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A former Boston College basketball player convicted in a much publicized point shaving scheme has died.
The New York Times first reported on January 14 of Rick Kuhn passing away at his home in Ligonier, Westmoreland County, PA on Dec. 22. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer, according to Chuck Finder, a former Post-Gazette sports writer who collaborated with Mr. Kuhn on a recently completed memoir.
The scheme was primarily organized by Henry Hill, the mobster played by Ray Liotta in the 1990 movie “Goodfellas".
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Kuhn participated in the plot that would have his team winning by less than the posted spread. This included deliberate fouls during critical moments in the game as well as attempted steals where he would allow his opponent to get around him to score.
From The Post-Gazette:
The scandal began unfolding when Kuhn took a teammate and close friend, Jim Sweeney, to a hotel room near Logan Airport in Boston to meet Mr. Hill; Paul Mazzei, a narcotics trafficker Hill had met in a federal prison; and Tony Perla, a small-time gambler.
“You’re thinking, the initial phase, they want insider information,” Kuhn wrote in a memoir. But two hours into the meeting, the subject of point shaving came up, and the players were asked how much money they would want to participate in such a scheme.
“I said, ‘One hundred thousand,’ ” Kuhn recalled telling them, to which Mr. Hill replied, “I like this kid.”
Examining Boston College’s 1978-79 schedule, Hill, Mazzei and Perla discussed “how much they were going to wager and how much we would make,” Kuhn wrote. He added, “As we left, Tony gave us $1,000 for coming” — the equivalent of just under $5,000 today, and a lot of money for students like Kuhn and Sweeney.
The ringleader in the point shaving scheme, Hill, once described himself as a "Boston College basketball fixer" per a 1981 Sports Illustrated article.
Hill had been indicted in 1980 on narcotics charges in Nassau County, N.Y., and implicated in the Lufthansa robbery when he was questioned about the Lufthansa case by the federal prosecutor Edward A. McDonald and an FBI agent.
He was provided with immunity in that matter as well as the point shaving case for his cooperation in taking down several mob-connected figures.
Kuhn also played baseball and was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 1973.
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