You can make book on it.

AuthorGagliano, Joseph N.
PositionAthletic Arena - Sports corruption and scandal - Excerpt

The author coordinated the Arizona State University men's basketball point-shaving scandal, and later was indicted and sent to Federal prison. Now labeled a two-time felon, he is telling his story--filled with the scandal's inner details of greed, corruption, and freedom gained and lost.

THERE CAME a moment at airport security when I put my large duffel on the conveyer and watched it go through the X-ray machine. On the other side, the security guard must have seen some odd-looking contents, and opened up the bag to look inside. Then he aimed toward me. The look on his face was priceless. He stared; did a double take; and let his imagination run wild. That was the first moment when it actually hit me about the money I was carrying, and I thought I might get in trouble, but this was 1994. The guard zipped the duffel back up; did not say a word to me; and waved me on.

There was $5,000,0000 cash in that bag. I had just fixed three college basketball games. A few years later, however, my joy and abundance would come to an end ... almost to the point of suicide. As of this writing, I am sitting on a wooden stool, typing my story on an antiquated manual typewriter, with no correction tape, while currently an inmate in a Federal prison for the second time in my life.

Who am I? How did I get here? Why should you care? Do you remember the Arizona State men's basketball point-shaving scandal, the one in which four college games were fixed? That was me. I organized and financed the entire thing when I was a naive 24-year-old and, to this day, it remains one of the largest scandals in sports history. Now, years later, I have stories and lessons that need to be shared.

"The Wolf of Wall Street" had it all wrong. Money is not the "most-seductive chug in the world"--easy money is. Around mid January 1994, after the regular NFL season had ended but before the Super Bowl, my phone rang. It was my friend Benny the bookie. At that time, I was dealing in bond futures at the Chicago Board of Trade and living on the 14th floor of a luxury building just outside of the city. I was in my home office talking to Benny about the usual nonsense when out of the blue he starts asking me about other bookmaking relationships I have and how much of a bankroll I had to play with.

I still go back over that conversation in my mind. I was using a white portable home phone, sitting on my office chair behind my desk, looking out at the beautiful fresh snow coating Chicago. I remember being happy. It was a good day, and I was in a good place, when suddenly Benny sprung it on me: "Joey, I have a fix in play."

I really had no idea what he...

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