The Eagles managed to lose by 22 points, 10381, with the syndicate winning its bet. Sweeney, who went on a year later to win the Naismith Award as college basketballs top player under six feet tall, says he was initially recruited into the fix by Kuhn without his knowledge and that he never intentionally threw an errant pass, missed a shot or did anything else to alter a game. On June 23rd, 1983, more than four years after hed played his final game at Boston College, Ernie Cobb was indicted and charged with taking cash bribes to alter the outcomes of games against Harvard, Rhode Island and Fordham. When Henry Hill started threatening Kuhn and Sweeney, promising that they couldnt play with broken limbs, the players, according to Hill, claimed that they were doing their best, but the scheme would never work unless Ernie Cobb was in on the fix. Investigators find phone records from Pittsburgh to Burke that allow them to connect the point-shaving scheme to him. But, as Sweeney points out, the government didnt need to prove that point shaving actually happened, just that a conspiracy to shave them had. The mobsters are done fixing games with the Boston College players and call them babies for barely getting the job done. Said Hill, "He wanted me to fly up to Boston. Contact Me. I was eating Rory Sparrow up, who went on to have a decent NBA career, in that camp. Boston College Accused of Point Shaving, was the big headline on the UPI wire. ESPN Looks Back On Boston College Point Shaving Scandal And A Player Speaks Out. Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 1 Oct. 2014, www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanriper/2014/10/01/espn-looks-back-on-boston-college-point-shaving-scandal-and-a-player-speaks-out/#3f03989d26b8. Towards the end of the film, we see Hill and Mizzou, one of the people Hill snitched on, are meeting at a restaurant 30 years later. At that point, I was looking forward to a trial, said Cobb. The audience gets one on one interviews with each person to see the scandal from their perspective. Dubbed Playing for the Mob, it documents the twists and turns that brought Sweeney and two other BC players into the throes of New York mobster Henry Hill, whose name later became famous when he was portrayed by Ray Liotta in the 1990 hit movie Goodfellas. Rick Kuhn was an older player who was friends with Sweeney and a tough, street smart kid with a different upbringing than Sweeney. At this point in the film, we stray away from the actual point-shaving and more into the consequences and investigation after the fact. They contacted a local friend, Paul Mazzei, who was known to have influence within major New York gambling circles. The story breaks to the media and the massive investigation followed. In a formal statement issued by its communications office, Boston College said the school's community "is saddened by the fact that one of our former student basketball players has been found guilty of the serious charges of which he was accused . Thus, for example, if participating bookmakers determined Boston College to be an eight-point favorite in a particular game, Kuhn would be paid a bonus, usually $2,500, if they won by less than eight points. I continue to feel like I have to defend myself, all these years later, even after the government tried their case against me and I was found innocent. This is when the documentary transitions to the Pittsburgh mobsters and how they meet. Im going off on the basketball court, scoring like crazy, the gamblers are losing their shirts, and they start talking about, We have to have Cobb. Anybody thats ever seen me play knows that I was only stuck in one gear, and that was super-charged-turbo! He took advantage of an opportunity that surfaced when a pro team from Israel offered him a spot on their roster. Perla and Kuhn had gone to high school together and were good friends. For over 30 years, hes been living in Clearwater, Florida, married to his college sweetheart. Henry Hill avoided going to prison, and he went off into the sunset of the governments Witness Protection Program, said Alswanger. . The final player involved in the fix, Rick Kuhn, is introduced. Sweeney goes on to sell his computer service company and make millions. Boeing's fuel-efficient aircraft design wins $425 million award from NASA. and I were the victims of the same circumstances that were beyond our control. I had my own place to live and all the food I wanted to eat. The former friends work hard to cast blame and the true conversations that went on between the mobsters and players will never be discovered. Rick Kuhn, 25, 6'5", 225-pound former high school star at Swissvale Area High southeast of Pittsburgh from 1970 to 1973. Fourteen hours later, I arrived in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.. The Boston College case arose out of the Lufthansa investigation. Lawyers for the defendants said they will appeal the verdict. The Perla brothers proposed a simple scheme: they, along with Kuhn, would select certain basketball games where the projected point spread separating Boston College from its opponent was expected to be significant. Rick Kuhn, James Burke, Rocco and Anthony Perla, and Paul Mazzei now face up to thirty years in prison possibly to twenty I was focused in the moment. If youve seen the famous mafia flick, you probably remember Liotta making several references to his Pittsburgh connections, his main partners in a drug ring, among other things. Can anyone shed some Ultimately, nothing happened. The scheme thus ended on an unsuccessful note. won by only two points and I had a lot of losing money down on this game. This offers a students perspective of how they never thought their team could have been fixing teams. Kuhn went on to live a quiet life only talking about the scandal to high school students encouraging them to not make the same mistakes. The December 16 game against Harvard was chosen as the second test for the scheme. This scene gives the audience insight into the type of person Henry Hill was and how hard it was to testify against someone like Burke. He wasnt a trial lawyer, so he brought in his colleague, David Golub. Kuhn told people at Boston College later After he interviewed him, he fell in love with him and told me, Hes innocent. Suspenseful music plays and the trial begins. A former Boston College basketball player and four other men were charged yesterday with conspiring to fix six basketball games during the 1978-79 season by shaving points. I didnt know what that was all about. I was back at home, visiting for the summer and about to return to Israel, Cobb said. Suspecting that some bookmakers might be getting wise to the scheme, the conspirators temporarily revised their strategy after the UCLA game. Golub was a brilliant lawyer, and he told me that hed have to interview Ernie first to see if he was gonna take the case on. We have decided to cover the most scandalous of all 30-for-30s, Playing for the Mob. The Providence game was played on December 6, 1978, and Boston College was favored to win by six to seven points. The 197879 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal involved a scheme in which members of the American Mafia recruited and bribed several Boston College Eagles men's basketball players to ensure the team would not win by the required margin (not cover the point spread), allowing gamblers in the know to place wagers against that team and win. I feel like I did all that fighting after I lost my dream of playing in the NBA, and it was all in vain. They showed me these pictures of these mafia guys and were asking me, Do you know him? After narrowly missing the NBA - Cobb was among the last players cut by the New Jersey Nets in 1980 - he played professionally in Israel and later became a high school coach in Phoenix. The movie begins by introducing the key Boston College basketball players and the Pittsburgh mobsters. Zimmerman also asked the court to consider Kuhn's 'crime-free background' and his cooperation with federal authorities in the Cobb case. WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court hears Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools to rule on financial compensation for a deaf student who was not provided proper learning support. When he returned to the United States, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he became a Special Education teacher and high school basketball coach. The FBI finds all the players and begins asking questions. This is important because it shows how it was a poorly run operation. Cobb's trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 31 before Judge Leonard Wexler. Im not angry at the school. I was forthright and honest with them. Thats why I got into education and coaching. Result is the outcome of the syndicate's bets. Hes also jumping on the scandals latest publicity wave to tout Mike, the SpongeBob-like sports cartoon character whose online life includes links to the NFL Shop, NBA Store and other merchandise outlets. In this case, while the spread was as high as 5, the syndicate was able to lay just 2 points, and therefore pushed when Holy Cross won by 2. I was shining at the camp. They were touting me as the next sub-6-footer to have an impact in the NBA. All of Henry Hills and the Perla brothers information was coming from Rick Kuhn, and who knows what he was saying to them to cover his own skin., (Jim Sweeney, Photo Credit: tampabay.com), Kuhn and Sweeney got in over their heads, Cobb continued. Hill and Tony Perla claim that they were all doing cocaine and Kuhn and Sweeney begin marking games that they are favored in and talking about all the money they will make. Riper, Tom Van. The goal for making some real money is to get the character a TV gig with ESPN, NBC Sports, or another major sports network. He is a participant in the Federal Witness Protection Program and is receiving government protection in exchange for his testimony. Sweeney had enough of that over a few months 35 years ago to last a lifetime. I understand that they want to disassociate themselves from the scandal. "He said he had a betting thing set up in a way to make money during the season so that we could be taken care of," said Reed, now a nurse in Syracuse, N.Y. Reed also testified that Kuhn threatened to kill her if she ever told of the scheme. And look what he did to the lives of those kids. Black Test Car orA Dark Machine of Destruction? The audience is left to make their own judgment on how involved Sweeney and Cobb were in the fixes, but Sweeney missing a free throw when he is the best in the nation is some serious evidence of his involvement. The player was Kuhn, a reserve forward on the team. The other two kids made whatever choices they made, but look what was done to Ernie. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. While the line may have been as low as 13 at some point, the syndicate had to lay 15, and therefore lost their bet when Rhode Island won by only 13. She knew the terrain in terms of what I needed to be doing, said Cobb. 30 Years After His Exoneration, Former BC Hoops Star Ernie Cobb Is Still Fighting to Clear His Name Pt. I was so thankful, and was willing to work as hard as I possibly could, both in my studies, and in basketball, to be able to get the most I could out of the experience.. A grand jury indicted Burke, Mazzei, Kuhn, and the Perla brothers. I was reading about the Boston College point-shaving scandal of the late 70s and I was wondering whatever became of Rick Kuhn in his later life. But Im so proud of him because he picked his life back up and made the best of it. The structure includes a minute-by-minute analysis, a slow-motion capture of the climax of the story, and a bolded narrative that gives the article structure. I called my buddy Frank Melzer, who was an attorney, said Alswanger. It was all so positive.. 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