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It’s like a movie.
Twenty defendants were charged today on multiple charges involving racketeering, extortion, and even sports bribery, according to a release put out buy the U.S Attorney’s Office.
Now, why is this big news?
Members of an organized crime family attempted to fix a college basketball game. One of the defendants offered “members of a college basketball team thousands of dollars to intentionally lose the game.”
With the recent college basketball scandals of a pay-for-play, this could be a huge break into a new scandal, one that reminds you of the 1978 Boston College team that was involved in a point-shaving scandal with notorious gangster Henry Hill. Yes, the same Henry Hill the movie Goodfellas is centered around.
It does not mention what team was offered a bribery.
This isn’t even the first time this decade that there’s been a point shaving scandal in college hoops. In 2013, former Auburn guard Varez Ward was indicted in federal court on two counts related to point-shaving accusations. He was arrested for allegedly trying to fix games and offering money to teammates during the 2011-12 season.