FBI Probe Puts Focus on Bruins

The FBI, investigating allegations of point shaving, has recently interviewed--and exonerated--a handful of UCLA football players even as it tries to unravel a reputed mobster’s connections to some members of the team, sources told The Times on Wednesday.

Agents, who launched their investigation three weeks ago, initially wanted to speak to four players and at least one interview remains to be scheduled, sources said. So far, “everyone they’ve talked to is clean,” a source said.

A spokeswoman for Cade McNown, the starting quarterback for the 1998 season, issued a statement Wednesday saying he was among those the FBI has questioned. McNown voluntarily took a lie-detector test, passed it and was told “there would be no further inquiry necessary,” the statement said.

Sources declined to disclose the identities of the other players.

It remained unclear Wednesday what allegation launched the point shaving investigation and, as well, whether the probe involves one or several games.

The Bruins won their first 10 games and the Pacific 10 Conference title and remained in the hunt for the national title game before a 49-45 loss on Dec. 5 at Miami. McNown passed for 513 yards, a UCLA record. The Bruin defense, however, gave up 689 yards, the worst showing in school history.

The Miami loss forced UCLA to settle for a berth in the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin beat the Bruins, 38-31, on Jan. 1. UCLA finished the season 10-2.

McNown, who is expected to be a high NFL draft pick, left UCLA three days after the Rose Bowl to focus on selling himself to NFL scouts.

“The last two games the defense gave up a lot of points,” senior linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo said, noting that he has not been approached by the FBI. “But when something like point shaving comes up, how does the defense have any control over point shaving?

“Plus, point shaving wouldn’t make any sense for our team. We were never the underdogs.” Junior wide receiver Brad Melsby added: “From what I understand, they’re looking for some sort of point deal. They’re not going to find anything. We all know that.”

Melsby said he has not been interviewed by the FBI.

FBI officials declined Wednesday to comment about the investigation. Bob Toledo, UCLA’s head football coach, could not be reached for comment.

UCLA Athletic Director Pete Dalis said the university had notified Bill Saum, the NCAA’s director of gambling and agents, of the FBI inquiry but stressed that agents had “assured” UCLA the bureau had “no concerns regarding the conduct of UCLA or any of its student-athletes.”

A source familiar with the investigation said that Bruin players had been observed--perhaps even photographed--in recent months with Dominic Montemarano, 60. According to press accounts, he was identified in court documents filed in the 1980s in New York City as a captain in the Colombo organized-crime family.

Montemarano, also known as “Donny Shacks,” was convicted in 1987 in federal court in Manhattan of racketeering charges stemming from an extensive Mafia extortion scheme to obtain cash payments from concrete companies in exchange for major construction contracts in New York City.

In October 1987, he was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison.

A wire-service report of the sentencing hearing described Montemarano, then 49, as in poor health. It said he was battling cancer and kidney problems.

A spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, reached after the close of business hours in Washington, said it was impossible late Wednesday to access computer records detailing when and why Montemarano was released from federal custody.

A source, describing a scene from this past football season, recalled seeing 20 to 25 current or former Bruin football players around a table one night at a Long Beach restaurant popular with sports figures. Sitting with them, the source said, was Montemarano.

One of the people introduced to him was told that Montemarano had mob connections--a key, the source said, in establishing that players knew of Montemarano’s background.

“It’s someone who became an acquaintance of theirs,” another source said. Through whom remains sketchy.

Montemarano could not be reached for comment at his home in Century City.

Montemarano is not a donor to the UCLA athletic program, said Marc Dellins, the school’s director of athletic-media relations.