Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI investigated the New York Knicks in the early 1980s on allegations that three of the players shaved off points “as a favor to their cocaine supplier,” Sports Illustrated reports.
The revelations come from the recently released book, “Larceny Games: Sports Gambling, Game Fixing and the FBI.”
According to the book, the FBI “seemed to possess very credible information” about the scam, which involved players shaving off points to cover point spreads.
An FBI informant learned about the alleged scheme in March 1982 when “one of the largest [drug] dealers in the East Coast” upped his bets on the Knicks from $300 per game to $10,000 per game.
But a lack of physical evidence and confessions eventually led to the investigation’s closure, Sports Illustrated wrote.
