My Philly Daily On Crime Column: Sports Gambling, Bribery, Money Laundering, And Game-Fixing

Philly Daily ran my On Crime column today. You can read the column via the link below or the following text:

Paul Davis: sports gambling, bribery, money laundering, and game-fixing – Philly Daily 

In my late teens and 20s I was a gambling fool. I was a young, happy and adventuresome gambler. I liked the “action.”

I was a fair poker player, and I bet heavily on sports. When I won, I bought rounds of drinks at the South Philly bar where my crowd gathered, and I took girlfriends to expensive dinners. When I lost, I borrowed money from loan sharks. I was free of true responsibility at the time, as I was unmarried, had no children, and I did not own a home. I stopped gambling when I met a beautiful woman who later became my wife.

In my time I saw other gamblers go into heavy debt and I saw how gambling ruined their relationships with their families. Excessive gambling has ruined nearly as many lives as drug addiction and alcoholism.

Back in 2022 I interviewed former New York Columbo Cosa Nostra organized crime family captain Michael Franzese (seen in the above photo). He made millions of dollars with criminal scams, such as cheating the government out of gasoline taxes. He was also involved with traditional Cosa Nostra criminal activity, such as illegal gambling.

After fighting the federal government’s many indictments against him, he pled guilty to racketeering charges and was sentenced to ten years in federal prison. 

While in prison, Franzese became a devout Christian and announced that he was walking away from Cosa Nostra. He is the only high-ranking member of a major crime family to walk away from the mob without being in the witness protection program. Although the Colombo family initially put out a contract on his life, he now lives openly.

Today he is a popular podcaster and public speaker, Franzese has testified before government and sporting industry committees, colleges and prisons about how criminals become involved in the world of sports.   

“I used to be the guy bringing athletes in. Now I’m the guy warning them. Twenty years speaking to pro teams, colleges, and sports organizations - teaching them how to avoid the exact situations I used to create,” Franzese said: “It’s all about education and enforcement, and the two have to go hand in hand. You’ve first got to let the players know, and those associated with the game, what the dangers are, how they can get themselves caught up.

“You could be in a gambling situation and not realize you’re hanging with the wrong people, and before you know it, you’re in over your head financially, and somebody’s taking advantage of you; and you don’t have any way out other than to compromise a game. That’s what I used to do: put a player in that position to where he had to do our bidding.”

Which brings me to two recent prosecutions by the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) in Philadelphia.  

On October 13^th, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf (seen in the top photo) announced that Jalen Smith, 30, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was sentenced to 72 months in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution of approximately $1.1 million, and forfeiture of $75,000 by United States District Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro, for his role in a bribery and point-shaving scheme to fix National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) Division I men’s basketball games, as well as a firearms offense.

According to the USAO, Smith was charged by indictment in January of this year in connection with the bribery and point-shaving scheme. He was subsequently charged by information with possession of a firearm by a felon, arising from a 2025 search of Smith’s Charlotte residence, in which a loaded semi-automatic pistol was recovered.

In March, Smith pleaded guilty to one count each of bribery in sporting contests, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and possession of a firearm by a felon.

“Jalen Smith played a central role in this point-shaving scheme, which corrupted the integrity of NCAA games and the sport of basketball itself,” said Metcalf. “As his prosecution and sentence show, we will not permit the criminal corruption of athletic competition to go unanswered. Those engaged in such behavior may profit in the short term, but they’ll lose much more when our team takes them to court.”

Wayne A. Jacobs, the Special Agent in Charge of FBI Philadelphia, added, “Today’s sentencing sends a clear message: Those who exploit professional and collegiate athletes for personal gain will be held accountable. This conduct does more than harm individual athletes. It undermines the integrity of sports and the trust placed in fair competition. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue those who seek to manipulate that trust for their own financial benefit and ensure they are held responsible for their actions.”

As detailed in court filings, “the overall scheme to influence or fix CBA and NCAA men’s basketball games lasted from approximately September 2022 to February 2025. After co-schemers profited on fixed CBA games, they turned their attention to influencing NCAA men’s basketball games.

“Jalen Smith was a “fixer” in the scheme, working together with others to recruit and bribe NCAA men’s basketball players to underperform and help ensure their team failed to cover the spread in games during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 NCAA men’s basketball seasons,” the USAO stated. “Then, through various sportsbooks, Smith helped to arrange for large wagers to be placed on those games, betting against the team whose player or players they had bribed to engage in this point-shaving scheme. Smith had a leadership role in the scheme, particularly in recruiting, managing, and paying players for their roles in the scheme.”

Smith and other fixers approached and communicated with the players, in person and through social media, text message communications, and cellular telephone calls, offering the players bribe payments, usually ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.

“Smith and other fixers specifically targeted college players for whom the bribe payments would meaningfully supplement, or exceed, the student-athletes’ legitimate opportunities for “Name-Image-Likeness” compensation. The fixers also generally targeted in their scheme players on teams that were underdogs in games and sought to have them fail to cover the spreads in those games. Many of these players accepted the offers and agreed to help fix specific games so that the fixers would win their wagers. 

In total, the USAO noted, bribery and point-shaving scheme involved more than 39 players on over 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams, who fixed and attempted to fix more than 29 NCAA games. The scheme also resulted in more than $3 million in fraudulent wagers placed on these games, and more than $1.1 million in financial losses to sportsbooks throughout the country.

On October 15^th, U. S. Attorney David Metcalf announced that Shane Hennen, aka “Sugar Shane,” 41, of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, entered a plea of guilty before United States District Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro on Wednesday to bribery in sporting contests, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and three counts of wire fraud, arising from a years-long scheme to influence or “fix” Chinese Basketball Association (“CBA”) games and National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) men’s Division I basketball games. The defendant was charged by indictment in January in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

In addition, the USAO stated that Hennen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, as charged by superseding indictment in May of this year in the Eastern District of New York (“EDNY”). Those charges arose from his participation in a scheme to defraud betting companies by wagering on National Basketball Association (“NBA”) games with the improper benefit of having non-public information that would affect the outcome of those games and the performance of certain individuals in those games, and his participation in laundering the proceeds.

As detailed in court filings, “beginning in or about September 2022, Hennen and others worked together in a scheme that involved recruiting and bribing players to help fix CBA games through point-shaving during the 2022-2023 season. Hennen’s primary role in the scheme was to place bets and arrange for others to place large bets on the fixed games — betting against the teams whose players they had bribed to underperform.

“After profiting on the CBA games, the schemers turned their attention to NCAA men’s basketball games. During the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 seasons, fixers agreed to recruit NCAA players who would accept bribe payments in exchange for helping to influence outcomes of NCAA basketball games. In particular, the fixers agreed to recruit into the scheme players who would help ensure that their team failed to cover the spread of the first half of a game or an entire game.

“In total, the bribery and point-shaving scheme involved more than 39 players, on over 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams, who fixed and attempted to fix more than 29 NCAA games. The scheme also resulted in more than $3 million in fraudulent wagers placed on these games, and more than $1.1 million in financial losses to sportsbooks throughout the country.

In the EDNY prosecution, conspirators obtained insider information from several NBA players and coaches and distributed that information through a network of bettors, including Hennen. Hennen and others then placed and directed wagers through online sportsbooks and retail betting outlets, falsely representing that their wagers complied with the betting companies’ rules — which included not betting on non-public information or using straw bettors - while concealing that their wagers were based on confidential team information.

According to the USAO, Hennen is scheduled to be sentenced on February 25 in Philadelphia. In the EDPA case, he faces a maximum possible sentence of 85 years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, a monetary fine, and restitution. In the EDNY case, Hennen faces a maximum possible sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, a monetary fine, and restitution.

Paul Davis’ On Crime column appears here each week. He can be reached via pauldavisoncrime.com.

My South Philly Review Crime Beat Column: Is Police Work More Dangerous Today?

The South Philly Review ran my Crime Beat column today. 

I interviewed retired Philadelphia Police Lieutenant Martin O’Donnell and asked him if police work was more dangerous today. 

You can read the column via the page above.

My Crime Fiction: Welcome To Japan, Davis-San

 Below is my story about an American sailor visiting Japan, circa 1971. 

The story is a chapter from Olongapo, a crime novel that I hope to publish. 

The story first appeared in American Crime Magazine.

Welcome to Japan, Davis-San

By Paul Davis

In May of 1971, the Kitty Hawk was temporarily relieved from combat operations on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam by another aircraft carrier and the Kitty Hawk set sail for Sasebo, Japan for a scheduled R&R period.

The Japanese had been my father’s bitter enemy, as he served as an Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) frogman in the Pacific during WWII. The old chief participated in some grueling and bloody battles on the Japanese-held beaches and islands, yet he held no rancor against the Japanese. Judging from his letters to me, he appeared to be as excited as I was about my visit to the “Land of the Rising Sun.”

I became particularly interested in Japan in 1965 when I read Ian Fleming’s James Bond thriller, You Only Live Twice. I was fascinated by Fleming’s characters and plot and his take on the cultural differences between the West and Japan. 

I prepared for my visit to Japan by re-reading You Only Live Twice, as well as re-reading the chapter on Japan in my ever-ready "travel bible,” an old paperback edition of Ian Fleming’s travelogue, Thrilling Cities.

Shortly after the Kitty Hawk docked in Sasebo, I and other sailors headed towards the city’s area known as “Paradise Alley,’ where the bars catered to American sailors. I went ashore with Salvatore Lorino and Mike Hunt, and we visited one of the bars on Paradise Alley, and we drank and danced with the Japanese bar girls. After a couple of hours, Mike Hunt suggested that we go and have what Americans called a Hotzi bath and massage. We left the bar and visited a nearby public bathhouse called a Sento. 

We first sat in a sauna, where we sweated out the alcohol from our bodies. Then, after a rigorous shower, we slipped into the steaming hot public bath. After a while, we left the bath and went into another room for a massage. There were no sexual “happy endings” here, but the massage was very satisfying. 

My massage was administered by a slight and pretty Japanese girl who had the strength of a sumo wrestler. She squeezed, pressed, pounded and applied karate-type blows to my body. When we left the Sento, I felt so good that I thought I could leap over a tall building. 

It was a beautiful spring day, so we walked around and ended up on a narrow street. I spotted a small store that could have been an antique shop or a pawn shop.  I had no idea what kind of store it was as the signs were in Japanese. But what I spied in the shop window quickly drew me in. In the center of the window was an old and glorious set of Katana swords, more commonly known as Samurai swords. I didn’t know much about Katana swords at the time, other than the cursory knowledge I gleaned from the books I read, but these swords looked authentic to me. I entered the shop and bowed to the proprietor, an elderly man, and I pulled out a handful of yen and pointed towards the swords in the window.

His response was in Japanese, spoken softly as he continued to bow up and down. I bowed back, having read somewhere that the more you bow, the more humble and polite you are. Of course, the proprietor was always two bows ahead of me, as he had a lot more practice at this than I. Thankfully, a young woman customer spoke English and she politely informed me that the swords were not for sale. She explained that the swords belonged to the proprietor’s ancestors. I bowed again, twice, and quickly bowed out of the store. 

We spent the rest of the day and evening in a bar, and while most Americans were drinking beer or whisky, I was drinking Sake, Japanese rice wine. There is a saying that notes the man drinks the first three cups of Sake, and the next three cups of Sake drink the man.

I danced with a beautiful Japanese girl named Kimora, and she then sat with me at our table. Kimora had long dark hair, a beautiful face and a lean and alluring body. I especially loved her soft and sexy voice when she spoke Japanese, and I found her broken English to be both funny and cute. She kissed me after every swallow of the whiskey I bought her.    

Lorino noticed four stern-looking Japanese men in dark suits siting with four women at a table in the corner. Lorino knew I was an aspiring crime writer and something of a serious student of crime, so he asked me, “Hey, those guys in the corner are Jap gangsters, aren’t they?”

 “Yeah. Yakuza, I believe,” I replied.

Lorino leaned over to the girl at his side and asked her to send a round of drinks to the yakuza criminals. He told her to tell them that he wanted to meet them.

“Tell ‘em I’m Cosa Nostra.

“Cusi who?”

“American Mafia.”

She got up and went over to the mama-san and spoke to her and then returned to Lorino’s side. A waitress delivered a tray of drinks to the men and the mama-san whispered to one of the men. The man waved to Lorino and beckoned him to come over.

“C’mon, Paulie. Let’s go over.”

“I’ll pass. You go.”

“Hey, you got the black suit and shirt. You look like a mob guy. They’ll love ya.”

I was curious, so I walked over with a strutting Lorino.

One of the yakuza spoke English and he translated for Lorino. He made the other hoodlums laugh with his translations. I felt we were being mocked, and I told Lorino that we should go. Lorino brushed me off and then pulled out a wad of U.S. dollars. He said he wanted to buy shabu. The Japanese, like the Filipinos, called crystal meth shabu.

The yakuza members stopped laughing. The one who spoke English conferred with his associates and then turned back to Lorino. He took out a piece of paper and wrote the name of a bar and a person’s name in English and added some Japanese characters. He passed the slip of paper to Lorino.

“Go to this bar and ask for this person,” the yakuza member said. “Hand him this note and he will help you.”

“Thanks,” Lorino said. “Youse guys are cool.”

We went back to our table and Lorino said “Let’s go.”

“You go, I want to stay here and drink and dance with Kimora.”

“This will only take a half hour. I need you as a back-up. The girl will be here when we get back.”

Reluctantly, I went with him.

 

We took a cab to the bar and walked in. We were the only Americans there and we were given dirty looks by some of the customers who appeared to be yakuza gangsters. Lorino, unfazed at our reception and uber confident as usual, walked up boldly to the bar and showed the note to the bartender. The bartender, without a word, motioned over a young Japanese thug. The thug read the note and told Lorino in English to meet him outside in the alley.

Out in the alley, the young yakuza thug, accompanied by another young thug, asked for the money. Lorino handed over the U.S. dollars. The young thug put the money in his pants pocket and then pulled out a knife.

The thug smiled.

“So, this is how it’s going to be,” Lorino said, smiling back.

He looked sideways at me and said, “You believe this shit?” and then he delivered a swift kick to the thug’s left knee. As the thug buckled from the kick, Lorino stepped in and threw an uppercut that dropped the thug. I began to step in towards the advancing second thug, but Lorino whipped out a small semi-automatic pistol. Seeing the gun, the second thug stepped back.

The second thug helped the first thug up from the street. The first thug grinned, picked up his knife and put it in his pocket. And then he bowed. He took out a plastic bag out of his pocket and handed it to Lorino.

Lorino bowed back. He wet his finger and dipped the finger in the bag. He pulled out his finger and held it to his nose and inhaled it. His head jolted back, and he laughed.

“Very good shit,” he said and bowed.

The two thugs bowed and went back into the bar.

“Where did you get the gun?” I asked.

“Olongapo. Where else?”

 

Lorino and I took a cab to our hotel and once in our room, we snorted a couple of lines of the shabu. Lorino hid the bulk of the shabu but kept some of it on him for us to use later while we were out. I wanted to go back to the first bar we visited and drink and dance with Kimora. I became even more talkative than usual, but Lorino reacted differently to the meth. He became quiet and introspective.

We walked to the bar, and went in. Lorino gave the yakuza hoods a thumbs up.

The English-speaking yakuza explained what the upright thumb meant, and they all laughed and raised their own thumbs up.                           

After many cups of Sake, I needed to get some air, and I left the bar. Lorino followed me up the street where we saw a small restaurant with an open front. The smell coming from the restaurant was enticing. We entered the restaurant, and I stepped up to the counter. The menus were banners hanging from the ceiling, and of course they were written in Japanese. A man sitting next me to me was eating steamed vegetables and as I liked the smell, I motioned to the waitress that this was what we wanted. Although I was not big on vegetables, steamed or otherwise, after consuming the Sake, I thought this was a fantastic meal. 

I pulled out my money and having forgotten the rate of exchange for Japanese yen to American dollars, I gave the waitress a stack of yen. As we walked down the street, I heard someone yelling, “American-San! American-San!” I turned and saw the waitress coming towards me. She bowed and I bowed back. She bowed again and handed me some yen. I gathered that I gave her too much money for the meal. I bowed and shook my head as I handed her back the bills. She bowed twice and would not accept the offered bills. She bowed again twice and turned and walked back towards the restaurant.

“Can you image any other place in Southeast Asia where this would happen?” I asked Lorino. “Only in Japan.” 

“In Olongapo, they would come out and cut our throats for the rest of the money,” Lorino said and laughed. 

We headed back to the bar, where I danced and drank more Sake with Kimora. After drinking much Sake, I ended my night in a hotel room with the incredibly beautiful Kimora.  

The following day I left Sasebo and took a train with Hunt to Nagasaki.

Lorino stayed in Sasebo and partied with his new yakuza friends.

© 2024 By Paul Davis 

Note: You can read the other posted chapters of my crime novel Olongapo via the below link:

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Butterfly'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Salvatore Lorino'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: The Old Huk

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: Join The Navy And See Olongapo

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Boots On The Ground'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'The 30-Day Detail'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Cat Street'

Paul Davis On Crime: Chapter 12: On Yankee Station

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'The Cherry Boy'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'The Hit'

Paul Davis On Crime: A Look Back At Life Aboard An Aircraft Carrier During The Vietnam War: 'The Compartment Cleaner'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Murder By Fire'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Admiral McCain'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Hit The Head'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'A Night At The Americano'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Missing Muster'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'The Barracks Thief'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'The City of Bizarre Happenings'  

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'The Refrigerator Thieves'

Paul Davis On Crime: My Crime Fiction: 'Go Forth, Goforth'

Governor Shapiro Announces $837 Million Investment In PhilaPort To Support Largest Expansion In Port’s History, Creating New Jobs, Expanding Global Trade, And Growing Pennsylvania’s Economy

Philly Daily, where my On Crime column appears each week, reports that PA Governor Shapiro announces a $837 Million Investment in PhilaPort. 

You can read the piece via the link below:  

Governor Shapiro Announces $837 Million Investment in PhilaPort to Support Largest Expansion in Port’s History, Creating New Jobs, Expanding Global Trade, and Growing Pennsylvania’s Economy – Philly Daily 

A Look Back At Raymond Chandler And 'The Annotated Big Sleep'

As I noted, here before, I have been an admirer of Raymond Chandler since I was a teenager. I’ve read all of his crime novels, short stories, his commentary and several biographies of the late, great writer. 

Back in 2018, I reviewed The Annotated Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler for the Washington Times.

You can read the review via the link below or the following text:

 

Paul Davis On Crime: The Annotated Big Sleep: A Look Back At The Late, Great Raymond Chandler And His Classic Crime Novel, 'The Big Sleep' 

 

THE ANNOTATED BIG SLEEP

By Raymond Chandler

Annotated and edited by Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson and Anthony Dean Rizzuto

Vintage Books, $25, 512 pages

 

“Raymond Chandler once wrote that ’some literary antiquarian of a rather special type may one day think it worthwhile to run through the files of the pulp detective magazines’ to watch as ’the popular mystery story shed its refined good manners and went native,’” the editors of “The Annotated Big Sleep” write in their introduction of the late, great Raymond Chandler’s classic crime novel.

 

“He might have said, as the genre of detective fiction kicked out the Britishism and became American. A chief agent of this transformation was Raymond Chandler himself. ’The Big Sleep’ was Chandler’s first novel, and it introduced the world to Philip Marlowe, the archetypal wisecracking, world-weary private detective who now occupies a permanent place in the American imagination.”

 

The editors note that in their annotated edition of “The Big Sleep” they trace the many veins of meaning into the intricate novel, which they call “a ripping good story.” The editors inform us that Raymond Chandler (July 23, 1888 March 26, 1959) did not think of himself as primarily a “mystery” writer, calling his novels and stories only “ostensibly” mysteries. But his work was confined within the limitations of genre fiction during his lifetime and many years after, even though he was lauded while he was alive by W.H. Auden, Evelyn Waugh, T.S. Eliot, Graham Greene and Christopher Isherwood.

 

But today, as the editors point out, Chandler is taught in university courses and Le Monde voted “The Big Sleep” one of the “100 Books of the Century.” The novel was also made into two films, with Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe in the 1946 film, and Robert Mitchum portraying Philip Marlowe in the 1978 film. (Dick Powell, Robert Montgomery, James Garner and many other actors have portrayed Philip Marlowe in films based on Raymond Chandler’s other novels).

 

Unlike his great predecessor, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler was not an ex-detective, and he didn’t associate with police officers, racketeers or grifters. He was born in Chicago, but he was raised in Nebraska, England and Ireland and he attended Dulwich College, where he studied languages and the classics.

 

He served in the Canadian infantry in World War I and he ended up in Los Angeles in 1913. After he was fired from his job as an oil executive due to his drinking and other offenses, he became a regular contributor to the pulp magazines at the age of 45. His first short story, “Blackmailers Don’t Shoot,” was published in 1933. Raymond Chandler’s first novel, “The Big Sleep,” was published in 1939. The novel sold about 10,000 copies in two print runs for Knopf. The novel was not a best-seller, but it sold more than the average mystery novel.

 

“I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.” So begins the well-known and celebrated opening that introduces the reader to Philip Marlowe, the first-person narrator of “The Big Sleep.”

 

The big sleep is a metaphor for death and it is the first of many fine metaphors and similes that Raymond Chandler employs in his novel. “The Big Sleep” is a novel about organized crime, blackmail, gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, wealth, family secrets and murder. Philip Marlowe’s narration and running commentary on everyone he meets and everything he encounters is timeless. Marlowe is an incorruptible modern knight in a corrupt world.

 

As the editors note, the city of Los Angeles was in many ways Raymond Chandler’s other major character alongside Philip Marlowe. “Its character was set by its sudden expansion, and also by the greed and self-promotion that went with it,” the editors write. “It was a city of excess, escapism (Hollywood!), tawdriness, exhibitionism, and corruption.”

 

Along with the classic crime story, the editors of “The Annotated Big Sleep” sprinkle the book with the historical context of Raymond Chandler’s LA, and they offer extracts from his letters, an analysis of the novel’s characters and plot, and facts about the films made from the novel. The book also offers photos and maps. “The Big Sleep” remains a classic crime novel that is discovered by each new generation of crime aficionados (I first read it as a teen-age crime-fiction aficionado in the early 1960s) and the novel continues to inspire crime writers and film makers.

 

“The Annotated Big Sleep” not only delivers a great novel, it also provides a literary and historical treatise on the life, times and work of one of America’s greatest writers, Raymond Chandler.

 

• Paul Davis is a writer who covers crime, espionage and terrorism.