Kuhn, Rick - Boston College Point Guard - Point...
Rick Kuhn - Point Guard for the Mob
Boston College point shaving scheme was conceived by Rocco Perla and his brother Anthony (Tony) in Pittsburgh during the summer of 1978. The Perla brothers were small-time gamblers who saw the 1978–79 Boston College basketball season as a perfect opportunity to earn a lot of money. They wanted to recruit Rick Kuhn to join the scheme. Kuhn, a high school friend of Rocco Perla, was entering his senior year at Boston College and was expected to be a key member of the 1978–79 Eagles basketball team.
The Perla brothers proposed a simple scheme. They along with Kuhn would select certain basketball games where the projected point spread separating Boston College from its opponent was expected to be significant. Kuhn would be responsible for ensuring, by his play on the court, that Boston College fell short of the point spread. Thus, for example, if participating bookmakers determined Boston College to be an eight point favorite in a particular game, Kuhn would be paid a bonus, usually $2,500, if Boston College won by less than eight points. In addition, they were given the opportunity to bet the money they were paid and double their winnings. Kuhn agreed to participate, and brought in his teammate Jim Sweeney.
Rocco and Tony Perla then mobilized a betting syndicate to maximize their potential gain from this operation. They contacted a local friend, Paul Mazzei, who was known to have influence within major New York gambling circles. Mazzei in turn contacted Henry Hill, a Lucchese crime family associate from New York who had befriended Mazzei while both men were serving sentences in a federal prison. Mazzei and the Perlas were particularly hopeful that Hill would enlist the support of his associate, James Burke ("Jimmy the Gent"), to finance the payments to the players and to set up a network of bookmakers who were in on the scheme. These bookies could handle large bets and lay them off and spread the bets among a number of unsuspecting bookmakers around the country so as not to arouse suspicion. They would also ensure protection for the enterprise in the event that the unsuspecting bookmakers, all of whom had thugs at their disposal to collect unpaid debts, discovered they were being swindled. Hill and Burke were brought into the scheme, after receiving approval from Lucchese crime family capo Paul Vario.
Henry Hill
Burke, through Hill, would front the money to pay the players, forwarding the money to Pittsburgh to Paul Mazzei as the go-between, who would forward it to the Perla brothers who would pass it to the players directly. The same channels would be used for the passing of the point spread from Burke and Hill to the players.
Burke had Hill fly to Boston on November 16, 1978, to meet with Mazzei, Tony Perla, Kuhn, and any other member of the Boston College team interested in participating in their scheme. Said Hill, "I asked the players which of the upcoming games they felt we could shave. Sweeney took out one of those little schedule cards, circled the games he thought we could fool around with, and gave the card to me. They kept saying that they liked the idea of just shaving points and not blowing the games." After discussing their strategy with Kuhn and Sweeney, it was agreed that the upcoming Providence game would be an appropriate test for their scheme.
James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke
The grand jury indicted Burke, Mazzei, Kuhn, Cobb, Rocco Perla, and Tony Perla on the basis of testimony given by Hill. Hill was indicted as a co-conspirator but was not named as a defendant. At the trial in 1981, the government's case consisted primarily of the testimony of Hill and three other witnesses, James Sweeney and Joseph Beaulieu, both Boston College players, and Barbara Reed, a 23-year-old nurse who lived with Kuhn during the 1978–79 Boston College season. The government also introduced two confessions, one made by Kuhn and the other by Tony Perla. Finally, the government presented telephone records showing evidence of extensive communications between the conspirators during the 1978–79 season and records provided by Western Union and various hotels which further corroborated government testimony.
After a four-week trial, each conspirator was convicted on charges of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act conspiracy, conspiracy to commit sports bribery, and interstate travel with the intent to commit bribery. Burke was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. Kuhn was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, later reduced to 28 months. Mazzei and Tony Perla were sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Rocco Perla was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. Cobb was acquitted. Sweeney was not charged.
