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Post by sergejean on Feb 7, 2006 15:10:46 GMT -5
...tsn... and rds
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Post by sergejean on Feb 7, 2006 15:12:48 GMT -5
...Tocchet is accused of financing a U.S. sports gambling ring in which about a half-dozen current NHL players placed bets,
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Post by CentreHice on Feb 8, 2006 1:30:38 GMT -5
Damage Control to Major Gary
Well, it's not gambling on hockey, so Tocchet says, it's a football thing.
Oh yeah....well, money laundering is implicated and that is very serious. It means something illegal is going on, tax evasion one of the biggest. Organized crime families?
I wonder who the dozen players involved are, as well as the coaches and management. Whose houses of cards are about to fall? Who isn't making enough money in this era of the NHL? Was the year off that much of a hit?
Reporters even asked Gretzky about his wife's alleged placing of bets. He just laughed and said, "Oh, really? I don't know. You'll have to ask her."
If these people are found guilty (and they're innocent until proven otherwise)....I have one question: How much money is enough money?
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Post by MC Habber on Feb 8, 2006 1:33:03 GMT -5
It's hard to believe Gretzky's wife would take the risk, given how much money they must have. But, I guess you could probably say that about the dozen players as well.
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Post by CentreHice on Feb 8, 2006 10:21:44 GMT -5
Tocchet's alleged partner, the New Jersey cop, has been suspended from duty as well.
This absolutely stinks. And if it's going on in the NHL....imagine the stuff that's going on in the other major league sports. Ah, it's been going on for years.
From the Black Sox scandal, to Pete Rose, to Jeremy Roenick, to.......and those are just the ones who got caught.
Tons of money + fame + power = absolute power which has the power to corrupt absolutely.
And they always have the best sharks, vultures, lawyers too, don't they....whose fees are paid for by the alleged laundered money.
And the circle goes 'round.......
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Post by Polarice on Feb 8, 2006 10:54:30 GMT -5
The owners or players who might have placed bets are not in any real trouble...unless they bet on Hockey...which I really doubt.
The only trouble they may face is failing to report income....if they actually won money.
Remember its not against the law to bet using a bookie...buts its illegal to be a bookie....make sense?
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Post by Habit on Feb 8, 2006 12:31:06 GMT -5
Let me get this right... the Penguins can try to receive money for gambling, but Tocchet cannot?
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Post by Forum Ghost on Feb 8, 2006 12:33:43 GMT -5
From the Black Sox scandal, to Pete Rose, to Jeremy Roenick, to.......and those are just the ones who got caught. What happened with JR? |
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Post by Habit on Feb 8, 2006 12:48:41 GMT -5
From the Black Sox scandal, to Pete Rose, to Jeremy Roenick, to.......and those are just the ones who got caught. What happened with JR? Him and Travis Green are mentioned as current NHLers in with Tocchet's sports betting ring. |
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Post by Skilly on Feb 8, 2006 21:57:17 GMT -5
Tocchet's alleged partner, the New Jersey cop, has been suspended from duty as well. This absolutely stinks. And if it's going on in the NHL....imagine the stuff that's going on in the other major league sports. Ah, it's been going on for years. From the Black Sox scandal, to Pete Rose, to Jeremy Roenick, to.......and those are just the ones who got caught. Tons of money + fame + power = absolute power which has the power to corrupt absolutely. And they always have the best sharks, vultures, lawyers too, don't they....whose fees are paid for by the alleged laundered money. And the circle goes 'round....... Here is a question for the board that I posed to my friends today. If it is determined that Janet Gretzky placed bets for Wayne do we re-evaluate his Hall of Fame induction and league wide jersey retirement? Black Sox - Shoeless Joe Jackson is still not in the hall of fame and his numbers were great in the 1919 World Series and his career numbers are worthy. Pete Rose - not in Hall of Fame and is arguably the best hitter of all time. Worse yet, what if Wayne told Janet to place bets with insider information that Wayne obtained from his close associates or the bets were on hockey? |
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Post by Skilly on Feb 8, 2006 21:59:53 GMT -5
Remember its not against the law to bet using a bookie...buts its illegal to be a bookie....make sense? Actually I believe some states outlaw all sports betting. But it is against the law to use bookies to launder money .... where did Janet's money come from? Mafia? Wayne's account? ahhhh all these unanswered conspiracy questions I have ...  |
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Post by sergejean on Feb 9, 2006 9:28:26 GMT -5
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Post by habernac on Feb 9, 2006 11:53:13 GMT -5
allegedly involved. I'll wait for the proof before I believe he's guilty of anything.
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Post by MC Habber on Feb 9, 2006 17:32:21 GMT -5
Please, don't let this touch the Great One
CAM COLE, Vancouver Sun
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Turin, Italy -Tell me you didn't cringe when you read it.
The New Jersey State Police's press release on Operation Slap Shot mentioned an illegal high-rollers gambling operation with connections to the mafia, and an investigation that could well drag down a National Hockey League coach, up to a dozen or more players ... and an owner.
Please, tell me it's not THAT owner.
Please tell me it's not the owner whose employee and close friend is Rick Tocchet, the Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach who is in deep trouble as the financier of the gambling ring, allegedly with a little help from the mob. Tell me it's not the owner whose wife, actress Janet Jones, has already been named by the cops as a major player. Please tell me that all those arrows pointing in one direction are pointing to the wrong guy.
Please tell me the legend who never put a foot down wrong, who stickhandled past every kind of trouble that so effortlessly seems to trip up merely mortal millionaire sports stars, isn't the one whose name the police have found in the betting slips.
Not Wayne Gretzky. Please. Not The Great One.
Can't you feel the chill, Canada? We wait for the names to come spilling out, as they surely will in the days ahead, wondering if the ones who've had brushes with gambling in the past - Jaromir Jagr, Keith Tkachuk, Jeremy Roenick - will be among them. But most of all, we wonder if the unthinkable could be true: if arguably the greatest hockey player of all could have slipped some money to his wife to add to her own wagers on games.
The best-case scenario, that none of the auxiliary players actually broke any laws, is still plenty sordid. Unless you believe that Wayne and Janet never talked about her wins and losses.
The worst-case scenario is so disillusioning, it is hard to write. The facts do not, at the moment, support these thoughts - at least, not all of them - but what if, among the wagers these big-name sports stars and minor celebrities made, were some on hockey games? What if Janet didn't use her own inside knowledge to make the bets? What if some of the info was in the form of pillow talk with her famous husband, who has friends in every major pro sport? What if money she gambled came from the family bank account?
If you read between the lines, you see how this is going to play out from Gretzky's end. It is the only way he can play it.
"Listen, first of all, my wife is my best friend, so my love for her is deeper than anything," he said the day the story broke. "The reality is, I'm not involved. I wasn't involved. I'm not going to be involved."
That sounds pretty unequivocal. Especially that last sentence. He knows there is nothing to be found that will implicate him. And yet, the news is sad. Some little piece of the goodness that has always seemed to surround The Great One has a smudge on it, for the moment.
The circumstantial evidence is disturbing, if far from conclusive. His wife. His good friend. His history of working for, or with, an assortment of owners ranging from the merely unsavoury to the outright crooked. That he has survived all of that, untarnished by them, speaks to his excellent instincts for doing the right thing.
But there is no doubting he fits the profile of the people the New Jersey police are investigating. Wealthy, celebrity, former hockey player, owner. And sadly, we all know that many of the biggest names in sports have gambled and lost, from Shoeless Joe Jackson to Paul Hornung to Gretzky's great good friend, Michael Jordan, whose habits extended from huge wagers on golf games to a propensity for casinos.
The higher the salary, the bigger the bets. Sports figures love the rush. The Edmonton Oilers loved to make golf bets that hurt, in Gretzky's playing days.
But there are no good people in gambling, only shades of crummy.
Which is why the NHL has language in its bylaws and conducts preseason lectures on the dangers. And specific wording forbidding betting on hockey games. So far, there is no hard evidence that Tocchet's crowd ever did that. But the Jersey police haven't ruled it out, either.
Their pictures are all over the news channels and the front pages now, Wayne and Janet. In happier times.
It's got to be killing the NHL. It's got to be killing Team Canada, whose arrival in Turin on Tuesday morning was going to be a triumphant one for the defending gold medallists. But now, the head of the delegation is going to be here, holding the bag for his wife and his buddy, Tocchet. There is no hiding, once Gretzky is on the ground in Italy. He's not involved, but his good name surely is.
Gambling, money laundering and conspiracy. Maybe racketeering, before it's all over. That's for Tocchet.
Even if none of it ends up touching The Great One, it will have come closer than we would ever have believed.
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Post by CentreHice on Feb 13, 2006 1:14:20 GMT -5
From the Black Sox scandal, to Pete Rose, to Jeremy Roenick, to.......and those are just the ones who got caught. What happened with JR? Roenick was involved with the same kind of thing back in 2004. From the Chicago Tribune, Feb. 8, 2006: In August 2004, law enforcement officials told the Philadelphia Inquirer that federal and local investigators in Florida found records that Roenick had paid $100,000 or more to a Florida sports-gambling operation that made millions by selling sports betting tips to gamblers. Roenick, in an interview then, acknowledged he had been a client of the firm but stopped betting after being advised to do so by Flyers general manager Bob Clarke in January 2004. And JR is alleged to have bet in the Tocchet ring as well. link: www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-0602080238feb08,1,5872631.story?coll=chi-sportsnew-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true |
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Post by CentreHice on Feb 13, 2006 1:27:12 GMT -5
To me, the only things Gretzky is guilty of are trying to protect his wife....and not informing the NHL brass that Tocchet was highly involved in a ring. Bettman was hung out to dry on this one.
But what are ya gonna do? Your former agent, Mike Barnett, who is now your GM, was placing bets in it too.
Prior knowledge, I think so. But you can't fault a guy for trying to protect his wife, even though she wasn't too concerned with his reputation.
But I don't think it gives hockey a bad name. It maintains the crime's bad name. Just a few weeds in the garden need pulling.
The only thing that could make this worse is if they were using inside information to bet on NHL games.
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Post by MC Habber on Feb 14, 2006 1:00:50 GMT -5
Last I heard, Gretzky was informed by NJ state police of Tocchet's involvement and the fact that his wife would be questioned. It was after that that a wiretap caught him discussing with Tocchet how to protect his wife. So it's not even clear that Gretzky had prior knowledge.
Bob McKenzie made the point that most of the arrows pointing at Gretzky are the result of leaks from the NJ state police, one of whom was arrested in connection with the ring. Could it be that they're trying to direct attention to Gretzky so that they don't have to answer questions about their own role?
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