Ex-Gambino enforcer says Chauncey Billups might have been blackmailed by the mob in NBA poker scandal

An ex-enforcer for the Gambino crime household thinks the Mafia might have “one thing” on Chauncey Billups — and the NBA coach could also be as a lot of a sufferer because the gamblers he fleeced.

“For them to do that, they in all probability knew any individual and requested him for a favor . . . he’s obtained a spouse he’s dishonest on, they caught him sniffing coke, or no matter, they obtained him by some means,” John Alite theorized, although there is no such thing as a public proof to counsel he’s engaged in these behaviors.

Or the suspended 49-year-old Portland Trailblazers coach might have requested the mob for assist, Alite instructed, after which discovered himself in over his head.

“Both they’re blackmailing him or he requested for a favor previously . . . they usually slowly use him after which they pull his neck, you recognize, they choke him just a little and inform him do that or else,” he mentioned.

The DOJ charged 31 individuals Wednesday — together with Billups, the Miami Warmth’s Terry Rozier and ex-Cleveland Cavalier Damon Jones — in an enormous unlawful playing bust involving the Gambino, Bonanno, Genovese and Lucchese crime households.

The FBI accused Billups and Jones of serving as “face playing cards” to lure gamblers to rigged, mob-run card video games working out of 80 Washington Pl. in Greenwich Village.

Professional athletes and celebrities are sometimes drawn to the mob, the ex-Gambino button man mentioned, as a result of the underworld supplies pleasure of their high-profile lives.

“We used to stick with a variety of actors, when John [Gotti] was round, DeNiro would come round, Steven Segal would come round, Mickey Rourke would come round,” he mentioned.

Alite, who spent 14 years behind bars for convictions involving six murders and at the least 37 shootings, mentioned the mob usually makes use of a mixture of coercion and items to entrap individuals.

“They provided girls and medicines, no matter they need,” he mentioned.

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Mafiosos have a “gradual course of” for ensnaring in any other case trustworthy individuals into their clutches, he defined, including Billups and Rozier might have been groomed and finally pressured to take part within the card video games.

“You don’t simply dive in, you slowly work the man,” Alite mentioned. “I had a detective with me, Phil Baroni, he was a strait-laced cop.

“I began bringing him to Atlantic Metropolis, he favored to gamble, earlier than you recognize it he grew to become my bookmaking associate, then he grew to become my drug associate, then he grew to become a killer with me.”

Alite dismissed the concept that Billups obtained concerned for the cash, claiming he was already wealthy sufficient that cash wouldn’t matter to him.

“It’s form of ridiculous to suppose that he’s there simply to make $50,000, it simply doesn’t make a f–king little little bit of sense.”

Billups, by means of his legal professional Chris Haywood, has denied the allegations and vowed to battle to clear his title.

“Anybody who is aware of Chauncey Billups is aware of he’s a person of integrity; males of integrity don’t cheat and defraud others,” Haywood mentioned in an announcement.

Haywood, didn’t reply to The Publish’s request for remark.