Point Shaving Scandals at Arizona State, Boston College, Northwestern, Tulane

Between 1978 and 1995, basketball players from Boston College, Arizona State, Tulane, and Northwestern were implicated in point shaving and sports betting scandals.

Boston College head coach Tom Davis on the bench in 1979 during a rocky season when players were involved in a point-shaving scandal. (Image: Getty)

In the late 1970s, several basketball players from Boston College were directly involved with notorious crime figures from New York City who were made famous by Martin Scorsese’s film Goodfellas.

Tulane shut down its basketball program in the mid-1980s after players were caught rigging games. In the 1990s, basketball players from Arizona State and Northwestern were caught up in different point-shaving scandals.

Each of these incidents occurred a full generation after multiple New York City schools were embroiled in their own point-shaving scandals at in the early 1950s, and at NYU in the early 1960s.

In the last couple of weeks, after he got involved in a betting scandal. The NCAA also launched an investigation into student athletes from Iowa and Iowa State, who violated sports betting rules and regulations.

Boston College, Henry Hill, and Goodfellas

The Boston College point-shaving scandal became the subject of an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary titled Playing for the Mob, which was narrated by actor Ray Liotta.

Rick Kuhn, a former minor league baseball player from Pittsburgh, accepted a basketball scholarship at Boston College after an injury prematurely ended his pursuit of professional baseball.

The Peralta brothers, Tony and Rocco, knew Kuhn from their hometown of Pittsburgh. They ran a sports betting syndicate and persuaded Kuhn to manipulate games during the 1978-79 season for $2,500 per game. The Peralta brothers had a common friend with Henry Hill. If the name sounds familiar, Hill was portrayed by Liotta in the film Goodfellas.

The mobsters in Goodfellas made an obscure reference to fixing games at Boston College. Hill got his friend Jimmy Burke (portrayed by Robert DeNiro) involved in the scheme to fix games.

Kuhn enticed his best friend, starting guard Jim Sweeney, to help him shave points.

We won every game we should ve won, said Sweeny in the 30 for 30 documentary. Sure, it should ve been by a different margin, but we won those games.

Boston College was a big favorite against Harvard and Fordham, but won close games.

Hill and the Peralta Brothers wanted Boston College to dump a game against Holy Cross, who was a 3-point favorite. Kuhn didn t want to lose a huge rivalry game, but the mobsters persisted.

You cannot play basketball with broken bones, said Hill, who threatened Kuhn.

Holy Cross won by two points but Boston College narrowly beat the spread, much to the dismay of the mobsters.

The players thought they got away with shaving points that season until Hill was arrested for a drug charge. The government persuaded Hill to become an informant against Burke and other mafia figures, and he inadvertently mentioned the Boston College fixing scandal. The FBI launched an investigation, which was made public in 1981.

Kuhn was the only player from Boston College who . He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on RICO and sports bribery charges.

Hedake Smith from Arizona State drives the lane during a game in 1994. (Image: AP)Hedake Smith Shaving Points at Arizona State

Arizona State, under head coach Bill Frieder, was one of the better teams in the Pac-10 heading into the 1993-94 season.

Stevin Hedake Smith, the leading scorer and point guard for Arizona State, was a losing sports bettor. Smith owed Benny Silman, a campus bookie in Tempe, more than $10K while betting on college football and NFL games.

Joe Gagliano, a bond trader from Chicago, also used Silman as a bookie. Silman tipped off Gagliano about Smith s gambling debt and mentioned Smith was willing to shave points to pay off his debt.

If your point guard is playing bad, your team is gonna suffer, said teammate Isaac Burton. If your point guard is point shaving, your team is definitely gonna suffer.

Gagliano paid Silman $20K per game to fix two conference games against Oregon and Oregon State. Gagliano flew to Las Vegas with $500K and banked over $2 million betting on both fixed games.

Smith wanted to bet on himself to beat UCLA and asked Gagliano to wager $20K for him. Arizona State was a +4 underdog, but they lost by six points. Smith lost his wager.

To pay off his new debt, Smith agreed to shave points against USC. Although Gagliano won several million of that fixed game, he noticed that his action had significantly moved the line in Las Vegas. He believed the sportsbooks were getting suspicious about his wagers, but at that point, he had profited over $5 million.

A local bookie and drug dealer in Tempe named Big Red discovered Smith s involvement and threatened to rat him out if he didn t help shave points against Washington. Smith agreed and called Gagliano to let him know his predicament.

At that point, small-time bettors all over campus found out that the fix was in on the next Arizona State game, so they hopped in their cars and drove to Las Vegas. The line against Washington opened at -12, but quickly moved to -7 when sportsbooks realized the game wasn t on the level. Gagliano bet $3 million at -7, but the line moved to -3 by the time the game tipped off.

The Nevada Gaming Commission contacted the FBI after they flagged the game. A typical college basketball line changes around 10 times, but the Arizona State vs. Washington line changed 44 times.

Arizona State trailed at halftime and Frieder told his team that the FBI was watching them, so they better play better in the second half. Smith and his teammates were freaked out, so they stopped shaving points. They erased a halftime deficit and won by 18 points.

All of the Arizona State students in Vegas lost their bets and Galiano incurred a $3 million loss on that game.

Smith, Silman, and Gagliano were caught and served time in prison. The Arizona State point-shaving scandal was featured in an episode of the Netflix series Bad Sport.