How the mafia allegedly ran illegal poker games tied to the NBA gambling scandal

(CNN) - The mafia is at the center of two massive FBI probes into the recently announced gambling and sports rigging schemes.

The dual investigations are looking into allegations of insider information used to place bets on NBA games and rig underground poker games.

It’s a cheating scandal that rocked the NBA and at the core, involves members of New York City’s most notorious crime families.

“Bonanno, Gambino, Lucchese and Geonovese crime families,” New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

“Spook,” “Flappy,” “Juice” and “The Wrestler are just some of the nicknames of men allegedly tied to the scheme.

La Cosa Nostra is the nickname given to the Italian-American mob. Their lore dates back decades to when the families ran criminal enterprises in New York City often in competition with each other.

According to court paperwork, mob families teamed up and adopted new technology to rig poker games, allegedly taking nearly $2 million from a single victim.

“And when people refused to pay, these defendants did what organized crime has always done, they used threats, they used intimidation, and they used violence,” Tisch said.

As part of the investigation, authorities scanned thousands of hours of surveillance video to find the men, including one dubbed, “Big Bruce.”

Court documents show this group already ran illegal gambling operations backed by the Bonanno crime family when they got involved in the poker scheme.

Same goes for a defendant, who went by the name, “Flappy, who in text messaged confirmed his illegal ring was backed by the Gambino crime family.

“This alleged illegal gambling operation hustled unwitting victims out of tens of millions of dollars and created a financial pipeline for La Cosa Nostra to help fund and facilitate their organized criminal activity,” said Christopher Raia, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office.

Defendant Robert Stroud, referred to as “Black Rob,” allegedly supplied rigged shuffling machines to the operations and helped carry out a robbery to steal one.

Sal Piacente, President- UniverSal Game Protection: “That shuffle machine is altered to transmit to an earpiece to tell the people who are gonna win,” said Sal Piacenter, president of UniverSal Game Protection.

Federal prosecutors have asked that some of the dozens of defendants be detained on the new charges, citing their mob ties like Angelo Ruggiero Jr., a member of the Gambino family who allegedly boasted in prison about being tight with former boss John Gotti Sr. and that “he had shot a man in the chest.”

Some defendants have entered not guilt pleas and in some cases, have even posted bail.