The Underworld Podcast – Thanksgiving Special: "Mafia NBA Gambling Rings & The Louvre Robbery"

Released: November 25, 2025 | Hosts: Danny Gold (A) & Sean Williams (B)

Episode Overview

In this special Thanksgiving edition, reporters Danny Gold and Sean Williams dive into recent headline-making stories from the global underworld: the audacious Louvre heist in Paris and explosive NBA/MLB gambling scandals involving organized crime syndicates and pro athletes. Delivered in the podcast’s signature blend of journalistic rigor and cracking banter, the episode peels back the curtain on high-value art thefts, mafia-run poker scams, and the tangled web of sports corruption. The hosts also offer speculation, sprinkle in historical context, and riff on the absurdity and implications of these criminal escapades.

Key Segment Breakdown

1. The Louvre Heist: Paris' Crown Jewels Stolen

[03:46–17:39]

Crime Recap & Method

• Date & Target: October 19, 2025 – A team hits the Louvre’s "Galerie d’Apollon," seizing nine pieces from the French crown jewels, valued over $100 million.
• Execution: Perpetrators in high-visibility vests use a furniture lift to access a balcony, break in with disc cutters, threaten staff with power tools, smash display cases, and escape on high-speed Yamaha T-Max scooters along the Seine. The job is pulled off in only 8 minutes.
  • "These guys hop onto the balcony and use disc cutters to break into a window...then they seize nine pieces...smashing into display cases...The haul includes tiaras, necklaces, and earrings worth over $100 million." — Sean [05:47]

The Market for Stolen Treasure

• Hosts speculate about the possible buyers—Russian oligarchs, Middle Eastern royals—but highlight the challenges of moving such recognizable artifacts.
  • "Who is buying this? Is it Russian oligarchs? Sheikh? ...Are you going to risk doing this if you're not already contracted to sell it?" — Danny [06:54]

Investigation & Aftermath

• Arrests: Two suspects, a French-Algerian and a social media "motocross influencer" (nicknamed Doo Doo Cross), are caught within a week—but are described as amateurs.
  • "They appear to be relative amateurs...these are not the Pink Panthers or some Balkan pros." — Danny [12:41]
• Amateur Hour: The group dropped a literal crown during the getaway. The hosts suggest the arrested duo might be "fall guys" for a bigger operation.
  • "It makes it seem like these are fall guys...it does seem like a pretty big hit for a couple of amateurs." — Danny [13:43]
• Security Laxity: The Louvre’s only camera was pointed away from the crime scene, and their surveillance password was reportedly "Louvre."
• Missing Loot: No trace of the jewels since the arrests; French authorities remain hopeful but are clearly embarrassed.

Historical Touchstones

• Brief retelling of the famous 1911 Mona Lisa heist and the Louvre’s evacuation before Nazi occupation.
  • "He hid overnight on a Sunday in a broom closet. Then the next morning, he walked out with the Mona Lisa under his arm..." — Sean [16:00]

Notable Quotes

• "Do not ride the same bike you do crimes with on social media." — Sean [11:49]
• "France gets 60, then 100 people on this case. You do not go after a European country's shiny stuff…" — Sean [09:58]

Timestamps

• 03:46 – Sean introduces the Louvre robbery
• 05:47 – Step-by-step on the heist’s execution
• 07:20 – Speculation about black market buyers
• 12:41 – Suspects' amateur status
• 13:43 – "Fall guys" theory
• 15:56 – Historical Louvre heists

2. NBA & MLB Gambling Rings: The Mob Never Left

[18:08–54:22]

The Big Picture

• Recent Indictments: Sweeping charges dropped October 23, 2025 – 34 people (across the NBA and MLB) arrested for mob-connected betting scams, point shaving, injury tip-offs, and poker cheating.
  • "34 people arrested, we got mafiosos involved, illegal sports betting, point shaving, injury tip-offs, inside information..." — Danny [18:08]

How the Rackets Work

• Prop Bets/Spot Betting: Focus on granular player stats, making games easy to fix by individuals (points, rebounds, injury withdrawals).
  • "Things that a single person, if on the take, can pretty much ensure happen..." — Danny [24:07]

Mob Poker Games

• Four of New York’s "Five Families"—Lucchese, Genovese, Gambino, Bonanno—ran high-stakes poker using celebrities (notably NBA ex-pros/coach Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones) as lures.
• Cheating via rigged card shufflers, x-ray trays, and marked cards with special contact lenses; over $7 million scammed.
  • "The orchestrators also used electronic poker chip trays that could secretly read cards...and playing cards with markers visible only to players wearing...contact lenses." — Danny [29:08]
• Poker losses enforced with mob-style "juice loans," intimidation, and violence; notable figures include "Fat Nick" Minucci (notorious for a racist hate crime in NYC), "Brooklyn Joe," and "Vinny Slick."

Athlete Involvement in Scams

• NBA Standouts: Players and coaches like Terry Rozier and (alleged, not charged) Chauncey Billups tied to rigging prop bets and spilling injury info.
  • "Terry Rozier tells a childhood friend to bet all his unders because he's going to take himself out early with a supposed injury...the bets raked in thousands of dollars." — Danny [39:52]
• Chauncey Billups: Named as a "Face card" to attract whales, and implicated in both poker cheating and leaking inside info—but not formally charged.
  • "My man had a cumulative NBA salary that totaled over $106 million...he is doing this for the love of the game. And by game, I don’t mean basketball. I mean cheating suckers." — Danny [31:52]
• MLB: Players rigged pitch-specific bets; example cited of All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase, with conspiracy and fraud totaling $450,000.

Cultural & Systemic Context

• Cheating caught via gambling-site algorithms and unusually large/odd bets.
  • "The betting sites, they do math, man...Stuff gets too weird, they're gonna run snitching to the feds." — Danny [18:34]
• Hosts note how, despite law enforcement vigilance, some scams may go undetected—alongside rampant corruption abroad (e.g., in Kazakhstan football).

Notable Quotes

• "These mobsters don’t just want the crumbs; they want more. And they see an easy way to do that…they rig it like Looney Tunes-ass, back-of-a-magazine Inspector Gadget type things." — Danny [28:28]
• "This shows how weak the mob is now...their traditional revenue streams are down, so they're doing stuff like this." — Sean [32:54]
• "I think you should be allowed to defraud gaming apps…Because the house always wins…If they need to, they'll defraud you." — Danny [53:00]

Timestamps

• 18:08 – NBA/MLB gambling indictments intro
• 24:07 – How prop betting and spot fixing works
• 25:30 – Mob/mafia poker games explained
• 29:08 – Description of cheating devices
• 31:52 – Chauncey Billups implicated
• 39:52 – Terry Rozier's injury tip-off scam
• 46:45 – Difficulty of stamping out corruption
• 53:00 – Danny’s tongue-in-cheek hot take

3. Miscellaneous & Historical asides

• Historical Heists: Mona Lisa theft and Nazi-era art removals at the Louvre
• Banter & Digressions: Stories of missing passports, getting rides on Paris motorbikes, and mob lore in New York neighborhoods like Howard Beach.
• Meta-Commentary: On why the Underworld Podcast does “deeper dives,” sometimes weeks after the news has faded.
  • "That's why our audience is growing so massively. That and my refusal...to do episodes on the 'Biden crime family' or the Trump organization." — Danny [17:53]

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Attribution & Timestamps)

• "These guys hop onto the balcony and use disc cutters to break into a window of the gallery before they threaten staff with power tools." — Sean [05:47]
• "Do not ride the same bike you do crimes with on social media." — Sean [11:49]
• "It makes it seem like these are like fall guys. Like, maybe it’s proven that they were involved in the actual heist, but were they trained? ...Because it does seem like pretty big hit for a couple amateurs." — Danny [13:43]
• "Who is buying this? Is it Russian oligarchs? Sheikh? ... Are you going to risk doing this if you're not already contracted to sell it?" — Danny [06:54]
• "The orchestrators also used electronic poker chip trays that could secretly read cards on the table ... and playing cards with markers visible only to players wearing contact lenses." — Danny [29:08]
• "34 people arrested, we got mafiosos involved, illegal sports betting, point shaving, injury tip-offs, inside information..." — Danny [18:08]
• "My man had a cumulative NBA salary that totaled over $106 million...he is doing this for the love of the game. And by game, I don’t mean basketball. I mean scamming and cheating suckers." — Danny [31:52]
• "You make crazy enough bets on things like this, it will get flagged, almost guaranteed." — Danny [53:29]
• "This shows how weak the mob is now...their traditional revenue streams are down, so they're doing stuff like this." — Sean [32:54]
• "Because the house always wins. You play long enough, no matter what happens, the house always wins. And if they need to, they'll defraud you." — Danny [53:00]

Episode Tone & Takeaways

• Tone: Breezy, banter-filled, irreverent, but also incisive and credible; hosts relish in crime lore and take pleasure in pointing out the absurdities and patterns of organized crime.
• Style: Rich anecdotes mixed with researched context; American and British humor; plenty of inside references to crime reporting and pop culture.
• Big Ideas:
  • Heists and scams are evolving but still echo classic criminal traditions.
  • Even well-defended institutions and leagues are vulnerable to inside jobs.
  • The underworld is as much about ordinary criminals as it is about larger-than-life masterminds.

Suggested Listening Segments

• Louvre Heist Timeline & Suspects – [03:46–13:09]
• Inside the Mob Poker Cheating Operations – [25:30–32:54]
• Athlete-Linked Sports Betting Corruption – [37:07–41:25]
• Historical Art Heists & Cultural Commentary – [15:56–17:39]
• Mob Violence & Debt Collection Stories – [34:35–37:07]

Summary for New Listeners

This Thanksgiving special merges true crime investigation with tongue-in-cheek candor, giving you both a deep-dive and a wry, relatable angle on stories that bridge the worlds of world-class art, global mafias, gambling, and pro sports. Perfect if you want investigative detail threaded through with sharp, critical humor and insider insight you won’t find in the daily news cycle.