This Piece Of Garbage!

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – "This Piece Of Garbage!"

Date: October 23, 2025
Podcast: Armstrong & Getty On Demand
Host: iHeartPodcasts (Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty)

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Overview

This episode dives into two breaking national stories:

1. The U.S. military's expansion of airstrikes targeting drug-smuggling vessels in the eastern Pacific, discussed amid concerns over civil liberties versus public safety.
2. A blockbuster multi-state NBA gambling and game-fixing scandal implicating members of organized crime, NBA players, and coaches. The show features real-time updates as details emerge, critiques of headline hype, and reflections on corruption, sports, and American culture.

Additional segments include lively commentary on animatronic dinosaurs up for sale, the chaos of New York's mayoral debate, and ongoing discussions on political polarization, communism, and leadership failures in public institutions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. US Airstrike on Drug Boats (00:50–05:08)

• The U.S. launched a deadly airstrike on a suspected drug boat in the eastern Pacific, part of an expanded anti-cartel strategy.
• Jack Armstrong expresses disinterest, mentioning that not every story deserves full outrage:

  "I only get worked up about certain things... this isn't what I'm getting worked up about." (01:30)

• Debate: Is this approach effective and justified, or is there cause for concern about possible overreach?
• Marco Rubio (clip) defends the strikes:

  "If people want to stop seeing drug boats blow up, stop sending drugs to the United States." (04:19)

• Jokes about safety for local fishermen and the dangers of misidentifying targets.

Notable quote:
"If you don't do it, we're going to lose hundreds of thousands of people. Even with all the jokes we've been making about fishermen, I wouldn't want to get into a boat and go fishing in that area, would you?" – Jack Armstrong (02:34)

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2. Explosive NBA Gambling and Game-Fixing Scandal (05:08–17:16 and 21:07–32:41)

Breaking Story Details

• Massive bust: 31 arrested, including NBA coach and player, in coordinated FBI raids—ties to multiple major mafia families.
• FBI Director Cash Patel:

  "Former, current NBA players and coaches... illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation... Not only did we crack into the fraud... we also... entered and executed a system of justice against la Casa Nostra to include the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families." (12:33)

• Charges: wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery, illegal gambling—"tens of millions of dollars" alleged fraud.
• Sports "rigging": Unclear early—were NBA games or only poker games involved?
  • Shows skepticism at ambiguous statements from law enforcement and news headlines.
  • Frequent real-time clarification as more facts come in.

Notable Quotes:

• "Is he purposefully saying rigged games to confuse people? When this is about poker games and not about NBA games?" – Jack Armstrong (16:00)
• "It's an offer you can't refuse." – Joe Getty, on mob pressure on athletes (23:19)

Analysis and Reaction

• Hosts question if headlines are overhyping NBA-specific involvement, noting most details point to poker but small evidence of NBA game manipulation.
• Reflection on how sports figures get entangled due to gambling addictions and mob pressure.
• Discussion of scheme mechanics: Proxies/straw bettors placed fraudulent sports bets, with "hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent bets" (22:31).
• The mechanism: Gambling debts leading to pressure to alter in-game performances (e.g., faking injuries, shaving points).

Memorable Moment:
“If you got yourself into that kind of gambling debt, you’re probably a gambling addict... you mostly lose when you gamble. I’ve never understood why people don’t get that... you’ll be in debt again and then you’ll have to miss another handful of free throws.” – Jack Armstrong (31:56)

Cultural and Sports Context

• Commentary on sports-related corruption historically tied to gambling and organized crime.
• Reflection that the mafia's longstanding influence in gambling remains, despite perceptions otherwise.
• Skepticism toward media and law enforcement messaging—motives matter when hyping scandal details.

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3. Animatronic Dinosaur Sales (06:24–10:30)

Light-hearted interlude:

• Field Station: Dinosaurs (NJ) is closing, selling giant animatronic dinosaurs at absurdly low prices.
• Jokes about how to sneak a 39-foot T-Rex onto your property, HOA rules, and keeping such purchases secret from your spouse.
• “The Velociraptor I could put in the living room, that’d be cool.” – Jack Armstrong (09:15)

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4. New York Mayoral Debate: A “Communist vs. Crook” Spectacle (23:45–29:50)

• Recap and audio highlights from the fiery New York City mayoral debate:
  • Candidates include a self-avowed communist, former Governor Andrew Cuomo ("the crook"), and perennial candidate Curtis Sliwa.
  • Debate described as "a medical checkup for the American people" by Joe Getty (10:40).
  • Sliwa’s vendetta against Cuomo takes center stage.
• “It's tough though, hearing it from a crook. A corrupt, womanizing woman secretary, touching, lying, shredding documents. I mean, he's just an awful human being.” – Jack Armstrong (26:06)
• Hosts lament the poor quality of political choices:
  “What is the matter with our political system that we keep belching up horrible candidates like this?” – Joe Getty (26:20)
• Discussion of rent control, communism, and the need for every generation to relearn foundational lessons about freedom and economics.
  • Reference to Charles C.W. Cook quote about the cyclical nature of failed ideas:

    "There is no such thing as a lost cause because there is no such thing as a gained cause..." (28:07, paraphrasing)

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5. Political Violence and Public Integrity (35:28–38:28)

• Discusses Virginia attorney general candidate J. Jones, who fantasized about violence against political opponents and has a reckless driving/criminal background.
• Exposé of ‘phony’ community service claims.
• Critique of the “community service racket.”
• “You got any friend… who's willing to sign your piece of paper that you volunteered over the weekend... It's a nothing.” – Jack Armstrong (38:06)
• Emphasizes the recurring problem of unaccountable, activist political figures.

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6. Policing, DEI, and the "Feminization" of America (38:28–41:13)

• Controversy over Cincinnati Police Chief’s management—claims of favoritism and DEI gone amok.
• Tying broader societal themes (gender in leadership, policing styles) to recent events.

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Additional Notable Quotes & Segments

• On the U.S. Drug Strike:
  "Trump explaining, blasting people, perhaps fishermen, perhaps drug dealers, who knows? Out of the water…" – Jack Armstrong (02:06)
• On the media's role:
  "Well, but did, did, did Cash Patel make it a little fudgy on purpose to make it more exciting?" – Jack Armstrong (19:22)
• On crowd-driven debates:
  "We’ve been saying this for years. You got to get rid of crowds in debates… it’s entertainment. It’s a TV show." – Jack Armstrong (27:14)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• US Airstrikes on Drug Boats: 00:50–05:08
• NBA Gambling Scandal Coverage: 05:08–17:16, 21:07–32:41
• Animatronic Dinosaurs Segment: 06:24–10:30
• New York Mayoral Debate Recap: 23:45–29:50
• Political Violence/J. Jones Story: 35:28–38:28
• Cincinnati Police Chief Investigation: 38:28–41:13

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Tone and Delivery

• Candid, irreverent, quick-witted, skeptical—trademark Armstrong & Getty style.
• Frequent digressions into pop culture, with recurring movie references (Godfather, Pulp Fiction).
• Mix of genuine concern for public good and humor at the absurdities of politics and media.

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For Listeners

If you missed the episode:

• You’ll learn how law enforcement, gambling, and sports scandals intersect—with real-time fact checking on hype versus substance.
• You’ll get front-row commentary on the state of American democracy, the shifting sands of political memory, and the persistence of the “crook vs. commie” dynamic in public life.
• And, for levity, you’ll know where to buy a giant plastic T-Rex (if you dare ask your spouse).

Highlights: It’s a quintessential Armstrong & Getty ride through serious news, skepticism, and satire—all in a single episode.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an Iheart podcast.

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[Joe Getty]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center.

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Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty for the first time. The U.S. launching a deadly airstrike on a suspected drug boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean of Central America. A major expansion of President Trump's war on the cartels. Secretary Pete Hexseth saying the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling as part of a designated terrorist organization, but did not provide evidence. He added that two people were killed. This newest strike targeting the eastern Pacific, it's where roughly 70% of all the cocaine that enters the US is smuggled.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's interesting. That was a fact from ABC News that 70% of the drugs entering the United States coming from that little area there. So that's a lot of it. I don't have strong opinions on this particular topic. This show, for better or worse, or at least for me, for better or worse. I only get worked up about certain things. I don't get worked up about every story that comes along. And this isn't what I'm getting worked up about. But I, some of my actual conservative or libertarian friends are very concerned about this.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I get that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I get it too. Just, you know, you can only get, for me anyway. I can only really emotionally get involved in so many different stories. Here's Trump explaining, blasting people, perhaps fishermen, perhaps drug dealers, who knows? Out of the water. When you look at the people we're.

[Joe Getty]

Dealing with and we know them, we.

[Jack Armstrong]

Know the people coming in, we know the boats, we know everything else. We're allowed, allowed to do it. It's in international waters. If we don't do it, we're going to lose hundreds of thousands of people. I gotta believe that for real. Even with all the jokes we've been making about fishermen. I wouldn't want to get into a boat and go out fishing in that area, would you?

[Joe Getty]

Well, I would not do it in a super powered, what do they call them, cigarette boat, those, those super high powered speed boats. I'd make mine look good and fishingy, you know, got a bunch of poles sticking out, got the cabin.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you got the worms here. This is where the worms. This isn't fentanyls worms.

[Joe Getty]

Right. And, and you know, give the, give the boat a name like the Heidi Ho3 or something like that, an innocent, fun loving name. Because all these boats look the same. They're super high powered speedboats. They do both zooming across the Caribbean or in this case. And the news was making a big the Trump's controversial practices have now expanded to the eastern Pacific. You know, I don't think the name of the body on the, of water on the map is really that significant a wrinkle.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. It's how sure we are who this is and, you know, what's the, what's the process for determining?

[Joe Getty]

Right. Well, yeah, in short, drug routes from south and Central America to the US Some are going to be on that side of the Panama isthmus, some are going to be on the other. All right, David Muir, calm down.

[Jack Armstrong]

Excellent use of the word isthmus.

[Joe Getty]

Thank you.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which doesn't make it onto the show enough. So Marco Rubio is what it is. Ms. Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, was there in the Oval Office and was asked about this and stood up for our current policy.

[Marco Rubio]

Well, I mean, the question is, bottom line, these are drug boats. If people want to stop seeing drug boats blow up, stop sending drugs to the United States.

[Joe Getty]

But does it matter if it's in the United States?

[Marco Rubio]

Well, these are all in international waters.

[Joe Getty]

The boat strike in the States or if northern.

[Marco Rubio]

Well, that's a different matter. You're talking about a law enforcement matter. In this particular case, there are people traveling on international waters headed towards the United States with hostilities in mind, which includes flooding our country with dangerous, deadly drugs. And they're going to be stopped. And that's what's happening. And in the case last week, you saw there was a submarine. It was a submarine, it was a submersible. That's a drug boat all the way through. We know what these boats are. The president just said it. We tracked them from the very beginning. We know who's on them, who they are, where they're coming from, what they have on them. And you know, if you're running drug boats, you're in, you're in grave danger.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hope that's true. I hope we know who's on them. We know them. They're drug boats.

[Joe Getty]

I hope it's as thorough as they're Presenting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. You don't want to get blown up. Don't. Don't drive a drug boat through that area. That's. That's his advice. So we're following a big breaking news story today with the NBA season starting, what, two days ago. 31 people arrested, including a head coach and current player, at least one in a gambling scandal. So the FBI is going to have a big press conference today, and we'll find out more about what was going on there. But like Joe said, this could be one of the biggest sports gambling stories ever.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, it absolutely could be. Yeah, yeah. Now you're working that desk. I'm not really following it, but have they even leaked? Is that the end of the list of players and coaches? Or are among the 31 arrested? Are there more NBA figures? Are they all just mobsters and gamblers?

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know. My guess would be that those are the two big names and the rest of them will be people you never heard of. A coach and a player, but an actual head coach arrested, though, in one of the major sports leagues.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. Yeah. Crazy. Crazy. I wonder what he was doing. You know, I could do the dinosaurs now if you want. I just came across.

[Jack Armstrong]

So they don't bounce.

[Joe Getty]

No, no. I tell you what, though. If I'm an NBA GM and I've got some, like, some guy I paid a zillion dollars to a few years ago, and he's gotten fat and lazy and ineffective, man, I'm planting evidence. I'm planting evidence in that guy's locker.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or something to get him out of there. That's a funny idea.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. Plus, you can't make me pay the guy's salary. If he's a damn gambler. I won't have it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

Shocked. Shocked, I say. Uh, anyway, all right, here it is, guys. This is just for you. And, And I tell you what. And. And women, if you are among the people who think, oh, my God, that's so cool, well, then you get an honorary guy card and welcome to the club. All right, here's the story. In New Jersey For 14 years, you have one of these quasi educational, quasi entertainment, stop your car with the kids places called field dinosaurs, which among their. Their. Their attractions were a bunch of big, giant animatronic dinosaurs.

[Jack Armstrong]

I've stopped it. I've stopped that with my kids or my parents stopped at these sorts of things many, many times in my life.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, there's one in Arizona we used to stop with. Stop at with the kids whenever we'd go see My mom and dad for years. Oh, it was so good. I, I enjoyed it as much as they did. But so anyway, this field station dinosaurs shut down in November and some employee said, hey, I bet we could sell these dinosaurs just to cover some of the costs and stuff like that. And so the general manager said, yeah, okay, I suppose we could try it. And they put it online but put absurdly low prices. Like the T. Rex, which is 39ft tall, was priced at $2,700.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, how to bought that?

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, please put it in the back end. And this guy who's got a rural home in Connecticut, sits along a busy road, farms and farm stands. And he thought, wow, that'd be great. I'm going to put that on my land. He says, quote My wife thought it was absolutely the worst idea in the world. But once word got out, it's gone viral and now they're getting all sorts of crazy offers. Although as the GM says, everybody wants the T. Rex or the Triceratops. Although one guy bought a six foot Velociraptor because he thought, yeah, it's six and a half feet. He thinks, yeah, I could fit that on a flatbed truck. Quote anything larger would be a logistical nightmare. Getting involving hiring a private shipper. That's just too much effort. He said, too much effort for a gigantic T. Rex on your lawn. You're out of the bidding. You don't deserve that T. Rex, sir.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, the velociraptor I could put in the living room, that'd be cool.

[Joe Getty]

39 foot tall T. Rex 4 stories high.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know what, I don't know what rules might be in your neighborhood that allow you to have that or not.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know, I gotta check with my hoa. I live in one of those places. But yeah, the Triceratops is really attractive. Although the Stegosaurus also very attractive. Here's one guy wanted to buy the stegosaurus 30ft long. It's only 1260 bucks.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Man, if I had land I would, seriously, I would, I couldn't. But again, I couldn't tell my wife. It would just have to show up one day. Honey, there's a truck outside.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh really?

[Joe Getty]

That's weird.

[Jack Armstrong]

What's with the T. Rex? What T. Rex?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, that one. Oh, I was gonna mention that. Yeah, I bought a 40 foot tall T. Rex.

[Joe Getty]

You remember the other night when I stayed up a little late drinking scotch and watching concert videos? Well, any. Oh boy. So we can put a link to this. I'm not sure. Are there any for sale? Now I'm not sure if they're all sold out but oh, 40 foot dinosaur please.

[Jack Armstrong]

So there was a second I believe in last debate last night for the New York mayoral race, which in general, I don't care about New York's local politics, but you got a communist running against a crook.

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, this is a serious like medical checkup for the American people.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I got pretty got pretty fiery last night. We've got the highlights of that debate, among other things on the way. Stay here.

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[Cash Patel]

Know, individuals such as Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones and Terry Rozier were taken into custody today. Former current NBA players and coaches what you don't know is that this is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years. The FBI led a coordinated takedown across 11 states to arrest over 30 individuals today responsible for this case which is very much ongoing. Not only did we crack into the fraud that these perpetrators committed on the grand stage of the NBA. But we also entered and executed a system of justice against la Casa Nostra to include the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, so this includes some of the biggest crime families in American history. That's Cash Patel, FBI director just moments ago with his press conference as 31 people have been arrested involving an NBA gambling. He said their fixing scandal, didn't he? Did he use the word fixing?

[Joe Getty]

I don't recall something that the, the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Game that involved games though. Rigging. He used the word rigging. Sports rigging. Fair enough.

[Joe Getty]

So yeah, one story.

[Jack Armstrong]

So, because I had been reading the New York Times version of it and this is all just coming out and it sounded like a lot of poker and gambling and I thought okay, is this not going to be as big a deal? But no. Rigging poker games, okay, Rigging poker games is different than rigging NBA games. You got to figure out why are we rigging poker games or rigging NBA games here? Those are different things. Anyway, here's more from Cash Patel.

[Cash Patel]

The charges and the arrests that were taken down across this country range from wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery, illegal gambling. And the fraud is mind boggling. It's not hundreds of dollars, it's not thousands of dollars, it's not tens of thousands of dollars, it's not even millions of dollars. We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi year investigation.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, so wait a second. You, you tell me, Joe. Sure enough, is this a deal where because you know Michael Jordan famous, like big time gambler, Charles Barkley famous big time gambler, like have gambling problems, they spend crazy amounts of money. Is this just about some sort of illegal poker games that they were rigging that happened to be sports players? And does it really have anything to do with NBA games?

[Joe Getty]

They happen to be rich guys who were somehow involved, but they're the. Excuse me, the wording is very vague.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is that on purpose to make this seem like it's attached to the NBA? So far it seems to me like the only attachment is you got rich NBA players involved in some illegal gambling, but it's not got anything to do with the league.

[Joe Getty]

Let's see the case which involves at least two criminal schemes according to people with knowledge of the matter. Some people participated in both schemes. According to a person with knowledge of the matter. One involved illegal poker games that were set up by organized crime families and also involved at least one NBA coach and former player in the league. According to three law Enforcement officials. The case is expected to involve more than two dozen people, I think. What's the other aspect of it?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, let me.

[Joe Getty]

Was the one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let me say this, and then you can tell me if I'm right or not. Cash Patel is. Got a reputation of a bit of a. Like. Likes to get headlines and, you know, put on a bit of a show, get a lot of attention. Is he purposefully saying rigged games to confuse people? When this is about poker games and not about NBA games?

[Joe Getty]

Okay, I'm getting live updates. The indictments charged two different schemes. One, a sports betting conspiracy that exploited confidential information.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, there you go.

[Joe Getty]

And the other, the nationwide scheme to rig poker games.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, the poker games thing is kind of interesting, but not a. Whatever. But if it. You know, you get into the actual sports that people bet on by the billions of dollars, and some of them were fixed this way or that. That's. That's a major. That's a major story, right?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, it's both.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Huh. And how about those? You know, if you're into mafia stories, you know, those names? Those are the big mafia families.

[Joe Getty]

I didn't think they were up to much these days. Although.

[Jack Armstrong]

Rigging NBA games.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, Allegedly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Huh. This is exciting.

[Joe Getty]

I see my brother from the old country sitting in the gallery, so I'll not be testifying on the show. Sorry, I got nothing to say.

[Jack Armstrong]

You have to be a fan of the Godfather to enjoy that. What was I gonna say? I was gonna say something.

[Joe Getty]

If you're not, watch it again.

[Jack Armstrong]

The NBA and the gambling and. I don't know, I had some point to make about that.

[Joe Getty]

All right, well, there will be time. There will be time. The head coach is done.

[Jack Armstrong]

The head coach is done. As a coach.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Of course he is.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Sorry, Portland, you got junkies on the streets and crooks running your basketball team. It's a shame. Anyway, a couple of things I'm excited to talk about. A think tank, a good one, has re ranked universities and colleges and rank them on free speech, the school's approach to politics on campus, how well students do after graduation, whether they've exhibited some sort of pluralism among faculty. In short, do they behave like a university supposed to behave, or do they behave like an indoctrination factory for progressive thought? And the top 10 are out at least. And it's. It's not the usual suspect if you want your kid, or you're just concerned about this in general, but if you want your kid to go to university where they're. They'll actually be challenged and learn. Got the list for you coming up.

[Jack Armstrong]

Cool. And then we're going to get the highlights of the debate last night between the communist and the crook. So that's fun. The they got a little spicy. So I'm looking at cnn. Their headline up there is Historic Arrest. This is in quotes. Historic arrest over years of sports rigging. Okay, you got to be more specific about the sports rigging. Are you talking about the sport of gambling or the sport of national the basketball in the National Basketball Association.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. It's not clear to me where the one ends and the other one starts.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I just wonder if they're being fudgy on this in purpose because it's more exciting if it's NBA games than if it's.

[Joe Getty]

We're talking about cnn, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, but did, did, did Cash Patel make it a little fudgy on purpose to make it more exciting?

[Joe Getty]

I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Make it clear to us, please.

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

First of all, we're trying to wrap.

[Jack Armstrong]

Our heads around exactly what's happening with this giant NBA gambling scandal, Is it mostly poker games? That's what all the headlines seem to be. And that's the main thing they're talking about in their press conference. There's these rigged Poker games spanning 11 states and all the crime families and NBA players, coaches and people that are involved in them. They're not talk giving any details on anything about games as of yet. N B A games, just poker games. So I don't know what's going on there. I guess we'll find out when we find out.

[Joe Getty]

New York Times is definitely talking about game scandals, game fixing scandals too.

[Jack Armstrong]

But they didn't, they certainly didn't lead with that. And they haven't given any details whatsoever.

[Joe Getty]

If that were the bulk of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

You would lead with that. We have evidence that in an NBA game they shaved points or pulled a player or whatever, and they got. It's all. It's been going on for a half an hour now. And it's like 99. It's Operation Royal Flush, which is the name of the sting, which would lead you to believe it's mostly poker. It's not Operation, you know, miss that free throw on purpose. It's Operation Royal Flush. So I don't know, we'll see. 31 people arrested, though, that's something.

[Joe Getty]

The attorney for the Eastern District New York said that the sports betting scheme involved hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent bets involving network of proxies or straw betters. Most of the allegedly fraudulent bets were successful. Okay, we'll. We'll update you as updates come. But that's hundreds of thousands of dollars. They're talking about tens of millions of dollars.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, total.

[Joe Getty]

So we'll see.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you know when people regularly decide to cross that line, Historically, in terms of cheating in sports, it's when they've gotten themselves into gambling debt, they've gotten themselves into a real problem. It's what you throw a fight or whatever. It's because you got your gambling on other things and you got yourself in such a bad situation that you cross that line and are willing to do something.

[Joe Getty]

Well, the mobsters come to you and say, you're never gonna pay us off. So here's an idea how you can get square and you have to take it. It's an offer you can't refuse.

[Jack Armstrong]

Look, Butch, I need you to go down in the third. That sting you feel is pride. You gotta fight. That s right. That's from Pulp Fiction.

[Joe Getty]

Second classic movie reference of the hour.

[Jack Armstrong]

So they had another debate last night in New York with the communist. The Crook and then that other dude, which you'll hear from all three of them. And these are some of the highlights from the debate.

[Joe Getty]

My opponents, who spend more time trying to convince the other to drop out than actually proposing their own policies, will speak only of the past because that's all that they know. I am the sole candidate running with a vision for the future of this city.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Zoran is a great actor. He missed his calling. Since I left, homeless rate has more than doubled. When I left, the vacancy rate on housing was. Was 4.5%. It's now 1%. This man never even proposed the bill. Andrew, you didn't leave.

[Joe Getty]

You fled from being impeached by the Democrats in the state legislature.

[Jack Armstrong]

Leave.

[Joe Getty]

You fled.

[Jack Armstrong]

So that's funny. So that's Curtis Sliwa guy who we met at a couple of different things anyway, but he's. He runs for mayor every single election and, and gets on the stage and everything like that. He hates Andrew Cuomo so much in the Cuomo family because he's been in politics in New York City and state for his whole life. He hates the Cuomo family so much, he spends all his time trying to take down the guy who ain't gonna win instead of the guy that's gonna win, the communist. But that is.

[Joe Getty]

And he'll let the communist win if he can damage Cuomo. And in Curtis Lee was defense. He was a hero in New York for a long time. Got shot. The mob. Hello. Tried to murder him. Shot him I think five times or something like that in a cab. And he doesn't appreciate the mobbed up Cuomo allegedly, according to some sort.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's pretty funny, Cuomo saying, when I left, we had. Whatever percent you left, you had to resign because you're about to be put in prison. That is a pretty funny thing to say. Let's hear a little more.

[Joe Getty]

I will be the mayor who doesn't just protect Jewish New Yorkers, but also celebrates and cherishes them.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Not everything is a TikTok video. You're the savior of the Jewish people. You won't denounce, globalize the intifada, which means kill Jews. You have never had a job. You've never accomplished anything. There's no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for eight and a half million lives.

[Joe Getty]

That's a good shot. Yeah, it's a damn commie.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's tough though, hearing it from a crook. A corrupt, womanizing woman secretary, touching, lying, shredding documents. I mean, he's just an awful human being.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I Mean, it's the pot calling the kettle black. It sits. It's terrible. Terrible. What is the matter with our political system that we keep belching up horrible candidates like this?

[Jack Armstrong]

It is amazing. A little more.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Freeze the rent. Sounds great. Yeah. It affects about 25% of the number of housing units in the city of New York. It's not a new ide. Doesn't have the power to do it anyway. The Rent Guidelines Board does. And he doesn't control the Rent Guidelines Board. So nothing is going to happen. It's all this. It's just more political blather.

[Joe Getty]

I heard the both of them again, fighting like kids in the schoolyard. Zoran, your resume could fit on a cocktail napkin. And Andrew, your failures could fill a.

[Guest or Additional Host]

Public school library in New York City.

[Jack Armstrong]

They got to. We've been saying this for years. You got to get rid of crowds and debates. Just what are we doing? What are we doing? What?

[Joe Getty]

Entertainment.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's entertainment. It's a TV show.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, Speaking of Communists. What.

[Jack Armstrong]

What do you got?

[Joe Getty]

This is kind of related.

[Jack Armstrong]

The communist is going to win. He's still going to win.

[Joe Getty]

Zor Ron Mandani. All right. I came across this email from Charles C.W. cook at the National Review entitled, apparently we still need to explain why Communism is Wrong. And. And this is actually. I think it's a plea to subscribe or something like that, but it's very good. I love this. I don't think I've heard this before. Charles writes, I have Long agreed with T.S. eliot that, quote, there is no such thing as a lost cause because there is no such thing as a gained cause. The point being, because human nature does not fundamentally change over time, it's incumbent upon every generation to learn anew the eternal lessons. Because it'll go away. The good stuff will go away. As Reagan put it famously, we're no more than a generation or two away from losing our liberty. We've got to teach our children how precious it is. And he says I. He's. He's long believed that, but still, he writes, I must confess to having been a little shocked of late by how many topics remain open for debate. I had not, for example, expected to see the flourishing of antisemitism that has stained the United States, Britain and beyond since the attack of October 7th. I did not consider it likely that New York City would consider electing a Communist as its mayor. And I had not anticipated that the sensible and effective reforms that were ushered in by President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher would be at risk of being replaced quite this soon. I had not, in other words, expected these battles to return to test us once more on so compressed a timetable. So true. It's a little tiring, honestly. It's like. And Cuomo the crook could have done a better job of explaining why rent control is such a miserable failure. But it's funny, as you attain a certain age, you're like, wait a minute, people are running this up the flagpole again? Yeah, it's completely discredited over and over again, but you got to do it again. It's like doing the laundry or. Or, you know, washing your car. You don't just do it once. It's a periodic thing explaining why communism sucks.

[Jack Armstrong]

Before we take a break, the press conference in the big FBI is arrested. 31 people in this gambling thing. This headline from the NYPD just came across. Players altered their performances in scheme. So that is part of it. So they altered their performance in a game in the scheme. The way I'm taking this in, because this is going on while we're on the air, I think from a legal standpoint, it's mostly an illegal gambling thing that the big crime families were running from an entertainment interest to US Standpoint, it's a. Some of the players got themselves into trouble gambling, and they got forced into altering their performances to pay off gambling. That seems to be like a minor part of. I mean, it's a big part of the. Of an NBA story, but it's a minor part of this big bust because it's tens of millions of dollars in the. The crime family gambling stuff and poker games and everything like that, because they were cheating people all across the country.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

But some NBA players got caught up in it. And so that, you know, is kind of interesting.

[Joe Getty]

What was the name of the former mobster? Michael Francisi. What was his name? He. He became really well known 10, 15 years ago when he left the mob. He got out of prison and he went on speaking tours, especially to colleges, to explain to college athletes how the whole gambling thing works. And one of the major components of it, as Jack has pointed out, is you have a player likes to gamble. Not on his own sport. Maybe it's poker, for instance, gets into serious gambling debt. Only way to pay it off is they make you an offer you can't refuse. You gotta shave some points or do something like that, and they tell you, look, you just do it twice, and the. The slate is wiped clean. You do it twice, they've got you even more than they did before. They come to you and say, yeah, we need you to do it a third time. What are you gonna say no? I'm standing on principle. They're gonna say no. We'll just turn over rock solid evidence that you've shaved points to the league and your career is over. Or you can just intentionally miss a couple of free throws tonight.

[Jack Armstrong]

Plus, if you got yourself into that kind of gambling debt, you're probably a gambling addict. So you're continuing to gamble and lose because you mostly lose when you gamble. I've never understood why people don't get that you mostly lose. So if you keep gambling, you are going to lose and then you'll be in debt again and then you'll have to miss another handful of free throws. I'll be interesting to see what players, what games. People will go back and look at them. Okay, I wondered about that game, you know, two, two Novembers ago on when they played the Lakers. And you know what?

[Joe Getty]

Sure, sure, he's an 84 free throw shooter, but oh, he misses both of them.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that'll be fun to watch. We got a lot more on the way. I hope you can stay here.

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[Joe Getty]

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[Joe Getty]

Well Guys, everyone's having fun with the 67 trend. That's everywhere right now. It looks like even news anchors are starting to get in on the action.

[Cash Patel]

Watch this.

[Commercial Announcer]

You know, all the kids are doing.

[Joe Getty]

The 6 7, 6, 7, 6 7, 6 7, 6 7-6, 7, 6, 7, 6, 7, six, seven. I still don't understand. And it's over.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay.

[Cash Patel]

That was.

[Joe Getty]

That was more depressing than the actual news.

[Jack Armstrong]

I watched this video yesterday about the end of pop culture, or the end of culture maybe in general in the United states. This whole 67 thing would fit into it and shared experiences to talk about that later. It's really an interesting thought.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, okay. Yeah, I like it. Here's your headline of the day. How French is this Surveillance camera pointed the wrong way allowed Lou Heist. Way to go, France. You remember when you mattered?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, you're supposed to have it pointed toward the window. Oh, okay.

[Joe Getty]

Hey, I wanted to update this because this story matters much more than the race for attorney general in Virginia. This J. Jones piece of garbage who openly fantasized about murdering the Republicans and their children dying in their arms. And then when he's called on it, he didn't say, look, I was outta control, I had a couple of drinks, I was joking. No, he said, I'm serious, you have to cause people physical pain before they change their policies. This guy is a pro political violence monster. One part of the story that we hadn't really thrown in, I hadn't thrown in just for the length of, you know, time, you know, the amount of time we're going to spend on it is his whole drunk driving conviction story.

[Jack Armstrong]

I didn't know that one.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, yeah. This is part of his history. He was convicted of reckless driving after being pulled over driving 116 miles per hour in a 70 mile per hour zone in 2022. Okay. He was ordered to pay a 1500 dollar fine and serve a thousand hours of community service. Now, I knew the first part of this.

[Jack Armstrong]

God, you got drunk and drove 120 miles an hour. That is awful.

[Joe Getty]

Reckless driving. I don't think he was drunk.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, okay.

[Joe Getty]

Anyway, so. So the New Kent county, that's the county general district court received signed certificates of completion in 2024 attesting that Jones had served 500 of those community service hours for his own political action committee and then 500 of the other ones for the Virginia chapter of the naacp. Okay. Which is an activist leftist organization at this point and would be more than happy to sign the paperwork even though he never darkened their doorway. I'M sure, but. So the reckless driving case has come under scrutiny after the Richmond Times Dispatch exposed the conviction earlier this month, disrupting the guy's campaign for attorney general. And now a judge has said, hey, we're going to appoint a special prosecutor to look into this, because while this guy was allegedly doing 10 hours a week for two different organizations, he was also working full time at his law firm and traveling the state for the Democratic Party doing politics stuff. In essence, it was completely phony. He did not do any of his community service. And there's a special prosecutor now appointed.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's one of the big.

[Joe Getty]

Desperately, this guy loses.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's one of the big problems, the whole community service racket. Anyway. I personally have known people. You don't have to be very connected to anything at all to get out of community service. You got any friend who's, like, on your side who's willing to sign your piece of paper that you volunteered over the weekend to feed, whatever, and it's taken care of. It's. It's a nothing.

[Joe Getty]

Right, Right. It's more an intelligence test than a. Practically a demand for time. Yeah. Or more appropriately, a test of how connected you are. So maybe tomorrow. This is two notes on the same topic. Maybe tomorrow we'll get to a great email questioning our discussion of the great feminization for the other day. And we did it this hour, so I kind of want to do the reply this hour. Really good, smart email questioning some of the premises that I want to deal with. But on a related note, the Cincinnati police chief who was in charge until very briefly and dealt with that viral downtown brawl video.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hate that.

[Joe Getty]

Where the gang of black folks were beating and kicking and. And just destroying a white couple.

[Jack Armstrong]

Particularly that woman, the way she goes down like a sack of flour and starts getting kicked. That's just horrible.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, it's horrible. Yeah. Cincinnati Police Chief Terry Thitga has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into her leadership. A lot of this stems from how she handled the arrests and her now viral rant after the July attack in which she scolded media for taking the fight out of context.

[Marco Rubio]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

What's the context for that that could possibly make it okay?

[Joe Getty]

Well, and she was trying to make the argument that at some point during the fight, the white woman threw a punch, therefore was partly by trying to defend herself, was partly to blame for the incredible violence visited upon them. But also, at this point, there are multiple male white guys in the police force saying this woman gave minority lieutenants 79% desirable assignments. Female lieutenants got 89% desirable assignments and males white males got 44% preferred assignments, as they call them. She was a DEI affirmative action keep the white man down police chief and and a woman in charge of a police the number There are plenty of good lady cops out there, plenty of them. And some of them will probably be police chiefs and they deserve it because they kick ass. But the disproportionate number of fire chiefs and police chiefs, particularly in bluish areas because they're women, it's part of the whole feminization of America thing. And they run the department in a very different way than a lot of guys would. Anyway, so she's been placed on leave. The the city's investigating her various hijinks.

[Jack Armstrong]

So an hour three we'll get back into this big NBA gambling bust that's going on. The FBA arrested 31 people, including a head coach and a player, among others. This player at least once faked an injury to leave a game as part of his rigging things, probably to try to pay off gambling debts. It's it's a quite the scandal. We'll have more that in hour three. If you missed a segment, get the Podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand.

[Commercial Announcer]

Armstrong.

[Cash Patel]

And Gettysburg.

[Commercial Announcer]

In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming [e-mail] Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming and performance that won't quit. So you can push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high quality streaming with Intel Wi Fi 6e and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech Search Power [e-mail].

[Joe Getty]

This.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is an iHeart podcast.