Cutting edge technology helped an illegal gambling ring steal millions from victims in underground poker games tied to the New York mafia, law enforcement officials said.

As early as 2019, the defendants used "wireless cheating technology" to run rigged poker games in cities including Manhattan, the Hamptons, Las Vegas, and Miami, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said at a news conference on Oct. 23. The victims, known as "fish," were lured into the games with the chance to gamble with celebrities known as "face cards," including Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones, who were among more than 30 people indicted in separate but overlapping federal investigations.

"What the victims, the fish, didn't know was that everybody else at the poker game, from the dealer to players, including the face cards, was in on the scam," Nocella said.

The defendants used "very sophisticated cheating technologies" including a rigged shuffling machine stolen from someone at gunpoint, Nocella said. Off-the-shelf shuffling machines were also "secretly altered in order to read the cards in the deck, predict which player at the table had the best poker hand and relay that information to an off-site operator," he said.

The off-site operator allegedly sent the information back to someone at the table dubbed "the quarterback" who secretly signaled other players in order to win the games.

"The defendants used other cheating technologies, such as poker chip tray analyzers, which is a poker chip tray that secretly reads cards using a hidden camera, special contact lens or eye glasses that could read premarked cards and an X-ray table that could read cards face down on the table," Nocella said.

Victims were fleeced out of hundreds of thousands of dollars per game, including one who lost upwards of $1.8 million, officials said.

The money was allegedly laundered through cash exchanges, multiple shell companies and cryptocurrency transfers to fund illegal activities of organized crime families in New York City. Nocella said members of the Bonano, Gambino and Genovese families already had control over non rigged, illegal poker games around the city, and subsequently got involved in the fixed games.

"When people refused to pay, these defendants did what organized crime has always done. They used threats, they used intimidation and they used violence," said New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. "It's the same pattern that we have seen for decades, traditional enforcement methods combined with new technology to expand the reach of their operations."

The defendants who participated in the rigged poker scheme are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, other defendants have been charged with crimes including illegal gambling, money laundering, Hobbs Act robbery and extortion.

"My message to the defendants who've been rounded up today is this: your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out," Nocella said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: An X-ray table? High-tech tools allegedly used in poker scam linked to mafia, NBA.

Reporting by N'dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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