U.S. Unseals Indictment Detailing High-Tech, Mafia-Backed Ring to Rig Poker Games

A newly unsealed federal indictment lays out a coast-to-coast scheme to fix underground poker games using altered shuffling machines, hidden cameras, and an off-site “quarterback” who relayed winning hands to co-conspirators at the table. Prosecutors say the enterprise, operating since at least 2019, targeted wealthy “fish” in illicit games from Manhattan and the Hamptons to Miami and Las Vegas.

FBI director Kash Patel said members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese crime families allegedly organized or protected the games, collected debts, and took a cut of the proceeds. The charging document lists dozens of defendants and describes the operation’s technology in detail, alleging that the rigged devices could read decks, predict the best hand, and transmit that information by phone to a team member who signaled players at the table.

NBA Statement:

The indictment also itemizes episodes of violence and intimidation used to sustain the racket, including a Sept. 7, 2023, gunpoint robbery of a specific rigged shuffling machine from a prior supplier. . Prosecutors charge wire-fraud conspiracy tied to the cheating scheme, along with counts related to operating illegal gambling businesses, money laundering, and Hobbs Act robbery.

Several defendants are alleged to have supplied or maintained the cheating technology; others, including well-known figures invited as “face cards,” allegedly helped make the games appear legitimate to victims who believed they were playing straight poker. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

Authorities announced the poker case alongside a separate insider-betting investigation involving professional basketball, saying three defendants overlap between the matters. While officials emphasized that both cases are ongoing, the poker indictment offers the clearest look yet at how traditional mob enforcement methods were paired with modern surveillance and signaling tools to turn private games into predictable profit centers.