Misbahul Islam:

Celebrities, professional sports stars and wealthy gamblers sat at a table hoping to win big in a game of Texas Hold ‘Em.

But they didn’t know it was nearly impossible. They were “fishes” allegedly being targeted by the mafia in an elaborate poker gambling scheme that included X-ray card tables, secret cameras, analysers in chip trays and sunglasses and contact lenses that could read their hand.

In what sounds like an Ocean’s Eleven film plot, prosecutors say these “unwitting” victims were cheated out of at least $7m (£5.25m) in poker games – with one person losing at least $1.8m.

The scheme, which US prosecutors described as “reminiscent of a Hollywood movie”, was dismantled in a sprawling federal investigation that led to more than 30 arrests, including members of La Costra Nostra crime families, Portland Trail Blazers basketball coach Chauncey Billups and former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Damon Jones.

FBI director Kash Patel called it a “mind-boggling” fraud scheme that cheated victims in New York, Miami, Las Vegas and other US cities.

Arrests in the scheme were announced on Thursday along with those in an alleged basketball betting plot, in which professional NBA players are accused of faking injuries to influence betting odds.

The underground poker scheme started as early as 2019, prosecutors say, and was allegedly operated by the mafia – specifically by members of notorious crime families, including Bonnano, Gambino, Lucchese and Genovese. A cut of the profits, prosecutors say, helped fund their criminal enterprise.

Former professional athletes, described by prosecutors as “face cards”, were enlisted to help in the scheme and entice victims into playing.

Lured in by the opportunity to play with a high-profile celebrity – such as Billups or Jones – a wealthy, “unwitting victim” would be recruited for illegal, underground poker games where tens of thousands of dollars were on the line, prosecutors allege.

Unbeknownst to the lured-in players – referred to in the scheme as a “fish” – everyone surrounding them was in on the elaborate scam – from the players to the dealers, even the technology used to shuffle the deck and count the chips, according to a lengthy federal indictment.

Sophisticated wireless technology was also used to deceive the players during the games, most commonly in Texas Hold ‘Em.