In its announcement that it had charged 31 defendants with illegally rigging poker games, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York said this week that some of the games took place in East Hampton.
The defendants include Portland Trailblazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups, a former NBA player, and members of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese organized crime families, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
“Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, a seven-count indictment was unsealed charging 31 defendants in criminal schemes to rig illegal poker games at various locations in New York City, East Hampton, New York, and throughout the United States,” the office announced on Thursday, October 23.
Beginning as early as 2019, the indictment alleges, the defendants engaged in a series of schemes to use wireless cheating technology to rig illegal poker games, mostly Texas hold ’em.
The rigged games used altered shuffling machines armed with a hidden technology that allowed the machines to read all the cards in the deck, the U.S. Attorney’s office alleged. The machines could determine which player would have the winning hand. This information was transmitted to a member of the conspiracy located off site, it said, who then communicated the information back to a member of the conspiracy at the table via cellphone.
The U.S. Attorney’s office alleged that this method was used in conjunction with other cheating methods.
In all, victims lost at least $7 million, the indictment alleges.
East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo said the local department was not made aware of any gambling investigations taking place in East Hampton.
Jack Motz on Oct 29, 2025