The subject of Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film “Goodfellas“, Henry Hill, has told Mike Philbrick of ESPN’s Page Two that the shocking NBA ref scandal that is just unfolding could be a lot bigger than just Tim Donaghy, as the allegations against him currently suggest.
Graffiti Wall - Rumor Monger reports that On July 20, 2007, a report of an investigation by the FBI into allegations of an NBA referee betting on games to control the point spread emerged by columnist Murray Weiss of the New York Post. It was later revealed that Donaghy, who has a gambling problem, placed tens of thousands of dollars in bets on games during the 2005-06 NBA season and 2006-07 NBA season and had been approached by lower level mob associates to work on a gambling scheme.
“There’s still a million ways to do it today,” says Hill. “That’s why [Donaghy] didn’t get caught for so long.” Plus, Hill adds, “the government works in strange ways. They’ll let you go and go and go until they have a huge case against you. Right when you think you won’t get caught the feds reel you in and you’re hanging from their fishing poles. Now, with this whole NBA thing? Forget it. Now that everyone is talking they have computer records, they have everything. It’s going to get a whole lot bigger than this … you wait for the trial. This is going to be the tip of the iceberg. This guy Donaghy is in a lot of freakin’ trouble.”
In Goodfellas, Hill’s crew stole $5.8 million from a vault at JFK Airport. But Hill was also behind the notorious Boston College point shaving scandal in the 1978-79 season. So he knows a little about what Donaghy may have gotten himself into.
Philbrick points out that Hill had an “in” at Boston College, something similar to a Tim Donaghy, but perhaps more elaborate.
It turns out that one of the Boston College players, Rick Kuhn, grew up with some associates of Hill.
Kuhn, the team’s starting center, soon recruited two other starters. Payment was set at $2,500 to $3,500 per player, per game. At times, cocaine was used as payment for Kuhn, and he wasn’t even good at that.
“We found out that one time, when B.C. was on their way to a tournament in Hawaii, Kuhn lost a whole thing of coke in the airplane bathroom,” says McDonald.
All three players were on board and everyone was “winning.” Hill adds, “It was great, there was a lot of sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll … and missed shots.”
The questions swirling around Donaghy now include whether he made certain calls that affected games or point spreads, and whether anyone should have noticed.
“It’s harder than you think if you’re not looking for it,” says Hill. “At B.C., we had three guys cooperating with us and even the coach didn’t notice. Well, there was a little suspicion, but we made it through the season OK. We didn’t think anything of it. I know I didn’t.”
Interestingly enough, out of the nine games they attempted to fix, Hill and his associates won bets on only six.
