The campus was so beautiful. This is when the documentary transitions to the Pittsburgh mobsters and how they meet. However, as noted below, the scheme also worked in games where the Eagles were expected to lose anyway, with them shaving points so that the syndicate could bet on the other team winning by more than the point spread. Everybody testified against him. 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]. 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. They couldnt stop him. and I were the victims of the same circumstances that were beyond our control. My moment had arrived. Keeping Score: Close Shave. Greenfield Recorder, Greenfield Recorder, 27 Apr. She also recalled Kuhn saying that Cobb was too into his own game to cooperate with the betting thing, but the New York gangsters were adamant about getting him involved. Burke, through Hill, would front the money to pay the players, forwarding the money through Mazzei and the Perla brothers. But I dont feel any bitterness toward the prosecution. The Nets coaches were telling me, Coach, hes gonna be a great pro., I had a great camp with the Nets and was poised to make the team, said Cobb. I just knew that not only was I going to make the team, but I was going to be a factor in the NBA. Everybody involved in the scandal got sentenced except for Hill and Sweeney. 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. Whenever the Boston College scandal comes up, he tends to remind people that theres always more than one side to a story, and leave it at that. The characters and events were later immortalized by the actors Ray Liotta and Robert DeNiro in the classic film, Goodfellas. According to Hill's testimony, he met with Kuhn and cocaptain Jim Sweeney in a hotel room near Boston's Logan Airport in November of 1978 to cement the deal. He jumped in the air, as if soaring for a rebound, as cheers filled the courtroom. He dreamed of walking away from Boston College at seasons end as one of the schools most revered sons before embarking on what he hoped would be an accomplished, financially rewarding career in the NBA. The teams coach, Tom Davis, kept his job and led the Eagles to a few more strong seasons, including a 1982 Elite Eight appearance, before jumping at a big offer from Stanford and then later moving on to Iowa. Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A man who posed as a cannabis billionaire plead guilty Wednesday to securities fraud for lying to investors about his wealth, education and business. Jimmy said he was finished. The audience gets one on one interviews with each person to see the scandal from their perspective. On August 12, 2008, an anonymous user edited the Wikipedia article on the scandal, naming former player Joe Streater as an accomplice in the point-shaving, recruited by Kuhn alongside Sweeney. It was one of the most tremendous feelings Id ever experienced.. The Providence game was played on December 6, 1978, and Boston College was favored to win by six to seven points. Kuhn was thus expected to keep the score below the six- to seven-point margin. The test run for the scheme proved unsuccessful when Boston College's team established an early lead and ultimately won the game by nineteen points. With the focus limited to the specific players involved, BCs basketball program didnt suffer at all. Sometimes, B.C. The jury of eight women and four men reached its verdict after three days of deliberations and a trial that lasted five weeks. He was hopeful that hed have another chance to make it in the NBA. I was relishing that moment. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Art. Jim Sweeney admits that Kuhn gave him cash. Henry Hill avoided going to prison, and he went off into the sunset of the governments Witness Protection Program, said Alswanger. Kuhn's sentence was the heaviest ever imposed on a college player convicted of point shaving. Theyre no match for us. He told me, Well good, I plan on betting on those games and if you guys win and it turns out like that, Ill take care of you., Man, I was one of the most recognizable athletes on campus and people would come up and talk to me all the time, people I didnt know, Cobb continued. There were a lot of rich kids who went to Boston College. 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. indictments charged against them. Prosecutors say man accused in wife's disappearance Googled how to dispose of a body. Can anyone shed some Supreme Court mulls questions about students' accessibility rights. Rick Kuhn, 25, 6'5", 225-pound former high school star at Swissvale Area High southeast of Pittsburgh from 1970 to 1973. Hill turned state's evidence in exchange for avoiding prison and possible execution by Burke and the Lucchese family. 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. It is unclear how much money the players involved in the point-shaving scheme were paid. 2015, www.recorder.com/Archives/2015/01/spt-KeepingScore-GR-012415. This is important because it shows how it was a poorly run operation. 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. But I never agreed to fix any games or shave any points. The FBI agent is shocked and doesnt believe him, but begins to ask questions. 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. And look what he did to the lives of those kids. A grand jury indicted Burke, Mazzei, Kuhn, and the Perla brothers. Ernie, dont lie to me, Alswanger instructed him. While Hill was being questioned, FBI agents inadvertently mentioned his frequent trips to Boston around the time of the Lufthansa heist. It was a sweet victory for prosecutors against Burke, for whom they failed to even build a charge against for his biggest crime, the famous $6 million Lufthansa heist. Of course, the damn players had a million excuses, Henry Hill wrote in Sports Illustrateds bombshell story, How I Put The Fix In, which was the magazines cover story on February 16th, 1981. Sweeney was not charged. Today, Cobbs relationship with Boston College remains strained. Hill flew into Boston, at the behest of Jimmy Burke, late in 1978 to meet with Mazzei, the Perlas, Kuhn and Sweeney at the Logan Airport Hilton and ensure that everything was in place. I just had to be alone, Cobb told the reporters afterwards. . I was focused in the moment. In this case, while the line may have opened, or at one time gone to two, because of the heavy betting on Holy Cross, the syndicate had to lay as many as seven points, and therefore lost their bet. In early February, Boston College was scheduled to play two New York State teams, Fordham and St. John's. In this game, UCLA was favored to win over the Eagles by a fifteen to eighteen-point spread, so the syndicate bet on them to win by a margin greater than the point spread. Even with the not guilty verdict, he still lost all hope of going to the NBA. Mazzeis connection to Kuhn was through fellow gangsters Rocco and Tony Pearla. They had Kuhn approach Ernie Cobb, the leading scorer on the team, but it has never been proven if Cobb agreed to cooperate. Rocco and Tony Perla were giving money to Rick Kuhn. I felt like, You put my name out there, so let me clear my name! When they investigated me, I told them straight up about the $1,000 that Rocco Perla had given me. Bets in this column are given in the format ", Winner is given as either Opp or BC and the margin of victory. They left, and that was that. Hes made a prosperous living in the computer and electronics business - his small independent brokerage that sold parts and accessories to manufacturers did over $50 million in annual revenue at its peak - all while playing competitive basketball around the world into his 50s. Visser became the NFLs first female beat writer in 1976, when she was assigned by the paper to cover the New England Patriots. He took advantage of an opportunity that surfaced when a pro team from Israel offered him a spot on their roster. Everything Id worked so hard for was coming to fruition.. After the four-week trial in 1981, Jimmy Burke was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while Paul Mazzei and Tony Perla were sentenced to ten. Staff. I was shining at the camp. won the gangsters some serious money by falling short of the spread. At this point in the film, we stray away from the actual point-shaving and more into the consequences and investigation after the fact. I continue to feel like I have to defend myself, all these years later, even after the government tried their case against me and I was found innocent. Kuhn's attorney, Gary Zimmerman, said his client recognized the seriousness of his crimes and that his stiff jail sentence 'was a stern warning to other college athletes.'. 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. None of them know that this is only the beginning, as Henry Hill would talk to the FBI launching a massive investigation that would lead to the arrest of famous mobster Jimmy Burke. Man, I would watch Jo Jo White, Dave Cowens and John Havlicek playing on television, on that same famous floor where Bill Russell and Bob Cousy and all of those great Celtics teams won all those championships, said Cobb. Out of everything that happened, thats one thing that hurts me tremendously, Cobb said. Fellow player Michael Bowie begins to ask questions, but Sweeney argues that they are still winning. He said he was brought in on the deal for his ability to maximize profits through his contacts in the gambling world. He said Hill told him he was backed by powerful interests in New York, and he was afraid of what might happen to him if he refused to cooperate. If this film has taught us anything, it is that it doesnt matter which side was more at fault, ultimately the decisions they made changed their lives forever. I understand that they want to disassociate themselves from the scandal. I didnt think anything of it. 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