters are done fixing games with the Boston College players and call them babies for barely getting the job done. Testifying for the government, Sweeney acknowledged meeting with Hill but said that although he agreed to participate in the scheme he never intended to go through with the deal. Walgreens settles West Virginia opioid lawsuit for $83 million. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. I think you could poll a lot of people in the business and the Boston College scandal is off their radar. Although Cobb and Sweeney received money and were a part of the scandal, the FBI did not prosecute them in the first round and were primarily focused on getting the mobsters. But Im so proud of him because he picked his life back up and made the best of it. would play a few games each year, Cobb was awash with emotions. He continues to be involved in sports and is in an older mens basketball league that competes around the world. This has gone on for four years. 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. Hes now happily at work on his latest project, a sports cartoon character named Mike (as in microphone) that appears on his daily sports blog and in 35 comic books downloadable on Amazon. Hill turned state's evidence in exchange for avoiding prison and possible execution by Burke and the Lucchese family. With the focus limited to the specific players involved, BCs basketball program didnt suffer at all. Sweeney goes on to sell his computer service company and make millions. Jim Sweeney was not charged. Rick Kuhn during Boston College men's basketball's 1977-1978 season. Sweeney had enough of that over a few months 35 years ago to last a lifetime. But its one of the most famous in sports history, to which Sweeneys name will be forever linked. Just by being there, Id already reached success beyond my wildest dreams. Interim Application of Copyright and Trademark Registration in Cochin. I never lied about that. [3] Kuhn was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment,[4] later reduced to 28 months. My family has suffered. They mentioned the $1,000 that Rocco Perla gave my girlfriend and I told them the truth. I had everything I could have possibly asked for the jury is scared to be bet and. Fell short of the leagues best players friends with Sweeney making it with... Avoiding prison and possible execution by Burke and the Boston College fell short of the point spread in fix! Of what I needed to be involved in sports Illustrated, Henry Hill avoided going to,! 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