During the summer of 1978, Pittsburgh gamblers Rocco and Anthony Perla recruited Boston College senior guard Rick Kuhn, an expected key player, into a scheme designed not necessarily to lose games but to manipulate the point spread. Kuhn brought in teammate Jim Sweeney, and the conspirators selected games in which Boston College was either a heavy favorite or underdog. Players were paid roughly $500 to $1,000 per game, commonly for ensuring that the Eagles won by less than the bookmakers’ margin; they could also wager their payments and double their money. The operation quickly expanded beyond the players. Paul Mazzei connected the Perlas to Henry Hill, a Lucchese crime-family associate, and James Burke, later notorious for his role in the Lufthansa heist. Burke and Hill supplied money, betting contacts, and protection through a network of bookmakers who could distribute wagers to avoid detection.
The first attempt, a December 6, 1978 game against Providence, failed spectacularly when Boston College won by 19 points despite being favored by only six or seven. The conspirators responded by trying to recruit more players, while Hill reportedly threatened them with the warning that they could not “play basketball with broken hands.” The scheme then produced several manipulated results: Boston College beat Harvard 86–83 despite being favored by 12 or 13 points, lost to UCLA 103–81 while the syndicate backed UCLA to cover a 15- to 18-point spread, and later covered against Connecticut to make the betting pattern appear legitimate. Further favorable results came against Fordham, while the St. John’s game ended as a push. The operation collapsed on February 10, 1979, when Holy Cross, a seven-point favorite, defeated Boston College by only two points. Henry Hill later said Burke lost about $50,000 watching the nationally televised game and angrily put his foot through his television set before declaring that he was finished with the players.
The scandal unraveled in 1980 after Hill was arrested on drug-trafficking charges and became a government informant to protect himself from prosecution and retaliation by Burke and the Lucchese organization. His revelations, telephone records, Western Union records, and hotel documentation helped prosecutors establish the conspiracy. In 1981, Burke, Mazzei, Kuhn, and the Perla brothers were convicted of conspiracy, sports bribery, and interstate travel to commit bribery. Burke received 12 years, Kuhn initially received 10 years before the sentence was reduced to 28 months, Mazzei and Tony Perla received 10 years, and Rocco Perla received four. Jim Sweeney testified but was not charged; Ernie Cobb was acquitted despite allegations that Kuhn had attempted to involve him. The NBA permanently banned Cobb, Kuhn, and Sweeney, ending their professional prospects and making the case one of the most consequential college basketball betting scandals in American sports history. The affair was later dramatized in the 2014 ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Playing for the Mob, narrated by Ray Liotta, who had portrayed Hill in Goodfellas.
Follow the sources
Status and citations are supplied by the archive. AI concept art is an interpretation, not historical evidence.
AI concept artwork · not archival photography