Inducted by Long Island’s own Billy Joel, Bill Medley and the Righteous Brothers joined the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2003. Now 82, Bill sat down to chat with WHLI’s Rob Rush before he plays a show in nearby New Jersey.
Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision for The Society of Singers/AP Images
NEW YORK (AP) — The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player for the Miami Heat were arrested Thursday along with more than 30 other people in a takedown of two sprawling gambling operations that authorities said leaked inside information about NBA athletes and rigged poker games backed by Mafia families.
Portland coach Chauncey Billups was charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games tied to La Cosa Nostra organized crime families that cheated unsuspecting gamblers out of at least $7 million. Heat guard Terry Rozier was accused in a separate scheme of exploiting private information about players to win bets on NBA games.
The two indictments unsealed in New York create a massive cloud for the NBA — which opened its season this week — and show how certain types of wagers are vulnerable to massive fraud in the growing, multibillion-dollar legal sports-betting industry. Joseph Nocella, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, called it “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.”
“My message to the defendants who’ve been rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended,” Nocella said. “Your luck has run out.”
Both men face money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges. Also charged was former NBA assistant coach and player Damon Jones, who stands accused of participating in both schemes.
“The fraud is mind boggling,” FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters. “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multiyear investigation.”
The alleged fraud, however, paled in comparison to the riches the athletes earned on the court. Billups, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year, had about $106 million in earnings over his 17-year career. Rozier made about $160 million in his stops in Boston, Miami and Charlotte.
Billups and Rozier have been placed on leave from their teams, according to the NBA, which said it is cooperating with authorities.
“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the NBA said in a statement.
Hours after his arrest, Rozier appeared in a federal court in Orlando, Florida, wearing a Charlotte Hornets sweatshirt, handcuffs and shackles. Billups appeared before a judge in Portland, Oregon. Both men were ordered released from custody on certain conditions. Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, declined to comment after the hearing.
Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said in a statement that his client is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.” Trusty criticized authorities for not allowing his client to surrender on his own and accused officials of wanting “the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk.”
Messages were left Thursday at a phone number and email address listed in public records for Jones.
Mafia families profited off gambling scheme, officials say
The poker scheme lured unwitting players into rigged games with the chance to compete against former professional basketball players like Billups and Jones. The games were fixed using sophisticated cheating technology, such as altered card-shuffling machines, hidden cameras in poker chip trays, special sunglasses and even X-ray equipment built into the table to read cards, authorities allege.
The scheme often made use of illegal poker games run by New York crime families that required them to share a portion of their proceeds with the Gambino, Genovese and Bonnano crime families, according to court papers. Members of those families, in turn, also helped commit violent acts, including assault, extortion and robbery, to ensure repayment of debts and the continued success of the operation, officials said in court documents.
Athletes accused of leaving games early
In the sports betting scheme, Rozier and other defendants are accused of accessing private information from NBA players or coaches that could impact a player’s performance and giving that information to others so they could place wagers. Players sometimes altered their performance or took themselves out of games early to rig prop bets — a type of wager that allows gamblers to bet on whether a player will exceed a certain statistic, such as a total number of points, rebounds or assists, according to the indictment.
In one instance, Rozier, while playing for the Charlotte Hornets in 2023, told people he was planning to leave the game early with a supposed injury, allowing gamblers to place wagers earning them tens of thousands of dollars, authorities said. That game against the New Orleans Pelicans raised eyebrows at the time. Rozier played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds of the game before leaving, citing a foot issue. He did not play again that season.
Posts still online from March 23, 2023, show that some bettors were furious with sportsbooks that evening when it became evident that Rozier was not going to return to the game after the first quarter, with many turning to social media to say that something “shady” had happened regarding the prop bets involving his stats for that night.
The indictments contain the descriptions of several unnamed NBA players whose injury status and availability for certain games were the source of betting activity. Those players are not accused of any wrongdoing, and there is no indication that they would have even known what was being said about their status for those games.
Those players include LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard. Their identities are clear based on a review of corresponding injury reports surrounding games mentioned in the indictment. The indictments show that certain defendants shared information about the availability of those players in a game on March 24, 2023, involving the Portland Trail Blazers, and two games in 2023 and 2024 involving the Los Angeles Lakers.
The NBA had investigated Rozier previously. He was in uniform as the Heat played the Magic on Wednesday in Orlando, Florida, in the season opener for both teams, though he did not play in the game.
NEW YORK (AP) — The union representing Broadway’s musicians reached a tentative labor agreement with commercial producers on Thursday, averting a potentially crippling strike that would have silenced nearly two dozen musicals.
The American Federation of Musicians Local 802 — which represents 1,200 musicians — had threatened to strike if they didn’t have a new contract by the morning, after going into mediation Wednesday.
Early Thursday, the union said it had struck a tentative deal that includes wage increases and contribution increases to the health fund.
“This three-year agreement provides meaningful wage and health benefit increases that will preserve crucial access to healthcare for our musicians while maintaining the strong contract protections that empower musicians to build a steady career on Broadway,” AFM Local 802 President Bob Suttmann said in a statement.
The tentative agreement next goes to members for ratification.
The 23 shows that could have gone silent ranged from megahits like “Hamilton” and “The Lion King” to newcomers like “Queen of Versailles” and “Chess,” which are still in previews. Plays would not have been automatically impacted.
It was the second Broadway labor deal in less than a week. Labor tensions had already seemed cool after Actors’ Equity Association — which represents over 51,000 members, including singers, actors, dancers and stage managers — announced a new three-year agreement with producers over the weekend.
Members of both unions had been working under expired contracts. The musicians’ contract expired on Aug. 31, and the Equity contract expired Sept. 28.
The health of Broadway — once very much in doubt due to the coronavirus pandemic that shut down theaters for some 18 months — is now very good, at least in terms of box office. It has been a long road back from the days when theaters were shuttered and the future looked bleak, but the 2024-2025 season took in $1.9 billion — the highest-grossing season in recorded history, overtaking the pre-pandemic previous high of $1.8 billion during the 2018-2019 season.
The unions pointed to the financial health of Broadway to argue that producers could afford to up pay and benefits for musicians and actors. Producers, represented by The Broadway League, had countered that the restored health of Broadway could be endangered by potential ticket price increases to accommodate the demands.
The most recent major strike on Broadway was in late 2007, when a 19-day walkout by stagehands dimmed the lights on more than two dozen shows and cost producers and the city millions of dollars in lost revenue.
On Wednesday, three U.S. senators from New York and New Jersey — Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Andy Kim — wrote to both sides, urging them to “participate in good faith negotiations and continued communication.” The senators noted that Broadway supports nearly 100,000 jobs and is “an essential cornerstone in the economic well-being of surrounding businesses and sectors, including hospitality, retail and transportation.”
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams endorsed Andrew Cuomo in the city’s mayoral election Thursday, throwing his weight behind a bitter rival as he cast the Democratic nominee, Zohran Mamdani, as an avatar for radicals and gentrifiers.
“Am I angry I’m not the one taking down Zohran, the socialist and communist? You’re darn right I am,” Adams said, as he stood alongside a smiling Cuomo in Harlem. “We’re fighting against a snake-oil salesman.”
Adams had deemed Cuomo a “snake and a liar” before dropping his election campaign last month. “Brothers fight,” Adams said on Thursday. “But when families are attacked, brothers come together.”
The endorsement comes as Cuomo has lobbed increasingly caustic attacks on Mamdani, equating his criticism of Israel with antisemitism and warning of a city beset by crime, hatred and disorder if his opponent wins.
Adams, in his endorsement, went a step further.
“New York can’t be Europe, folks,” Adams said. “I don’t know what is wrong with people. You see what’s playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism,” he continued, citing examples of recent terror attacks in Europe and Africa.
The mayor did not elaborate on what those Islamic terror attacks had to do with Mamdani, who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor.
Cuomo then thanked Adams for his comments, describing him as a “real Democrat and a real New Yorker.”
It’s not immediately clear if Adams’ endorsement will help Cuomo in the city’s November election. Adams has seen his political capital crumble under the weight of a federal corruption case that was ultimately dismissed following an extraordinary intervention from the Trump administration.
Cuomo, a centrist, has cast himself as the only candidate who can beat Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist and state assemblymember who shocked the political establishment by soundly defeating the former governor in the June primary.
In a statement Thursday, Mamdani said “Andrew Cuomo is running for Eric Adams’ second term.”
“It’s no surprise to see two men who share an affinity for corruption and Trump capitulation align themselves at the behest of the billionaire class and the president himself,” Mamdani said.
Cuomo’s path to victory rests on his ability to win over moderates and Republicans, but in recent days he has admitted that it is becoming “harder mathematically” for him as long as Republican Curtis Sliwa remains in the race.
Sliwa, the colorful founder of the Guardian Angels crime patrol group, has steadfastly refused calls to drop out from both Cuomo and his supporters.
The endorsement would mark a reconciliation between the two longtime New York politicians, each of whom had escalated attacks against the other before Adams ended his campaign.
Shortly before dropping out, Adams accused Cuomo making “a career of pushing Black candidates out of races,” referring to the former governor’s past state races.
Cuomo, meanwhile, has described Adams’ management of the city as a “never-ending series of government corruption.”
On Wednesday night, immediately after the final mayoral debate, the former governor and mayor were photographed sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden, fueling speculation of an incoming endorsement.
_ Izaguirre reported from Albany, New York.
Broadway could soon go silent. Musicians represented by the American Federation of Musicians Local 802 say they are prepared to strike immediately if a new contract agreement with the Broadway League isn’t reached by Thursday.
The dispute centers on pay, health benefits, and working conditions for orchestra members who perform in some of Broadway’s biggest productions. Union leaders say they’ve been bargaining for months but remain far apart on key issues.
A strike would halt live music for many shows, though not all — some productions operate under separate contracts and would continue as scheduled. Negotiations are ongoing.
Toys “R” Us is coming back to Long Island this holiday season as part of a nationwide expansion.
The retailer announced plans to open 30 new stores across the U.S. — 10 of them permanent locations in at least eight states, and 20 seasonal pop-up shops in 16 states. One of those permanent stores will open at Tanger Outlets Deer Park, marking the toy brand’s first stand-alone store on Long Island since its nationwide closure in 2018.
According to a company spokeswoman, the 7,000-square-foot store at 152 The Arches Circle is expected to open in late November, just in time for the holiday shopping rush.
The expansion is part of Toys “R” Us’ ongoing comeback under WHP Global, which began reviving the brand in 2022 with in-store locations at Macy’s across the country.
MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A former New York state trooper who shot himself, then falsely claimed he was wounded by an unknown gunman on a Long Island highway, sparking a regionwide search, was sentenced to six months in jail on Wednesday.
Thomas Mascia was also given five years of probation and ordered to undergo mental health treatment and pay nearly $290,000 in restitution in Nassau County court in Mineola.
Mascia pleaded guilty in May to falsely reporting an incident, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. He resigned in January after being suspended without pay while state police launched a criminal investigation into the shooting.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly called the former officer’s actions “disgraceful.”
“His lies wasted hundreds of hours of law enforcement manpower, deeply cost taxpayers in Nassau County, and betrayed the public’s trust of those in uniform,” she said in a statement after the sentencing.
Mascia claimed he was shot in the leg on Oct. 30, 2024, by a driver while parked on the shoulder of the Southern State Parkway, about a mile from his home. He described the fictitious driver as a “dark-skinned” man who fled in a car bearing temporary New Jersey plates heading toward New York City.
Instead, prosecutors say, Mascia staged the scene of the alleged shooting by scattering shell casings, then shot himself at a park, stashed the .22-caliber rifle, drove back to the highway and called for backup.
Jeffrey Lichtman, who represents Mascia and his parents, said in an email that the former trooper is “mortified by his actions and happy to finally get on with his life.”
He’s previously said Mascia, who became a trooper in 2019, was suffering from an undiagnosed mental health problem at the time of the shooting and has been undergoing treatment.
Mascia’s parents had also pleaded guilty to possessing an illegal firearm, which was found during a search of the family’s home.
Thomas A. Mascia, the defendant’s father, was sentenced to five years of probation Wednesday. Dorothy Mascia was given a one-year conditional discharge.
NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL has canceled an Olympic sendoff event scheduled for February at the New York Islanders’ arena and plan to hold All-Star Weekend festivities there in 2027, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the decision had not been announced. ESPN was first to report the move during the network’s coverage of the game between Boston and defending Stanley Cup champion Florida.
UBS Arena was announced to host 2026 All-Star Weekend when the league figured it would experiment with the event as a jumping off point for players, coaches and staff to gather there and fly out of John F. Kennedy International Airport to Milan.
The massive success of the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament earlier this year led officials to wonder about how much sense it made to have a traditional All-Star Weekend with a skills competition and either a game or the 3-on-3 tournament that has become a fixture for hockey’s midseason event for almost a decade. The NBA altered its format to a U.S. against the world game as a way to mix things up.
NHL officials had said the Islanders would likely get the All-Star Game in the odd-numbered year between the return to the Olympics and the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. The hope is to use the Feb. 5-7 weekend in 2027 for that.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man whose convictions for storming the U.S. Capitol were erased by President Donald Trump’s mass pardons has been arrested on a charge that he threatened to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Christopher P. Moynihan is accused of sending a text message on Friday noting that Jeffries, a New York Democrat, would be making a speech in New York City this week.
“I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” Moynihan wrote, according to a report by a state police investigator. Moynihan also wrote that Jeffries “must be eliminated” and texted, “I will kill him for the future,” the police report says.
Moynihan, of Clinton, New York, is charged with a felony count of making a terroristic threat. It was unclear if he had an attorney representing him in the case, and efforts to contact him and his parents by email and phone were unsuccessful.
Moynihan who’s 34, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for joining a mob’s Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. In January, he was among hundreds of convicted Capitol rioters who received a pardon from Trump on the Republican president’s first day back in the White House.
Jeffries thanked investigators “for their swift and decisive action to apprehend a dangerous individual who made a credible death threat against me with every intention to carry it out.”
“Unfortunately, our brave men and women in law enforcement are being forced to spend their time keeping our communities safe from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned,” Jeffries said in a statement.
House Speaker Mike Johnson was asked about the case during a news conference on Tuesday and said he did not know any details of the threat against Jeffries.
“We denounce violence from anybody, anytime. Those people should be arrested and tried,” said Johnson, a Louisiana Republican.
The New York State Police said it was notified of the threat by an FBI task force on Saturday. Moynihan was arraigned on Sunday in a local court in New York’s Dutchess County. He is due back in the Town of Clinton Court on Thursday.
Dutchess County District Attorney Anthony Parisi said his office is reviewing the case “for legal and factual sufficiency.”
“Threats made against elected officials and members of the public will not be tolerated,” Parisi said in a statement on Tuesday.
On Jan. 6, Moynihan breached police barricades before entering the Capitol through the Rotunda Door. He entered the Senate chamber, rifled through a notebook on a senator’s desk and joined other rioters in shouting and chanting at the Senate dais, prosecutors said.
“Moynihan did not leave the Senate Chamber until he was forced out by police,” they wrote.
In 2022, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper convicted Moynihan of a felony for obstructing the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Moynihan also pleaded guilty to five other riot-related counts.
Associated Press writer Stephen Groves contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at https://apnews.com/hub/hakeem-jeffries.
NEW YORK (AP) — When slugger Joe Carter hit the last World Series pitch thrown in Canada over the left-field wall to win the Toronto Blue Jays’ second consecutive title, it was 8 1/2 months before Shohei Ohtani was born.
The Blue Jays are back in baseball’s championship round for the first time since 1993 and will host Ohtani and the Dodgers in Friday night’s opener as Los Angeles tries to become the first repeat winner in a quarter century.
The previous time the World Series was played north of the border, the Steroids Era was just starting, advanced analytics were science fiction and complete games were thrown about twice a month.
While the Dodgers may be the favorite, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays have an entire country behind them after rallying to win the American League Championship Series with a 4-3 victory over Seattle in Game 7 on Monday night.
Until now, Toronto’s only World Series appearances resulted in back-to-back titles in 1992 and ’93.
“You always feel the weight of the world in decisions you make but when you’re kind of feeling a country, it kind of gets a little dicey at times,” manager John Schneider said early in the postseason. “Sixth inning with the bases loaded and nobody out and Aaron Judge hitting, you feel like people in Nova Scotia want to come murder you.”
George Springer and the AL East champion Blue Jays have home-field advantage in the best-of-seven Series because they finished the regular season with 94 wins, one more than the NL West champion Dodgers.
“They just got all their guys rolling. They’re scoring seven, eight runs, 10 runs a game, so that’s tough to slow down,” Los Angeles shortstop Mookie Betts said. “They’re doing all three facets of the game.”
The Greatest Sho on Earth returns to the World Series
Seeking the franchise’s ninth title and eighth since bolting Brooklyn for Los Angeles after the 1957 season, the Dodgers have overrun opponents during the postseason. Ohtani is starring at the plate and on the mound, a performance that would be deemed CGI if not witnessed by thousands in person.
“Sometimes you’ve got to check yourself and touch him to make sure he’s not just made of steel,” teammate Freddie Freeman said.
Before his three-homer at the plate and 10-strikeouts, six-scoreless innings mound show last Friday night, Ohtani’s bat had been slumping.
He’s hitting .220 with five homers and nine RBIs in the postseason and is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in a pair of pitching starts, striking out 19 and walking four in 12 innings.
LA tries for a rare repeat
Los Angeles is back in the World Series for the fifth time since 2017 and is seeking its third championship in six years. The Dodgers are the first defending champion to reach the Fall Classic since the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies, who lost to the New York Yankees in six games.
No team has won consecutive titles since the Yankees took three in a row from 1998-2000. The gap is the longest in baseball history, topping the previous high between the 1977-78 Yankees and the 1992-93 Blue Jays.
In other U.S. major leagues, the longest Super Bowl title gap was between the 2004-05 New England Patriots and the 2023-24 Kansas City Chiefs, the longest in the NBA was between the 1968-69 Boston Celtics and the 1987-88 Los Angeles Lakers, and the lengthiest in the NHL was between the 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings and the 2016-17 Pittsburgh Penguins.
“Realizing how hard it is to do last year, realizing how hard it was in ’20, it’s special,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. “Trying to get back-to-back is even more special.”
Historical ties between the Dodgers and Canada
Toronto pitcher Max Scherzer was on the 2021 Dodgers team that fell short, losing to Atlanta in the National League Championship Series. Hall of Famers Rickey Henderson and Fred McGriff also played for both franchises, along with two-time All-Star Justin Turner.
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman has dual American-Canadian citizenship — his parents were born in Canada.
Blue Jays bench coach Don Mattingly, in the World Series for the first time after a long and successful career in baseball, managed the Dodgers from 2011-15.
The Triple-A Montreal Royals were the Dodgers’ top farm team from 1939-60 — Jackie Robinson started his Dodgers career there in 1946, a year before he broke the major league color barrier.
The Dodgers roster has been money well spent
Los Angeles entered the postseason with a big league-high $341.5 million payroll, according to Major League Baseball’s latest tabulation, and is projected to pay nearly $168 million in luxury tax, easily a record. Counting the $6.5 million signing bonus in rookie Roki Sasaki’s minor league contract, the Dodgers’ player cost this year totals $516 million — with final numbers to be calculated during the offseason.
Including Sasaki’s signing bonus, the 13 pitchers on the Dodgers’ NLCS roster alone cost $124.5 million.
Toronto has the fifth-highest payroll at $252.7 million and is on track to spend $266 million including just over $13 million in luxury tax. No small-market team has won the title since the 2015 Kansas City Royals.
“Before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball,” manager Dave Roberts shouted to the crowd after Friday night’s National League pennant clincher. “Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!”
Los Angeles pitchers are 9-1 with a 2.45 ERA in 10 postseason games, including 7-1 with 1.40 ERA for starting pitchers totaling 64 1/3 of 82 innings. Led by Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers starters were 3-0 with a 0.63 ERA in the NLCS and their staff held the Milwaukee Brewers to a .118 batting average during the four-game sweep, lowest in a postseason series of at least three games.
Healthy and rested for a deep October run
LA’s four postseason starters totaled 73 starts and 372 1/3 innings during the regular season. Their closer threw 36 1/3 innings.
That’s because Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Sasaki all hurt their pitching shoulders and Ohtani didn’t return to the mound until June 16 after recovering from elbow surgery in 2023.
If the Blue Jays win
Toronto, which started play in 1977, could become the 15th of the 30 teams to win three or more titles. That would be more than Cleveland and Philadelphia, franchises that have existed for longer than a century.
AP Sports Writer Beth Harris in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa faces growing pressure to drop out of the 2025 New York City mayoral race due to fears that his candidacy could split the conservative vote. Polling cited by The Wall Street Journal shows front-runner Zohran Mamdani leading comfortably in a three-way race, but his lead narrows if Sliwa withdraws, positioning Andrew Cuomo as Mamdani’s main challenger.