A resurfaced interview with former American mobster Michael Franzese has sent shockwaves through the sports world, as his chilling account of how the Mafia once pressured athletes and officials to manipulate NBA and NFL games has gone viral amid the league’s latest gambling scandals.
In the clip from VladTV, Franzese, a former caporegime in New York’s Colombo crime family, detailed how the mob used gambling debts to control players, forcing them to rig games in exchange for their safety. His matter-of-fact tone makes the story all the more disturbing.
“Bring them to me after the interest stops and they said look, how you gonna pay me back? You got a rich uncle go rob a bank. I don’t care what you do. Bring me my money. You know, you see they’re scared. It’s all right. I got another way to work this out. Here’s how we’re gonna do it.”
“Okay, you’re a quarterback. Okay, you’re favored to win by 10 points. The first time, first three times you get the ball you put it in the hands of the other receiver. Put it in the defensive men’s hands. You’re a running back. You get the ball you put it on the ground. First three times you let me worry about the rest. You’re gonna do this until I tell you you’re not doing it anymore.”
“That’s how I’ll get my money back. What are you gonna do? It’s stuck it and they always did that they they had to shave points. In order not to pay back their gambling debt. They had no choice. Either that or you know, the threat is we’re gonna put you in a hospital. I didn’t have to say that but they knew that.”
“Because what I would tell them is a straight-eyes is one thing you don’t understand whether you’re here in any city in the country or you’re in Vegas. You’re gonna pay your debt. You’re not going to get away with it. You owe a gambling debt. You have to pay, and if you don’t pay this serious consequences. So just work along with us, and that’s it.”
Franzese also described how referees were often the mob’s easiest targets.
“But you know, you got to watch out for referees. Let me set this up and see if this makes sense to you. You got a referee in an NBA game. Okay, you got the Lakers now a favorite to win by 10 points. It’s Christmas time. Needs some extra money. Maybe it’s something in his family a sickness or whatever.”
“Maybe needs a few, who knows what he might need money for. Okay, the Lakers are favorite to win by 10, okay, you know this a referee can call a foul every time these players move down the court or he doesn’t have to call it if he misses it.”
“So let’s say Lakers is a favorite to win by 10. He puts in a bet against the spread. Remember it’s the spread. It’s not winning or losing. So how does he manipulate that?”
“He puts LeBron James on the bench with two-three extra fouls, keeps him on down there three, four, five minutes longer. He does the same one or two of their key players. He can manipulate that spread so easily over a period of time.”
Franzese’s resurfaced confession has reignited concerns about integrity in professional sports, especially at a time when the NBA is under scrutiny for gambling-related controversies. The timing couldn’t be more significant. In recent days, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, and former player Damon Jones have all been arrested in connection with ongoing investigations into illegal gambling activity.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has publicly addressed the issue, calling the situation deeply troubling and vowing to protect the integrity of the game. But Franzese’s words serve as a grim reminder that manipulation through gambling isn’t new, it’s just evolving.
What once required mob coercion may now come through modern temptations: betting apps, insider information, and financial desperation. With the NBA facing one of its biggest scandals in decades, his decades-old story feels eerily relevant again and chillingly believable.
