Why 3 suspects in Chauncey Billups gambling case are appearing in a Macon court
Three men tied to a major national gambling case, accused of rigging illegal poker games in east New York, were scheduled to face a Macon judge Thursday afternoon according to court records.
Tony Goodson, John Mazzola and Kenny Han had their initial appearance in front of Judge Charles H. Weigle Thursday afternoon. After their appearance, they were expected to be taken to Brooklyn for the rest of their court proceedings. Goodson is from Forsyth, Mazzola is from Gray and Han is from Queens, New York.
The three men are part of the more than 30 suspects who have been indicted alongside former NBA star and current Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, whose alleged involvement in the scheme made nationwide headlines Thursday morning.
A federal grand jury has accused the defendants of working together to conduct illegal poker games, in which organized crime families managed to take millions of dollars from victims who thought they were playing fair — but still illegal — games, according to the indictment. The three Georgia men have varied involvement in the scheme, the indictment says. The victims’ losses are alleged to be over $7 million.
The indictment, made public in federal court Thursday, says the Bonanno, Gambino, Lucchese and Genovese crime families set up these rigged poker games and took cuts of the profits. FBI Director Kash Patel said on X Thursday that the gambling ring was tied to La Cosa Nostra.
Billups was arrested in Portland Thursday morning, according to multiple media reports. It wasn’t immediately clear when or where Goodson, Mazzola and Han were arrested.
The indictment naming these three men, Billups, and dozens of others, was separate from another high profile criminal gambling case made public Thursday. In that case, NBA player Terry Rozier and others were accused of sharing private information about NBA players so co-conspirators could place lucrative bets on games, according to the separate indictment.
The three Georgia men who have been implicated each face one count of wire fraud conspiracy and one count of money laundering conspiracy. Han and Goodson are facing an additional charge of illegal gambling, and Mazzola was additionally accused of participating in a robbing conspiracy under the Hobbs Act. The act was established to “combat racketeering in labor-management disputes,” according to federal law.
The indictment says Goodson provided cheating technology in order to help rig the poker games, which included a “rigged shuffling machine.”
Han and Mazzola allegedly organized and participated in rigged games using rigged machinery, the indictment says.
The other defendants include Ernest Aiello, Nelson Alvarez, Louis Apicella, Ammar Awawdeh, Saul Becher, Billups, Matthew Daddino, Eric Earnest, Lee Fama, John Gallo, Marco Garzon, Thomas Gelardo, Jamie Gilet, Shane Hennen, Osman Hoti, Horatio Hu, Zhen Hu, Damon Jones, Joseph Lanni, Curtis Meeks, Nicholas Minucci, Michael Renzulli, Angelo Ruggiero Jr., Anthony Shnayderman, Robert Stroud, Seth Trustman, Sophia Wei and Julius Ziliani, according to the indictment.
The indictment accuses them all of engaging in a complex fraud scheme to rig and cheat at illegal poker games hosted in east New York and throughout the U.S.
They allegedly carried out the rigged poker scheme by “manipulating certain poker games at otherwise non-rigged, or ‘straight,’ illegal poker games,” which took place in Washington Place and Lexington Avenue, both in Manhattan, the indictment says.
The games were “operated with the express permission and approval of, members and associates of certain organized crime families of La Cosa Nostra, who provided support and protection for the games and collected owed debts from the games in exchange for a portion of the illegal gambling proceeds,” according to the indictment.
The defendants were accused of cheating in part by using advanced wireless technologies that read the cards dealt in the poker game and relayed the information to the defendants so they could bet accordingly, according to the indictment.
This story was originally published October 23, 2025 at 3:56 PM.
