In a stunning revelation Thursday morning, the FBI announced that it had arrested Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups in Portland for participating in an illicit poker ring run by the Mafia, part of a massive, multiyear investigation into gambling crimes that snared at least 34 people.

An indictment released this morning in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleges that Billups was paid to use his celebrity to lure unsuspecting gamblers to rigged poker games in Manhattan operated under the protection of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families of La Costa Nostra. The indictment says victims lost at least $7 million playing cards against Billups and others complicit in the scheme.

A separate indictment detailing sports betting fraud doesn’t name Bill

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