The scheme was hit or miss early on. 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. Professional wrestler Jay Briscoe dies in car accident at 38, Sister Andre, world's oldest living person, dies at 118, Ukraine's interior minister, other officials killed in helicopter crash near school, Qantas flight lands safely after engine trouble prompts mayday call, Meditation may alter gut microbes, study of Tibetan monks suggests. 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. I dont know if the losses can ever be made upnot the losses me and my family and friends have suffered. 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. Danois, Alejandro. His girlfriend, whom hed met during his first week on campus, was an upperclassman that knew how to navigate the schools academic landscape. I took every single practice and every single game seriously, said Cobb. This has gone on for four years. A grand jury indicted Burke, Mazzei, Kuhn, and the Perla brothers. The FBI agent is shocked and doesnt believe him, but begins to ask questions. So, in very basic terms, if B.C. Literature. He wasnt a trial lawyer, so he brought in his colleague, David Golub. Boston College's basketball team ended their 197879 season with a 229 record. We were looking good as a team and my goal was to be the best player I could possibly be. Sweeney has won several FIMBA tournaments as a player in the 50-plus division. Sweeney goes on to sell his computer service company and make millions. By my junior year, it was show-time, said Cobb. 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. The Worst Fix Ever. ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 3 Oct. 2014, www.espn.com/espn/chalk/story/_/id/11633538/betting-chronicling-worst-fix-ever-1978-79-bc-point-shaving-scandal. Greater Boston. The other two kids made whatever choices they made, but look what was done to Ernie. Hill turned state's evidence in exchange for avoiding prison and possible execution by Burke and the Lucchese family. They said they were trying like hell but they couldnt get the job done because Cobb was the key man on the team., After Boston College beat Holy Cross 89-87 in the first game between the two schools that season, Hill said in SI, Well, B.C. In early February, Boston College was scheduled to play two New York State teams, Fordham and St. John's. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (Joe Dennehy/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Save PURCHASE A LICENSE Get personalized pricing by telling us when, where, and how you want to use this asset. For all I know, he told them I was in, that it would cost an extra $2,500 per game and he was trying to hustle the gangsters while pocketing the extra money. This scandal did not end with the regular basketball season, it continued to affect and alter these players and gangsters lives for years after. Said Hill, "He wanted me to fly up to Boston. He graduated on time with a degree in sociology. Loughery told me that I had the ability to play in the NBA. Same here, and yet when they did their list of greatest sports scandals a few weeks back (when Miami broke) they didn't have it on there the first day. Kaskade, DJ Diesel (Aka Shaquille ONeal) Among The Headliners At This Years Indy 500 Snake Pit, Real Madrid Vs. Liverpool Is Already Make Or Break, The American Express Draws Flashy Field Despite Un-Elevated Status, Jake Paul And Tommy Fury Agree To Fight (Again) On Feb. 25. Who Is The NBA GOAT: Lebron James, Michael Jordan, Or Kareem? When the story first broke, it said that Michael Bowie and I were the ones implicated, said Cobb. The movie begins by introducing the key Boston College basketball players and the Pittsburgh mobsters. Sweeney was not charged. Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A Memphis-area church is holding prayer services Wednesday for four of its members who were killed in a plane crash in Texas. 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. In papers made public Monday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, Kuhn's attorney argued his client's sentence was 'excessive,' and should be reduced because Kuhn has been cooperating with prosecutors in the case. He is a participant in the Federal Witness Protection Program and is receiving government protection in exchange for his testimony. ESPN The campus was so beautiful. Boston College Accused of Point Shaving, was the big headline on the UPI wire. 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. But for many, there is a fierce bitterness that still lingers to this day. And he also cultivated interest, in the area's black community, in terms of being engaged and intrigued bywhat was going on with Boston Colleges basketball program. The documentary, narrated by Ray Liotta (who portrayed Hill in the film), was set up so that the viewer needed to watch Goodfellas beforehand to understand many of the references in the story. They treated me great. Out of everything that happened, thats one thing that hurts me tremendously, Cobb said. I was this poor kid with no financial resources, going on trial with a member of the mob. Sweeney had enough of that over a few months 35 years ago to last a lifetime. The very next day, the Nets cut me., When the F.B.I. I had everything I could have possibly asked for. When he finished with his testimony, he made a beeline straight for the restroom. 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. Ultimately, nothing happened. It wasnt an absolute disaster but it was a cousin. There were a lot of rich kids who went to Boston College. Thus, for example, if participating bookmakers determined Boston College to be an eight-point favorite in a particular game, Kuhn would be paid a bonus, usually $2,500, if they won by less than eight points. . My moment had arrived. 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. Sweeney has mostly shunned requests for interviews and book projects over the years, but decided to put his trust in documentary filmmaker Joe Lavine - a fellow native of Trenton, N.J. - who directed the piece for ESPN. Hill gave up everybody including the players involved. Intentional point shaving on the floor was never proven, and if Hill hadnt later confessed the scheme to prosecutors after getting busted for his other crimes, the whole ordeal might have passed without notice. It is unclear how much money the players involved in the point-shaving scheme were paid. With Roccos high school buddy Rick Kuhn entering his senior year at Boston College, where he was expected to be a contributor to the schools basketball team, the 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 Paul Mazzei to shave points - losing by more than the point spread or winning by less than the point spread - in several BC games between December 1978 and March 1979. Rick Kuhn, 55, passed away peacefully on September 12, 2022, in his home in West Fargo, ND, surrounded by his family. Even though he was not guilty, Boston College has erased them from their memory. The Boys of Dunbar, A Story of Love, Hope and Basketball. He made other African-American ballers feel like they could go there and really showcase what they could do on a national level. I didnt think anything of it. Burke, through Hill, would front the money to pay the players, forwarding the money through Mazzei and the Perla brothers. 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. Theyd taken my passport and I had to stay here and face these charges, said Cobb. Burke had Hill fly to Boston on November 16, 1978, to meet with Mazzei, Kuhn, Tony Perla, and any other member of the Eagles team interested in participating in their scheme. My family has suffered. Everybody involved in the scandal got sentenced except for Hill and Sweeney. It is similar to how they captured Al Capone on tax evasion, the smaller of his many crimes that would ultimately put him away. It had to cost around $200,000 at the time to defend me.. I told him, I think were gonna blow them out, we look really good. Purdum, David. 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. Hill and Burke both were convicted of extortion in 1972 in Florida and have been prime suspects in the Dec. 11, 1978, robbery of almost $9 million from the Lufthansa Cargo Terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. With Roccos high school buddy Rick Kuhn entering his senior year at Boston College, where he was expected to be a contributor to the schools basketball team, the brothers figured they could make a ton of money. All Kuhn had to do was ensure that the Eagles fell short of the point spread in the games that they bet on. The mobsters Paul Mazzei and Henry Hill met in a nearby jail stayed in touch after serving their time. He graduated from Woodworth Public School in 1985 and earned a bachelors degree from University of Sioux Falls. A few blocks from Boston College, the place that held so much meaning to him, where hed worked so hard to create his lifes purpose, the symbolism was inescapable when he found that he had a flat tire. 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. But its the points that Cobb and teammate Michael Bowie didnt score during the 1978-1979 season which has spawned a federal investigation. I was having a lot of success, we were turning around the fortunes of the program and I was getting a lot of press in the Boston Globe and area newspapers. 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. He was a murderer and a horrible human being. SELECT OPTIONS SAVE TO CART DETAILS Restrictions: No commercial uses without permission. Perla and Kuhn had gone to high school together and were good friends. 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. I never got to realize my dream of playing in the NBA, but Ive been all over the globe and have experienced so many different and beautiful cultures. I was like, Yeah, whatever. Sure enough, a few weeks later, he hands my girlfriend an envelope. Hill stated that, at the time, he and Burke were watching the game on television at Burke's home in Queens, and Burke put his foot through the television in anger at having lost $50,000 ($186,700 today). 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. The fixing begins to wear into Sweeney, who confides in his roommates but never seeks out the proper authority. 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. It creates suspense as Hill is a mess on the stand and can barely speak under the pressure of snitching on his friends. On Friday morning, March 23rd, the jury came back with a unanimous innocent verdict for Ernie Cobb, exonerating him of all charges. Hill reportedly cleared over $100,000 ($373,400 today) and bettors higher up the line were said to have made up to $250,000 ($933,400 today). Im not angry at the school. Were you shaving points for the mob?. In practice, he was the lunatic who his teammates sucked their teeth and rolled their eyes at when he told the coaches that they needed to run more sprints after an exhausting practice. This is when the documentary transitions to the Pittsburgh mobsters and how they meet. Today, Cobbs relationship with Boston College remains strained. Cobb was drafted by the Utah Jazz in the 6th Round and cut during training camp. The distinguished paper later retracted the story. The goal for making some real money is to get the character a TV gig with ESPN, NBC Sports, or another major sports network. Kuhn's sentence was the heaviest ever imposed on a college player convicted of point shaving. Rick Kuhn, 10 years, Rocco Perla (fixer) four years and a $30,000 fine. I was shining at the camp. Visser became the NFLs first female beat writer in 1976, when she was assigned by the paper to cover the New England Patriots. High School together and were good friends their time on a College player convicted of point.! Tremendously, Cobb said me., when she was assigned by the Utah Jazz in NBA... Boston College was scheduled to play in the Federal Witness Protection Program and receiving. Hill met in a nearby jail stayed in touch after serving their time murderer a. 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