Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups can be seen schmoozing while mid-bet at a poker game in a photo with two people he was busted alongside Thursday for an alleged rigged gambling scheme.
The photo, obtained by The Post, was taken in 2019 inside a New York City hotel and shows the 49-year-old NBA Detroit Pistons champion sitting at a poker table with stacks of chips in front of him and his hand in the air, appearing to have just placed a bet.
The photo, exclusively obtained by The Post, shows Chauncey Billups (left) playing a game of poker in 2019 with Sophia Wei (center), and Saul Becher (behind Wei).
Billups is smirking lightly and talking with a player sitting beside him, who is holding a cell phone.
Billups — nicknamed “Mr. Big Shot” for his ability to sink critical shots — is featured in the image with Sophia Wei and Saul Becher who were also arrested and charged Thursday.
Four NBA teams have been named as having games involved in the FBI’s sweeping investigation into illegal sports gambling that led to the arrest of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and ex player Damon Jones. AFP via Getty Images
Wei — who was allegedly given the mobbed-up nickname “Pookie” by her conspirators including members of the mafia — can be seen appearing to speak as she stands between Billups and the other player, holding a handful of chips.
Becher is in the background of the photo standing several feet behind the bustling poker table — that features hands from four players and one dealer.
Follow The Post’s latest on the gambling scandal rocking the NBA:
- Terry Rozier could face new federal bribery charges in alleged gambling scheme
- Ex-NBA player Damon Jones expected to plead guilty in mob-tied gambling sweep
- Heat planning to cut Terry Rozier while on leave for NBA gambling investigation
- All 31 suspects in bombshell NBA poker case hauled into court as feds say plea negotiations ‘have already begun’
Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups during the team’s first game on Wednesday. APIn a sweeping indictment unsealed Thursday against Billups and 30 others, the sports legend is accused of acting as a “face card” who helped attract unwitting victims, or “fish,” into dishing out large amounts of cash in fixed poker games that began in 2019.
Alleged mobsters ran the rigged gambling ring and paid Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones, 49, to participate in the games to attract victims who would want the chance to play alongside former professional athletes.
The FBI has arrested 31 people involved in a rigged poker game ring backed by the New York City organized crime families.
- Ernest Aiello — reputed Bonanno mobster
- Nelson “Spanish G” Alvarez
- Louis “Lou Ap” Apicella
- Ammar “Flapper Poker” Awawdeh
- Saul Becher — professional poker player
- Chauncey Billups — Portland Trail Blazers coach, NBA Hall of Famer and 2004 NBA champion
- Matthew “The Wrestler” Daddino
- Eric “Spooky” Earnest
- Lee Fama — professional poker player
- John Gallo
- Marco Garzon
- Thomas “Tommy Juice” Gelardo — reputed Lucchese mobster charged in 2013 for beating porn star girlfriend
- Jamie Gilet
- Tony “Black Tony” Goodson
- Kenny Han
- Shane “Sugar” Henne
- Osman “Albanian Bruce” Hoti
- Horatio Hu
- Zhen “Scruli” Hu
- Damon “Dee Jones” Jones — NBA player from 1998 to 2009
- Joseph Lanni
- John “John South” Mazzola
- Curtis Meeks
- Nicholas Minucci
- Michael Renzulli
- Anthony Ruggiero Jr.
- Anthony “Doc” Shnayderman
- Robert “Black Rob” Stroud
- Seth Trustman
- Sophia “Pookie” Wei
- Julius Ziliani
The former athletes were sometimes told to lose and other times told to win, prosecutors say.
Becher is accused of organizing games for the Bonanno crime family, alongside Zhen Hu and Seth Trustman, that were held at a location on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.
Wei is accused of organizing and participating in rigged games using rigged shuffling machines, according to an indictment.
Other games were held in Miami, Las Vegas and the Hamptons, prosecutors claim.
The indictment was unsealed Thursday in conjunction with another separate indictment accusing Miami Heat guard Terry Roszier — aka “Scary Terry” — and Jones, and four others, of leaking secret insider information about NBA players and teams for sports betting.
