Indicted NBA referee Tim Donaghy, stated in an interview with CBS, the Gambino mafia crime family threatened to kill his wife and kids in Florida, if he didn't call basketball games in their favor, to benefit their gambling rings. He also stated, there are standing, unofficial agreements between certain referees and players and referees and coaches, to make certain calls.
Ex-NBA Ref Tim Donaghy: Mob Threatened Me
Dec. 3, 2009 - 60 Minutes: Disgraced Ref Talks About Betting Scandal, The Mob, And How He Got Caught
(CBS) Winning bets on pro basketball games using insider knowledge only he as an NBA referee would know was "euphoria" says now-disgraced ex-ref Tim Donaghy - that is, he says, until the mob got its hooks in him and threatened his family.
Donaghy talks to 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon about how he says he based his bets on other refs' biases, his mafia involvement and the subsequent jail time he received in his first interview to be broadcast this Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009.
Donaghy was breaking a cardinal rule in professional sports by betting on the sport he worked in, even on many of the games he officiated, and he was winning 75 percent of the time.
When the Mafia learned of his success, they wanted him to work for them, he says. "They basically told me that I needed to give them the picks and if I didn't, that it's a possibility that somebody would go down and visit my wife and kids in Florida," says Donaghy...
