Today, Cobbs relationship with Boston College remains strained. Just by being there, Id already reached success beyond my wildest dreams. indictments charged against them. Sweeney purposefully misses a free throw to help the fixers win even though he is the best free-throw shooter in the nation. Although Cobb maintains that he received money from Rocco, he claims it was just for winning the game even though Rocco claims he knew for sure. I was so frustrated at one point that I got on my bike in Stamford, Connecticut and just started riding. Rocco comes up to me and says, Hey, sometimes I bet on games and I wanna know how you think you guys are gonna do against Stonehill and Bentley? said Cobb. Hes a good person. II. The Shadow League, 29 May 2017, theshadowleague.com/30-years-after-his-exoneration-former-bc-hoops-star-ernie-cobb-is-still-fighting-to-clear-his-name-pt-ii/. I cooperated willingly, and Im glad I did, Sweeney says. Playing for the Mob: The Story of College Kids Breaking Bad But I never agreed to fix any games or shave any points. In 2014, the ESPN-produced 30 for 30 series debuted Playing for the Mob,[6] the story about how Hill and his Pittsburgh associates, and several Boston College basketball players, perpetrated the point-shaving scheme during the 197879 season, an episode briefly mentioned in the movie Goodfellas. Jim Sweeney is a happy guy. Two Years Into A Six-Year Contract, The New York Yankees Hope For A Fully Healthy DJ LeMahieu, As Premier League Clubs Court Lindstrom, 22, He Wants To Make History For Club And Country, Paige Spiranac Expands Her Budding Social Media Empire. It was like a paradise to me, coming from where I came from. I just knew that not only was I going to make the team, but I was going to be a factor in the NBA. All of those guys walkedin his footsteps., He was the African-American guard in the modern era of B.C. Contact Me. After perhaps his greatest moment during the preseason, when he had that outstanding game against the Celtics right before the regular season tipped off, Cobb was relaxing in his hotel room when he heard a knock at the door. I understand that they want to disassociate themselves from the scandal. Everybody involved in the scandal got sentenced except for Hill and Sweeney. Burke had Hill fly to Boston on November 16, 1978, to meet with Mazzei, Kuhn, Tony Perla, and any other member of the Eagles team interested in participating in their scheme. Joe Beaulieu, the starting center on the 1978-79 Boston College team, also testified he was approached by Kuhn to participate in the plan, but he said he rejected the proposal. But Kuhn was a player of limited ability, so he recruited his roommate and best friend, who also happened to be the most important player on the floor, the teams senior point guard, Jim Sweeney. The Boston Globe reported on Friday that Cobb and Bowie are targets of the federal probe into allegations of point-shaving in three Eagles games. He rebounded well and was a good outlet The conspirators decided that these games presented especially good opportunities because New York bookmakers generally accepted large bets for New York teams. 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 . They could have probably gotten away with the fix if they handled certain things better. 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 called my buddy Frank Melzer, who was an attorney, said Alswanger. ESPN's latest 30 for 30 film tackles the Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal. After his junior campaign, where he converted 52% of his shots, an inordinate number for a small perimeter shooter, and averaged 22.8 points per game, he was recognized as one of the most lethal scorers in the country. Rick Kuhn, the former Boston College basketball player who was convicted last November, and sentenced last February for his involvement in the point shaving The Providence game was played on December 6, 1978, and Boston College was favored to win by six to seven points. Kuhn was thus expected to keep the score below the six- to seven-point margin. The test run for the scheme proved unsuccessful when Boston College's team established an early lead and ultimately won the game by nineteen points. Sweeney describes his side of the story, claiming he is invited to dinner with Kuhn and Tony, where he meets Henry Hill who threatens to kill him if he doesnt begin fixing games with Kuhn. Other notable players selected in that draft included Sidney Moncrief, Bill Laimbeer, Bill Cartwright, Mark Eaton and Jim Paxson. The December 16 game against Harvard was chosen as the second test for the scheme. I hadnt seen Ernie for several years, Jack Hennessey, a psychologist at Boston College that had served as an informal academic advisor during Cobbs days as a student, told the New York Times in April of 1984. Dean Smith, basketball coach at the University of North Carolina and the president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, said last night it is standard procedure for coaches to speak to team members about the possibility of point-shaving overtures and to encourage them to report any efforts to persuade them to manipulate scores. Rocco Perla was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. When the story first broke, it said that Michael Bowie and I were the ones implicated, said Cobb. Needing an inside man, the brothers wanted to recruit Rick Kuhn, a high school friend of Rocco who was entering his senior year at Boston College and was expected to be a key member of the 19787 Cobb was drafted by the Utah Jazz in the 6th Round and cut during training camp. It is similar to how they captured Al Capone on tax evasion, the smaller of his many crimes that would ultimately put him away. He traveled throughout the world, getting paid to play the game that he loved. Henry Hill avoided going to prison, and he went off into the sunset of the governments Witness Protection Program, said Alswanger. 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. The mobsters are done fixing games with the Boston College players and call them babies for barely getting the job done. Sweeney says that he and Maura have almost recouped their costs in launching the character. Ultimately, nothing happened. 5 Convicted in Boston College Betting Case By Bart Barnes November 24, 1981 A federal jury in Brooklyn yesterday convicted former Boston College basketball It wasnt until I actually saw him play that I realized how special he was as an offensive talent. 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. At one point, he said accepted $500 from Kuhn, but only to give the illusion of cooperating in the scheme. Overall, the real end to the Boston College point-shaving scandal is the trial, the main conflict of the film. Testifying for the defense, Boston College basketball Coach Tom Davis said at no point during the 1978-79 season did he notice any of his players giving anything less than a 100 percent effort. Said Hill, "He wanted me to fly up to Boston. This has gone on for four years. As a backup center with limited effect on a games outcome, he won over the mobsters by bringing Ernie Cobb, the teams leading scorer, and Sweeney, the point guard who controlled the ball for much of the game, into the fold. She also recalled Kuhn saying that Cobb was too into his own game to cooperate with the betting thing, but the New York gangsters were adamant about getting him involved. Testifying for the government, Sweeney acknowledged meeting with Hill but said that although he agreed to participate in the scheme he never intended to go through with the deal. It was a sweet victory for prosecutors against Burke, for whom they failed to even build a charge against for his biggest crime, the famous $6 million Lufthansa heist. When he was implicated in the scandal, I was shocked.. But that had nothing to do with shaving points., At the time, I was nave, Cobb continued. His lifes dream of making it to the NBA, which was where he belonged, was taken away from him. I saw Ernie score 28 points against the Celtics in one of the final pre-season games when he was with the Nets, said Alswanger, Cobbs former high school coach. Perla and Kuhn had gone to high school together and were good friends. He didn't want to be bothered with these kids anymore." The story read, in part, as follows: Ernie Cobb tossed in 1,760 points in a stellar basketball career at Boston College and only two other Eagles scored more. Kuhn was thus expected to keep the score below the six- to seven-point margin. The scheme thus ended on an unsuccessful note. It is heartening, by contrast, that the integrity of our coaching and athletic staff, as well as that of our current team, was never in question. The characters and events were later immortalized by the actors Ray Liotta and Robert DeNiro in the classic film, Goodfellas. It was a tragedy that he never got another chance to play in the NBA., Kevin Loughery never gave me a firm reason why the Nets were letting me go, said Cobb. Lawyers for the defendants said they will appeal the verdict. Hill stated that, at the time, he and Burke were watching the game on television at Burke's home in Queens, and Burke put his foot through the television in anger at having lost $50,000 ($186,700 today). And in that article in Sports Illustrated, Henry Hill says, The word came back that Cobb was enthusiastic. The key phrase there is The word came back. I dont know what Rick Kuhn was telling Henry Hill or the Perla brothers. Justice Department files complaint after officer fired for opioid use disorder. Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A Memphis-area church is holding prayer services Wednesday for four of its members who were killed in a plane crash in Texas. 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. With the focus limited to the specific players involved, BCs basketball program didnt suffer at all. The Texas woman who owned the ring thought she had misplaced it, but it was actually stolen and admitted as evidence in a 1986 drug trial. With Roccos high school buddy Rick Kuhn entering his senior year at Boston College, where he was expected to be a contributor to the schools basketball team, the brothers figured they could make a ton of money. The FBI had all the evidence they needed and were going to try and swing that Jimmy Burke played a large role in the scandal in order to convict him. All Kuhn had to do was ensure that the Eagles fell short of the point spread in the games that they bet on. So, in very basic terms, if B.C. was favored to win a game by ten points, Kuhn had to make sure, if the game was in play with the mobsters and the bookies, that they won by less than ten in order for the gamblers to make money. They treated me great. But I know that its not really in vain, because I know the truth.. Whats going on? According to Hill's testimony, he met with Kuhn and cocaptain Jim Sweeney in a hotel room near Boston's Logan Airport in November of 1978 to cement the deal. Although Cobb and Sweeney received money and were a part of the scandal, the FBI did not prosecute them in the first round and were primarily focused on getting the mobsters. The film goes on to show how nobody really made a lot of money from the fix. He gave me every opportunity to tell my story, says Sweeney of Lavine. I was focused in the moment. "Boston College's tradition in athletics rests upon the accomplishments of many thousands of men and women. With Roccos high school buddy Rick Kuhn entering his senior year at Boston College, where he was expected to be a contributor to the schools basketball team, the brothers figured they could make a ton of money. All Kuhn had to do was ensure that the Eagles fell short of the point spread in the games that they bet on. With Sweeney making it out with no sentence, the mystery still remains of how involved he really was. On October 7, 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.. He talks about how he wanted to be an NBA player. Kuhn, 28, was one of five people found guilty of conspiracy to engage in racketeering and other charges that stemmed from a point-shaving scheme hatched for the 1978-79 school season. I dont know if they recognize it, but B.C. As a freshman, he played sparingly and averaged 4.5 points per game while the Eagles finished with a disappointing 9-17 overall record. All because, he says, of those five crinkled $100 bills dropped at his feet one day in the locker room. Tell me what you did and what you didnt do. 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