FBI looking for NBA ref

The New York Post has learned that FBI agents will descend upon disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy’s home town of Philadelphia this week to meet with friends in hopes of gathering more information.

Donaghy, 40, is expected to plead guilty to gambling charges linked to betting on NBA games he refereed.

A lawyer for one of his acquaintances, Peter Ruggieri, denied allegations yesterday that his client - who has a prior gambling-related conviction - introduced Donaghy to a New York gambler with Gambino crime-family connections.

Ruggieri’s lawyer, Chris Warren, insisted to the New York Daily News that his client had no connection to the Gambino crime family: “It’s absurd and slanderous. He has no connections whatsoever to the Gambino crime family or any other organized crime family.”

Warren said Ruggieri met with FBI agents on July 22 in Philadelphia and told them that two years ago, he had referred an acquaintance named Jack to an offshore bookie to place basketball bets.

This would not be the first time that a well known figure in the world of sports has gotten embroiled in a “betting scandal” related to an offshore gambling enterprise.

When Maurice Clarett was suspended for accepting thousands of dollars in extra benefits from a caterer from near his hometown and then attempting to conceal those gifts from NCAA investigators, Robert Dellimuti (”the beneficiary”) was portrayed by associates and even Ohio State coach Jim Tressel as a well-meaning guy trying to help an underprivileged kid. The tailback talked daily with his benefactor during the 2002 national championship season, sometimes on a cell phone paid for by Dellimuti.

But Dellimuti was more than a fan of Maurice Clarett that year. He was a gambler, who placed thousands of dollars worth of bets with SBG Global, a Costa Rican-based bookmaker.

Maurice Clarett helped carry Ohio State’s national title hopes during the 2002 season.

Cell phone records acquired by ESPN.com show that Dellimuti made 27 calls during the Buckeyes’ title season to SBG Global.

The NCAA has long frowned upon athletes associating with known professional gamblers, especially in the wake of a betting scandal years previous at Boston College.

Since the national championship game that made him a national figure, Clarett has not played another game of football. The former tailback is currently serving jail time after accepting a plea deal amid charges of committing robbery, carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest.

The NBA, NCAA and a number of other major sports organizations have worked against offshore gambling companies, many of which are legal and licensed in the jurisdiction where they operate. SBG Global has been operating out of Costa Rica since 1999. By doing so, these sports organizations only serve to push sports betting further underground, making it nearly impossible to track such activity.

SBG Global was uncooperative in the Clarett case and thus far no offshore betting companies have come forward to discuss any Donaghy/Ruggieri connections either, assuming they exist.

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