An ex-enforcer for the Gambino crime family thinks the Mafia could have “something” on Chauncey Billups — and the NBA coach may be as much of a victim as the gamblers he fleeced.
“For them to do this, they probably knew somebody and asked him for a favor . . . he’s got a wife he’s cheating on, they caught him sniffing coke, or whatever, they got him somehow,” John Alite theorized, though there is no public evidence to suggest he’s engaged in these behaviors.
Or the suspended 49-year-old Portland Trailblazers coach could have asked the mob for help, Alite suggested, and then found himself in over his head.
“Either they’re blackmailing him or he asked for a favor in the past . . . and they slowly use him and then they pull his neck, you know, they choke him a little and tell him do this or else,” he said.
The DOJ charged 31 people Wednesday — including Billups, the Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier and ex-Cleveland Cavalier Damon Jones — in a massive illegal gambling bust involving the Gambino, Bonanno, Genovese and Lucchese crime families.
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 FBI accused Billups and Jones of serving as “face cards” to lure gamblers to rigged, mob-run card games operating out of 80 Washington Pl. in Greenwich Village.
Pro athletes and celebrities are often drawn to the mob, the ex-Gambino button man said, because the underworld provides excitement in their high-profile lives.
“We used to stay with a lot of actors, when John [Gotti] was around, DeNiro would come around, Steven Segal would come around, Mickey Rourke would come around,” he said.
Alite, who spent 14 years behind bars for convictions involving six murders and at least 37 shootings, said the mob often uses a mix of coercion and gifts to entrap people.
“They offered women and drugs, whatever they want,” he said.
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Mafiosos have a “slow process” for ensnaring otherwise honest people into their clutches, he explained, adding Billups and Rozier could have been groomed and ultimately forced to participate in the card games.
“You don’t just dive in, you slowly work the guy,” Alite said. “I had a detective with me, Phil Baroni, he was a strait-laced cop.
“I started bringing him to Atlantic City, he liked to gamble, before you know it he became my bookmaking partner, then he became my drug partner, then he became a killer with me.”
Alite dismissed the idea that Billups got involved for the money, claiming he was already rich enough that money wouldn’t matter to him.
“It’s kind of ridiculous to think that he’s there just to make $50,000, it just doesn’t make a f–king little bit of sense.”
Billups, through his attorney Chris Haywood, has denied the allegations and vowed to fight to clear his name.
“Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others,” Haywood said in a statement.
Haywood, did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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