U.S. Details How Mob and Ex-NBA Players Lured High Rollers Into Poker Trap NYT | Top Stories By: Michael Wilson 25 October 2025 at 03:00 A Manhattan apartment was at the center of a Mafia-run ring that used former N.B.A. players as bait and technology to read cards, prosecutors say. © Jenny Kane/Associated PressChauncey Billups, a former N.B.A. player and the Portland Trail Blazers’ current head coach, helped attract gamblers to the rigged games, prosecutors say.