FBI investigating NBA ref
 

THE FBI is investigating an NBA referee who allegedly was betting on basketball games - including ones he was officiating during the past two seasons - as part of an organized-crime probe in the Big Apple, The Post has learned. The investigation, which began more than a year ago, is zeroing in on blockbuster allegations that the referee was making calls that affected the point spread to guarantee that he - and the hoods who had their hooks in him - cashed in on large bets.

New York Post story

Wow. That is huge.

If this were China, he would be looking at the death penalty.

Great, that's all we need.

I don't know if it's because I don't trust tabloids, but this story smells funny...too vague. Sounds more like a made-for-TV movie script than reality. I hope this is more an over-reaching beat writer than a factual story.

The FBI started to get suspicious when he called traveling.

The obvious question: Who?

The NYP article referred to the official as being male, so we know it's not Violet Palmer. :D :D

Also, he was allegedly betting on games in the 2005-06, so that removes the new guys in 2006-07.

So we're left with pretty much every else. I can't see any of the vets being involved. Guys like Bavetta, Crawford, Crawford, Mauer, Salvatore, etc...

I bet the NBA now will go back and look at each of the calls by this official in both of the mentioned seasons, and determine if any game-changing damage was done. I would think however, that this type of damage is detectable by the league.

As for a call missed/made that might earn a bettor some cashola because the call/non-call affected the point spread, that is harder to detect.

With todays technology and the scrutiny and evalation system that today's referees are under, could this really go undetected for so long (the article said the past 2 seasons). I've talked to NBA and college referees that said every call they make and don't make gets charted. I'm not sure if that's every game, but I just can't see how this could really happen without some supervisor seeing some inconsistencies. JMO

Everyone of the NBA's call/no-calls, etc. gets charted. Certain plays get sent in by coaches in college but their plays are not charted like the NBA's

What I've heard....
 

The official in question is not one of the 'name-brand' officials that we can all name. I also understand that his called would not have determined wins and losses, per se, but more point spreads. Allowing a basket, calling more handchecks and such early in quarters to get Team X to the bonus quicker, stuff like that.

Maybe that's how he got caught.
I'd put the odds at 60-40 that he'll turn states evidence.

Here they are. Anyone for a poll? :)
 

Bennie Adams #47
Mark Ayotte #56
Dick Bavetta #27
Matt Boland #46
Tony Brothers #25
Tony Brown #30
Mike "Duke" Callahan #24
James Capers #19
Jim Clark #6
Derrick Collins #54
Sean Corbin #33
Dan Crawford #43
Joe Crawford #17
Marc Davis #34
Bob Delaney #26
Joe DeRosa #14
Tim Donaghy #21
Kevin Fehr #39
Joe Forte #45
Scott Foster #48
Pat Fraher #52
Bernie Fryer #7
Ron Garretson #10
Luis Grillo #8
David Guthrie #60
Steve Javie #29
David Jones #36
Bill Kennedy #55
Jess Kersey #20
Courtney Kirkland #61
Eric Lewis #42
Ed Malloy #73
Ken Mauer #41
Monty McCutchen #13
Rodney Mott #71
Jack Nies #35
Tommy Nunez Jr. #28
Ron Olesiak #44
Violet Palmer #12
Jason Phillips #23
Olandis Poole #50
Derek Richardson #63
Leroy Richardson #51
Phil Robinson #11
Robbie Robinson #53
Eli Roe #64
Eddie Rush #32
Bennett Salvatore #15
Michael Smith #38
Bill Spooner #22
Derrick Stafford #9
Scott Wall #31
Tom Washington #49
Greg Willard #57
Leon Wood #40
Sean Wright #65
Mark Wunderlich #18
Zach Zarba #58
Gary Zielinski #59

Gamblers are always looking for an edge. One gambling site actually has ranked NBA officials by how teams do against the spread in the games they officiate.

NBA Refs "Homer" Ranking