Fixing Scheme: Work of the ‘Devils

“[Stevin Smith] . . . has done everything for this program. He deserves better play from his teammates. I love him so much that when it’s time for him to go, I may go with him.”

--Bill Frieder, then-Arizona State basketball coach, in 1994

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When Bill Frieder made that statement after Arizona State’s unexpected 68-56 loss to USC’s basketball team on Feb. 19, 1994, there was no way for him to know that Stevin “Hedake” Smith had duped him.

There was no way for him to know that was one of four home games Smith and teammate Isaac Burton Jr. had agreed to “fix” that season.

While the rest of the Sun Devils were playing all out in those four games, Smith and Burton, by their own admission, were manipulating the outcomes, shaving points against Pacific 10 Conference opponents. According to a federal court indictment, Smith was paid $20,000 a game--Burton got a fraction of that from Smith--by a group of gamblers from Phoenix and Chicago, and an Arizona State student accused of hatching the scheme.

According to the FBI, about 61 bets totaling about $900,000 were placed on those games.

And now, four years later, FBI officials are calling the case the most significant sports bribery conspiracy involving college athletes in history.

Last month, a Phoenix grand jury handed down a 72-count federal indictment against four men who allegedly paid Smith, accusing them of conspiring to commit sports bribery, racketeering and money laundering, among other crimes.

In November, Smith, the second-highest scorer in Sun Devil history, and Burton, the 1992 Southern California Conference junior college player of the year while at East Los Angeles College, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sports bribery and agreed to help with the investigation.

On Dec. 19, one of the alleged gamblers, Joseph Gagliano Jr., a Phoenix investment advisor, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit sports bribery.

Former Arizona State student Benny Silman, 26, a businessman who at the time allegedly ran a campus bookmaking operation and masterminded the point-shaving scheme, pleaded not guilty to numerous charges Dec. 18.

Dominic Mangiamele, owner of a Chicago trucking business, and his son, Joseph Mangiamele, reputed bookmakers, according to government officials, were scheduled to be arraigned here today.

Silman raised eyebrows when he was represented at his arraignment by Las Vegas attorney David Chesnoff, who had represented Richard Perry, or “Ritchie the Fixer,” as he has been called since spending a year in prison for his involvement in a 1979 Boston College point-shaving scandal.

Perry is also the man who was photographed in a hot tub with several Nevada Las Vegas basketball players in 1990, igniting a controversy that led to former UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian’s resignation.

Of the investigation into point shaving at Arizona State, federal authorities have said this is only the first phase, that other indictments are expected.

Covering the Losses

An NCAA rule forbids betting on college or professional sports by athletes or representatives of member schools. So in the fall of 1993, Smith was already in violation when he bet--and lost--on professional football and hockey games.

Silman was allegedly taking Smith’s action. Then a 22-year-old ASU undergraduate, Silman also ran a cappuccino stand at America West Arena, home of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.

According to Smith’s plea agreement and the federal indictment against the four alleged gamblers, Silman proposed a plan whereby he would forgive Smith’s gambling debt and pay him $20,000 if Smith agreed to shave points.

Smith agreed, but Silman didn’t have enough cash to make a big score, so he contacted Gagliano, who brought in the Mangiameles and their money, the government contends.

Dominick Mangiamele is a successful business owner. His trucking company, Mangiamele and Sons, was contracted by the city of Chicago. Joseph Mangiamele was a Cook County sheriff’s deputy.

On Jan. 26, 1994, the day before the Sun Devils played Oregon State, Smith says he asked Burton to meet him after practice, then told Burton that a man was willing to pay him to make sure Arizona State won by no more than 14 points. Arizona State was a 15-point favorite in the Las Vegas sports books.

“He told me that since I was the best free-throw shooter on the team . . . that if needed, I was to miss the free throws to make sure we won by that certain amount,” Burton said in his testimony.

The son of a retired minister, Burton agreed and, both agree, Smith handed him $1,000 in cash.

The next day, according to the indictment, Gagliano, his father, Joseph Gagliano Sr., and a James Nuzzo flew to Las Vegas and began betting the game in several Las Vegas casinos.

That night the Sun Devils played poorly against Oregon State. Smith scored a career-high 39 points in 38 minutes but Burton made only one of four shots and missed both of his free throws as Arizona State won by six, 88-82.

Gagliano and the others allegedly in on the arrangement collected their winnings, nearly $150,000, and immediately arranged for Smith to shave points against Oregon two days later, the government contends.

Smith, although no longer in debt to Silman, agreed and the process was repeated, only this time the Mangiameles allegedly did some of the legwork, getting down bets against the Sun Devils, who were favored to win by 12 points.

They made at least 24 bets, according to the indictment, ranging from $500 to $9,900, at eight casinos.

And as before, Arizona State failed to cover the point spread, winning, 84-78. Smith scored 13 points and had six assists. Burton made four of 11 shots and both of his free throws.

On Jan. 31, two days after that game and a day after collecting their winnings, the group huddled to split about $230,000, the government contends.

Smith says several weeks passed before Silman asked him to fix another game.

They agreed on Arizona State’s game against USC on Feb. 19. The alleged gamblers bet as before and not only did the Sun Devils stay under the nine-point spread, they lost to the Trojans, 68-56.

The Sun Devils scored only 10 points in the first 13 minutes and trailed by eight at halftime. They closed to within two points, but lost opportunities to tie when Smith threw the ball away and Burton missed a three-point shot.

Smith led Arizona State with 22 points but made only seven of 20 shots. Burton scored five points, making two of eight shots.

After that game, Frieder was hard pressed to explain how the talented Sun Devils had lost to the inexperienced Trojans.

“I’m real disappointed in our performance,” he said. “All you have to do is look around the country. This happens to a lot of teams. For some reason we--all of a sudden--can’t make a jump shot or shoot free throws.”

Former USC Coach George Raveling said he has forgotten much about the game but remembers being surprised by the Trojan victory.

At the time, Raveling said, “We’re smart enough to know that this wasn’t a typical ASU team. They were very lethargic out there.”

The scheme fell apart, according to the indictments, after Smith and Burton agreed to fix a game with Washington on March 5. Apparently, word of the point-shaving had gotten out somehow and that game didn’t end the way the alleged gamblers expected.

On the day of the game, says David Price, director of enforcement for the Pac-10, he received a call from a Las Vegas bookmaker, saying he was suspicious of the game.

Price said he doesn’t remember the bookmaker’s name but that the caller said his casino was getting a lot of bets from college-age gamblers, all betting on Washington, which had been a 15-point underdog when the betting began. The line dropped to 11, then, with the heavy Washington action, to three points.

Price called other casino bookmakers, who verified what the caller had said. He then phoned Pac-10 and Arizona State officials to alert them.

At game time, Price turned on his television.

“And darned if the Sun Devils didn’t miss their first 14 shots,” he said.

Arizona State didn’t score in the first 12 minutes but rallied and was down by only two points at halftime.

When the second half began, it was as if another team had taken the court. The Sun Devils staged a 24-0 run and went on to drub the Huskies, 73-55.

Smith scored 13 points and Burton had nine but both spent more time than usual on the bench.

A rumor spread that someone from the Pac-10 or Arizona State had warned the players that people were on to them.

Price denied that anyone from the Pac-10 talked to any of the players.

Frieder said later, “I don’t know much about what’s going on but I do know [that] nobody talked to my team at halftime.”

Another possibility was that the Sun Devils, using an aggressive pressure defense in the second half, causing 22 turnovers, played well enough to make up for the play of Smith and Burton.

However it happened, on that game, the last Smith and Burton have confessed to rigging, the alleged gamblers lost almost $1 million.

Cashing Out

It appears now, nearly four years later, that Smith did take Frieder with him, as the coach had once joked.

“I lost my job because of this thing,” Frieder said recently. “It might have also cost me my future. Everyone knows that I was not involved and didn’t have any knowledge, but any time you have negative press, it makes it hard. I don’t think coaching is in my future.”

Because Smith and Burton cooperated in the investigation, they are not expected to receive any jail time.

Smith, now playing professionally in France, left Arizona State after that 1993-94 season. But Burton helped the Sun Devils reach the NCAA tournament’s round of 16 in March 1995. He recently had been playing in the Continental Basketball Assn. but was suspended last month after pleading guilty.

Because Burton was declared retroactively ineligible by the NCAA for admitting to point shaving, Arizona State may have to return its nearly $200,000 in tournament earnings for 1994.

But the school is left relatively unscathed. Arizona State is facing no NCAA sanctions and everyone who was involved with the program then is gone.

“It’s time for a fresh start,” one Sun Devil official said. “Nobody here had anything to do with it and we just want to move on.”

Bill Saum, the NCAA’s representative on player agents and gambling issues, has followed the FBI’s investigation closely. Although the NCAA found no wrongdoing by Arizona State, Saum said this case should “serve as a wake-up call” for universities on the growing number of campus gambling operations.

“We believe there is a student bookmaker on every college campus in America,” Saum said. “The handles might be different--one might be $500 and another might be $250,000--but we have to accept that they are out there.

“And a lot of these bookies will carry an athlete, carry his bet, not make him pay for his losses. The athlete gets deeper and deeper into debt until the athlete is no longer the one in control.”

Frieder won’t speak out against the two players but does exclude them from the list of people he thinks were victimized by the scheme.

“I feel sorry for their parents,” Frieder said. “I’m sorry for the school, for college basketball and certainly for the guys who played with [Smith and Burton], the kids who were trying to win.”