STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.— What do an NBA great and a Staten Island mobster have in common? According to the federal government, it’s an elaborate poker scheme that milked unsuspecting players of more than $7 million.
In an indictment unsealed this week in Brooklyn Federal Court, 31 defendants across 11 states are named as playing various roles in the scheme, which authorities say dates back to 2019.
Defendants include current Portland Trailblazers coach Chauncey Billups, another former NBA player, and several members of La Cosa Nostra; including Staten Islander and Gambino captain Joseph Lanni.
Chauncy Billups
Chauncy BillupsMark Graves/Oregonian
The sophisticated, multi-faceted hustle used electronic devices, and spanned several underground Texas Hold ‘em games at locations in Manhattan, Las Vegas, East Hampton and elsewhere, court documents allege.
The rigged games often were carried out at already established underground poker games in Manhattan controlled by La Cosa Nostra; one on Lexington Avenue and the other on Washington Place, according to federal prosecutors.
Well-known former professional athletes, including Billups, acted as ‘face cards’ to lure unsuspecting victims to high-stakes poker games, “where they were then at the mercy of concealed technology,” said Joseph Nocella, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “Today’s indictment and arrests sounds the final buzzer for these cheaters.”
How it worked
Rigged shuffler
Rigged shufflerCourtesy of EDNY
Over the course of an indictment and detainment requests by federal prosecutors, they described how a law enforcement investigation offered insight into how the alleged operation was run.
“Organizers” hosted the games at mob-protected venues. They would recruit famous faces referred to as “face cards” as a way to draw in wealthy, unsuspecting victims referred to as a “whale” or “big fish.”
Billups and fellow NBA retiree Damon Jones were among the “face cards” and are both charged as participating in the illegal poker games.
Victims were taken for tens of thousands of dollars at a time, including one victim who lost more than $100,000.
Defendants deemed “organizers” of the games, with the backing of organized crime families included:
Ammar Awawdeh, 34, of Brooklyn
Saul Becher, 45, of the Bronx
Zhen “Stanley” Hu, 37, of Brooklyn
Seth Trustman, 43, of Queens
Surveillance images
A federal investigation determined "organizers" of rigged poker games — including defendants Seth Trustman, Zhen Hu, and Saul Becher — were backed by members of organized crime, "suppliers" and "cheat teams."Courtesy of EDNY
“Suppliers” provided the technology to carry out various cheating tactics to ensure winning hands, court documents say. Devices included a rigged card shuffler, an X-ray poker table and special contact lenses. Alleged suppliers, who in some cases doubled as players, are said to include:
Shane “Sugar” Hennan, 40, of Las Vegas, Nevada
Curtis “Curt” Meeks, 41, of Elgin, Texas
Robert “Lil Robbie” Stroud, 67, of Louisville, Kentucky
An “operator,” meanwhile, was off-site, receiving real time information from the technology, indicating what type of hand each player was holding.
Other gadgets included card analyzers that used software on a decoy cellular phone that could surreptitiously detect which cards were on the table, and playing cards that had markers visible only to individuals wearing specially designed contact lenses or sunglasses.
According to the court documents: “Cheat teams” were the players at the table. One of them acted as the “quarterback” or “driver,” who would receive texts from the “operator” about who was likely holding what. The “driver” would then deliver signals to other players at the table based on that information.
Cheat teams
A text exchange between participants illustrates how they would communicate real time to hustle other players. Courtesy of EDNY
In some cases, the “cheat team” would try to coordinate how to lose purposefully to keep a “big fish” at the table for longer, or to avoid suspicion of cheating, it is alleged.
Veiled threats
Authorities said in a text sent by one of the organizers, Seth Trustman, he eluded to the fact he threatened someone with a veiled threat about the mafia. Courtesy of EDNY
According to the indictment, members of cheat teams who played at the tables included:
Nelson “Spanish G” Alvarez, 53, of Uniondale
Marco Garzon, 39, of Elizabeth, New Jersey
Jamie “Jamie Friend” Gilet, 40, of Jericho
Tony “Black Tony” Goodson, of Georgia
Kenny Han, 40, of Queens
Sophia “Pookie” Wei, 40, of Queens
John “John South” Mazzola, 43, of Georgia
Michael Renzulli, 42, of Islip, New York
Eric “Spook” Earnest, 53, of St. Louis, Missouri
La Cosa Nostra
Surveillance
Ziliani, of the Bonanno Crime Family, and Fama, of the Gambino Crime Family, would meet at Sally's Bar in Manhattan near one of the poker games, according to federal authorities. Surveillance
According to the indictment, made members and associates of La Cosa Nostra crime families oversaw the rigged games, helped organize them in some cases, provided muscle, and received a chunk of the profits.
They included:
Joseph Lanni, 54, of Staten Island
Ernest Aiello, 46, of Wantagh, New York
Julius “Jay” Ziliani, 54, of New Jersey
Lee Fama, 57, of Brooklyn
Angelo Ruggiero Jr., 53, of Howard Beach
Matthew “The Wrestler” Daddino, 43, of Franklin Square
Louis “Lou Ap” Apicella, 50, of New Rochelle, New York
Thomas “Juice” Gelardo, 42, Scarsdale, New York
John Gallo, 53, of Brooklyn
Nicholas Minucci, 39, of East Northport
Money laundering
Anthony “Doc” Shnayderman, 39, of Brooklyn, was one of multiple people who laundered proceeds from the games, federal prosecutors alleged.
Game organizers would sometimes instruct victims to send money via bank wires to shell companies controlled by Shnayderman, court documents say.
In turn, Shnayderman would transfer money in cash or cryptocurrency — less a money laundering fee — back to the game organizers, they allege.
Violent actors, feds say
Anyone who refused to pay their debts, in some cases after suspecting they were hustled, were threatened with violence, authorities alleged.
In one text exchange, an “organizer” explained to a cohort how he threatened one person by saying he had to check in with certain people, referring to the mafia.
On a different occasion, “organizer” Zhen Hu told a cohort he punched a man in the face who owed money from a rigged game, according to prosecutors.
A defendant at one point texted about “cracking heads open” outside one of the poker rooms, while another bragged about threatening a person who owed with a photo of a gun, prosecutors allege.
Prosecutors this week requested detainment for several of the defendants, on a range of arguments, including criminal background and threat to society.
Joseph Lanni
In this 2023 photo, a surveillance image from a gas station shows accused Gambino crime family captain Joseph Lanni purchasing a gas canister across the street from a restaurant he threatened to burn down, authorities claim. Lanni is accused of participation in an elaborate poker scheme.EDNY
Lanni, for example, had just pleaded guilty recently in connection with a separate federal case that involved accusations of an armed robbery, menacing and arson attempt at a New Jersey bar.
Minucci, meanwhile, was convicted in 2006 for first-degree robbery as a hate crime, court documents noted.
In that case, Minucci beat a Black man in the head with a baseball bat while using the n-word, and told him to stay out of his predominantly Italian-American neighborhood.
Gelardo, authorities said, has the means to flee. Despite there being no known source of legitimate income, the government had identified approximately $500,000 in a bank account owned by Gelardo.
“Moreover, Gelardo made a down payment of approximately $100,000 to purchase a Lamborghini sport utility vehicle, for which Gelardo now makes monthly payments of approximately $5,000. Gelardo also owns other luxury cars, including a Mercedes-Benz G-Class sport utility vehicle.”
Armed robbery, inner turmoil
Rigged games
Bonanno associate Gelardo and made member Ziliani are seen in a series of surveillance, along with game organizer Seth Trustman, according to the prosecution.Courtesy of EDNY
In 2023, defendants from one crew operating a rigged game — Mazzola, Minucci and Stroud — learned of a competitor who also was in possession of a rigged shuffle machine, a Deckmate 1, court documents alleged.
So, according to prosecutors, they robbed the man in the early morning hours of Sept. 7, 2023. Allegedly with the help of an associate who worked security at some of the games, Osman “Albanian Bruce” Hoti, 44.
Mazzola was already in a car with the target, who he knew, under false pretenses. Hoti was driving, authorities said. That’s when two unnamed actors, recruited by Minucci, approached with a gun. Hoti purposefully left the car in park as the man handed over the machine, prosecutors alleged.
Then, more drama.
Weeks later, Awawdeh began running his own rigged poker game on Washington Place, on the same night as the Lexington Avenue game, court documents continued.
So on the night of Oct. 11, 2023, defendants with ties to the Bonanno Crime Family — Gelardo, Ziliani and others — stormed into the location with weapons, according to prosecutors; Ziliani was armed with a gun and Gelardo was wielding a baton.
They assaulted Awawdeh and a brawl erupted, at which point Gelardo and Ziliani took off from the location, according to court documents.
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