Convicted Gambler and Ex-Referee Accomplice Say 13 NBA Refs on the Take
Posted on November 25th, 2009 by Hot Momma
(HMG) – A professional gambler told Bryant Gumbel and HBO’s “Real Sports” in an interview that aired last night, that disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy (photo right) consulted with him before every game he officiated during a months-long betting conspiracy,
Jimmy “The Sheep” Battista, fresh out of prison and poised to pen a “tell all book,” says the men won 37 out of 47 games they bet on during the 2006-07 season. Battista says he capitalized on the fact his high school friend Donaghy was losing while betting on other sports, enticing him in by giving him winners and refusing to collect on Donaghy’s losses.
“I sucked him in, and I’ll say that because that’s what it was,” Battista says. “How I got him in was that he didn’t have to pay on the losses. I just paid him on the wins. He lost? Don’t worry about it. I got it. You win? How many apples are in the basket. Cha-ching.”
Despite the controversy which led to both Donaghy and Battista spending time in prison, Battista tells Gumbel the NBA has never spoken to him about it. The convicted gambler claims that 13 NBA referees were involved in the betting scandal that broke last year with Donaghy the “King” of the NBA ref gambling ring, which included a “Big-5″ of dependable referees. Allegedly, Battista has phone records to prove his contacts with the 13 NBA officials. If true, his allegations would certainly reopen betting allegations in the NBA. NBA commissioner David Stern has not responded to the new claims of Battista.
Donaghy served 15 months in federal prison for providing inside tips on NBA games to a professional gambler in exchange for money. I saw excerpts of Donaghy’s tell-all book “Blowing the Whistle: The Culture of Fraud in the NBA, ” before it was canceled by Triumph Books and parent company Random House. The details and level of referee manipulation were quite shocking but very believable, to this cynic. But the book got pulled after the NBA busted a power move acording to ESPN:
“Somehow, the NBA got wind of the project and let Random House know in a threatening-type correspondence that they would object to the publication of such a book and they threatened that they would sue if they did go ahead and do that,” said Berdan, who didn’t see any letters from the NBA. “Random House considered that and … just pulled the plug on it, over concerns of potential liability,”"
Well the NBA can run, but even if they choose to keep hiding from this scandal the truth will likely emerge. I was looking for the video of the interview on HBO’s “Real Sports” from last night, but no luck so far.
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