Gaming the Game

by Sean Patrick Griffin

  On Other Possible Explanations For How The FBI Probe Into Him Began/Why The NBA Betting Scheme Popped Up On A Wiretap Of The Gambino “Crime Family”3

  “After All-Star Sports in Curacao closed,” Battista says, “Ronnie Park went back to bookmaking in New York. He was pretty sharp and was good at betting NBA games. He was probably moving thirty to fifty grand a game for some of his bettors. Even though he was pretty good with NBA games, he didn’t have my handicapper, Timmy ‘Elvis’ Donaghy, and he wound up on the other side of some of Timmy’s games. Ronnie was getting destroyed on some of those games and looked like a complete moron. He started asking people who was moving these games because the lines were moving so much and they didn’t make sense to him, and at some point he found out I was the one screwing with the lines. Obviously, he was pissed. Well, he got jammed up in the fall of 2006. I heard he got picked up and dimed me out to the authorities. He supposedly gave up my name, what I did, what we did together, all that.”

  Much like many illicit entrepreneurs, Battista has heard many rumors over the years of confederates grassing on him and others, though most often with no real evidence any such persons were engaged in cooperating with authorities. Illicit businesses, by definition, require secrecy, and paranoia of detection is a constant in this line of work. As such, it isn’t surprising to hear that Battista not only questions the supposed actions of Ronnie Park, but also of his longtime colleague and friend, pro gambler Joe Vito Mastronardo— even though there is no evidence to support Battista’s theories of Park or Mastronardo ratting on him. “Joe got busted in 2006,” Battista says, “and they seized more than two million dollars from him and his brother. When I heard that he cut a deal and got house arrest, I assumed that Joe must have said, ‘I’m gonna fuck Sheep and get him back [for the June 2006 Belmont-Paramount Sports horse racing fiasco]. I’ll rat him out.’”

  Jimmy Battista doesn’t pretend to know which of his somewhat educated guesses about the FBI’s probe is most accurate, nor if he is even close to understanding how the federal investigation actually began.4 He does, however, offer an alternative explanation beyond someone matter-of-factly “ratting” on him; one which doesn’t require as much conspiracy theorizing, and which may be the most likely.

  “A Fox News report showed the investigation started with Joe Vito’s phone records, not my phone records,” Battista says. “Joe Vito’s records have my dummy cell phone numbers calling him, and he was my partner on a lot of stuff. He wasn’t tied into the Gambinos or anything like that anymore than I was. He was just a bookmaker, a huge gambler, and a really sharp business guy. We had a lot of contacts in our business, and I am sure there were certain bookmakers who were connected to this or that ‘crime family’ who were asking people like Joe or me to move a few dimes for them, but we didn’t care. It wasn’t like people approached us with their credentials, a tax ID number, and business card and said, ‘Hi, I am a book-maker with so-and-so family, and I would like to . . . ’ It was more matter-of-fact like, ‘You’re a bookmaker. I’m going to bet you, and you’re going to pay me or I’m going to pay you at the end of the week.’ That was business. It isn’t like anyone in that world discusses things like that.

  “Well, me and Bluto [the Jewish bookmaker from New York who took large bets and whose zeal for life Battista enjoyed] had a falling out early in the 2006-07 NBA season over one of Timmy’s picks on one of Scott Foster’s games.5 By then, me and Joe Vito had already stopped doing business with each other after we went at it about the horse. Joe Vito and Bluto were close friends and business partners, and both were really pissed at me starting in 2006. I am sure they bitched about me to each other on the phone, not to mention them copying my bets on Timmy’s games and probably talking about them. I always assumed Bluto was constantly being watched because he was up in that part of the world, and supposedly knew people in the Gambino crowd. The first evidence that got turned over to me by the U.S. Attorney’s Office was Joe Vito’s phone records, and Bluto’s phone numbers were all over the records.6 So, maybe the feds heard, over a Gambino wiretap, Joe talking to Bluto, and that’s where this whole investigation started.”

  On Whether He Considers Himself A Gambling Addict And, If So, If This In Part Accounted For His Downfall

  “I love sports—watching sports, playing sports—and always have,” Battista says. “I can’t watch sports without thinking of betting. I can go to games and enjoy it, just like I always did, but I am always aware of the gambling aspect. It wasn’t like I was addicted to gambling. For me, betting was the kill of getting the right number. It was like a stock broker laying Microsoft at ‘X’ and buying it back at ‘Y.’ There’s an art to it, and I had gotten very good at it. I gambled socially over the years playing blackjack as a stress reliever. I loved going down to Atlantic City, having a few cups of coffee and some coke, and sitting at a table for five hours. I would usually bet a few dimes, but nothing outrageous. That was the beauty of my business; even if I lost some money playing blackjack, I knew I could make it back with moving and betting.

  “People just can’t imagine all the stuff that was going through my mind when I was moving games for those four guys and dealing with Elvis. And, all of this was going on with me working out of my house with my wife and five kids around. I didn’t get into debt because of a gambling addiction; I got in debt because of gambling when I was high as a kite.7 Betting on sports and on blackjack over the course of a year while I was all fucked up, and making bad business choices, put me millions of dollars in the hole. I was so used to making good money and being able to overcome any short-term losses, that I never feared the debt. But, there just weren’t enough hours in the day to fulfill all my responsibilities, from moving and betting with those guys and trying to be somewhat of a husband and a father to five kids. If I had brought on an assistant a couple of years before, maybe I could have managed everything and I wouldn’t have turned to drugs. It was a very stressful life, and I would have benefitted from not being so successful. If I had stayed maybe one rung below the top echelon of gamblers, I probably would still be gambling and nobody would know who I was right now. At a minimum, I needed someone to work with me because no one person could handle what I was trying to do.

  “You know, though, my drug addiction saved me—and a lot of other people. Even though it almost killed me and almost cost me my family, it saved everybody! If I didn’t go into rehab, I would have continued what I was doing and the feds—no doubt—would have got me and the people I worked with on wires or something, and we’d all be doing fifteen to twenty years in federal prison right now.8 The feds would have gone to every sharp guy, and they would have been pressed for who and what they knew. It would have been the biggest sports scandal in history. It would have gone more into the NBA, and it would have gone elsewhere. Whew. It’s scary to think where the investigation would have gone.”

  On The Possibility Other Referees Or Officials In Other Sports Are Engaging In Activities Similar To What Transpired With Tim Donaghy

  “Do I think stuff like this, involving corrupt officials, is going on in other leagues? Absolutely,” Battista says. “Do I have direct evidence of other officials? No, but the money involved is too big to ignore. You have to consider the financial situation for these officials. Yeah, they’re making good money, but not when you compare it to the players they are working with. Look, the officials in pro sports are traveling all the time, too, and it’s a fucking grind. They’re making pennies compared to the athletes, and people get jealous, not to mention how much scrutiny they’re under and how much shit they have to take from players, coaches, and fans. You’re gonna get a certain percentage of officials who say, ‘Fuck these ungrateful people,’ and do what they think they have to do. So, you can see how they would rationalize selling information and betting on games. Also, don’t forget how much some people like to gamble—once somebody owes a bookmaker some cash, who knows what they’d do to pay off their debt?”

  On His Addiction To
Prescription Pills

  “I have not had a prescription pill in my body since I entered White Deer Run in March of 2007, thank God. Even as all of that craziness post-rehab was going on [FBI investigation, grand jury, Donaghy and Martino cooperating against him, etc.], and the stress was just unreal, I never thought about going back to OxyContin. I would have lost my wife and kids if I did. There was one moment that will always stick with me, and keep me from even thinking of using drugs again. I used to pack my kids’ lunches every morning when they went to school. My youngest daughter asked me if she could buy her lunch that day, and I told her she could but that I only had a quarter. I went upstairs to get two dollars from Denise’s purse as she was getting ready to go to cosmetology school. This was back when my wife was facing an appearance before the grand jury, and she was furious at me over all that I had done to her and the kids. She started yelling at me about all the money I blew, and got into why I had to scrounge for two dollars. Up until then, we were pretty careful to keep everything away from the kids, even though they probably sensed things weren’t all roses. Well, my daughter saw this heated exchange between us, and came up to me and said, ‘Don’t worry, Dad, you can have my lunch money back,’ and she handed me her tiny little kiddie purse. I get emotional every time I think about that moment, and I have kept that purse with me ever since.”

  * * *

  Not long after his release from prison, Jimmy Battista got a full-time job managing a fitness club. The money was a big step down from his heyday as one of the world’s premier sports bet movers, and the hours were demanding, but it was a steady job that helped pay the bills and didn’t require him to live a life of secrecy.9 Working at a health club was a bonus for someone who wanted to get back in shape and lead a healthier lifestyle. Before trying to get back in shape, Jimmy Battista had ballooned up to roughly three hundred pounds. By March 2010, his weight was under two hundred pounds, and his daily workouts and new lifestyle had him in the best shape of his adult life dating back to his rugby days. Interestingly, part of Battista’s demanding regimen included a memento from the NBA betting scandal. “I actually still have the Arizona State baseball hat Tommy or Cheryl bought for me on Tommy’s trip to Phoenix,” Battista says, “but it’s worn out. I wore it throughout the time I was exercising after rehab. I dropped at least forty pounds wearing that hat! Denise made me throw out the T-shirt they gave me from the strip club, though.”

  As he continues to adjust to the life of “a grinder,” as he calls it, Battista says he is very appreciative for the surrounding cast of people who helped take care of him and, especially, of his family when Jimmy created so many challenges for everyone. “Luckily, my family and my wife’s family have been great,” Battista says. “They’ve helped me, my wife and kids so much. Both sets of parents have been great, and my sisters and my in-laws have been so supportive. Even our neighbors are pretty close to us, and have been helpful, too.” Battista sums up his outlook on things by saying, “Overall, life is good. I’m healthy. I’m sober. Things at home with my wife and kids are great. We have two kids away at college and the younger ones are all active in sports and stuff, and we’re very proud of all of them.”10

  Jimmy Battista’s home is figuratively and literally different today than it was before the FBI first visited in the spring of 2007. Not only is the general feel among Jimmy and his wife and kids different now that he is drug-free and finally a part of things, his betting office is no more. The once-hyperactive room used to be filled with numerous cell phones, computer screens, and TVs, and was always bursting with energy and anxiety from the wagers being placed there. Correspondence from The Sheep’s war room used to send bettors, bookmakers, and sportsbooks into a frenzy, and betting lines around the globe were altered because of what took place in the eight-by-ten room. Now, the phones, computers and the TVs are gone, with the cherished large flat-screen taking its place in the basement. The Sheep’s former betting lair, where some of the world’s most consequential sports bets were placed for years, is now the province of Battista’s three young daughters. One laptop remains in the “office,” but at last check instead of The Sheep placing bets on it, two of Jimmy Battista’s little girls and a few of their friends were using it to play a computer dress-up game.

  Footnotes

  Technically, Battista was transferred to a halfway house on August 31, 2009, and was not an entirely free man until October 19, 2009. Tim Donaghy was transferred from prison camp to a halfway house in June 2009. He violated his supervised release rules, however, and was sent to a county prison. Donaghy was released a second time on November 4, 2009. Federal Bureau of Prison records show that Tommy Martino was released from the system on August 28, 2009.

  As another big-time pro gambler, one of the main competitors to Battista’s former sharp clients, says, “The idea that ‘the mob’ was involved is absurd. I mean, okay, anyone who is running an illegal bookmaking operation somewhere is committing a crime and they are organized in some way. But, the idea that it’s like these back room Italian guys who have decided they are going to fi x NBA games, uh, this isn’t like the other game-fixing scandals that went down where it was a concerted effort to seek out people and fix games. Here, you have a guy [Battista] who is already doing it on his own and they [gangsters] just happened to luck into it by way of, ‘Oh, this guy’s betting on games? We’ll start betting on those games, too.’ They weren’t affiliated with Sheep in any way.”

  As stated previously, the origins of the FBI’s probe into Battista and then into the NBA betting scandal are two areas federal authorities have refused to discuss. FBI Special Agent Paul Harris, the case agent, wrote in his affidavit in support of application for arrest warrants: “In early 2007, the FBI received information that Battista was engaged in betting large amounts of money on NBA basketball games and was receiving assistance from an NBA referee in determining his bets.” Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Phil Scala has said, “One of the case agents had come into my office and said that they had information from a wiretap stating that there was huge sums of money being made and that someone thought that a ref may be involved.” According to the New York Post, the FBI “stumbled onto the betting scam through wiretaps being used in a massive investigation into the upper echelon of the Gambino crime family [in 2007] . . . That probe resulted in the arrest of the family’s acting boss, underboss and consigliere, and five dozen lower-level gangsters in February [2008].”

  Jimmy Battista’s lawyer, Jack McMahon, has no greater insights into the matter. “My understanding is that they had a wire going against some organized crime people,” McMahon says, “and somewhere on the wire there was discussion about somebody who had an NBA referee who was giving them information and they were killing it, making money. I don’t know exactly what it is that they heard, but it wasn’t anybody actually connected. It was somebody just talking about it in a third-person kind of way, ‘I heard this about these guys. They got an NBA ref. They’re killin’ it. They’re making tons of money.’ It piqued the interest of the FBI, and that was the genesis of the investigation.”

  If Battista’s guess regarding the FBI’s “Gambino” wiretap picking up Bluto somehow railing against Battista to Joe Vito is correct, there is an incredible irony: Tim Donaghy’s wager on a non-Donaghy game is what led to his demise, not betting on his own games.

  “From the time the FBI visited my house [in spring 2007],” Battista says, “I was wondering who the rat was. I was sitting in [Battista defense attorney] Jack McMahon’s office one afternoon when his secretary told us the discovery evidence had come in. She brought in a box, and I opened it. The first things I pulled out turned out to be Timmy’s and Joe Vito’s phone records. The moment I saw Joe Vito’s phone records, I thought, ‘Joe’s the rat. This is his way of getting back at me [for the horse racing/ Paramount Sports debacle].’ I was fucking furious.”

  The problem of Battista gambling while stoned was made worse by his ridiculous credit lines with sportsbooks (w
hich were the result of his established and significant wagering on behalf of his clients over the years).

  According to a few pro gamblers, the federal investigation into Jimmy Battista spooked them out of the sports betting business.

  For Battista, “paying the bills” includes his portion of the $217,267 in restitution he owes collectively with his co-conspirators, Tim Donaghy and Tommy Martino.

  Battista’s son is enrolled at Penn State University in University Park, PA; his oldest daughter is enrolled at Millersville University in Millersville, PA (just southwest of Lancaster).

  NBA Scandal Betting Analysis

  GAMING THE GAME was always intended to be a nonfiction true crime read focused on the life and pro gambling career of Jimmy “Baba” Battista. Many readers, however, may be especially interested in the 2006-07 NBA betting scandal, and I thus feel obligated to offer findings from my two-plus years of research on the subject. Throughout this time, Tim Donaghy’s version of events dominated the public’s understanding of the scandal. This was largely because Donaghy was the first of the three conspirators to cut a deal with the federal government, and was considered a credible witness in the early stages of the investigation. Though Tommy Martino later agreed to work with the feds, this was only after he had perjured himself before a grand jury, which properly damaged his credibility. Battista, of course, never cooperated with authorities, and the investigation was therefore left with little means to corroborate Donaghy’s more consequential claims, particularly since only Battista knew when, where, how much, and why he was betting. Tracking down The Sheep’s computerized betting records (which are virtually unassailable) would have been a compelling way of supporting or refuting many of Donaghy’s claims, and could not be conducted without Battista—if only indirectly (i.e., outlining the betting operation’s machinations)—leading the way to the data.