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Read Full BioA New York townhouse that is alleged to have hosted rigged poker games involving Mafia family members and former NBA players has been put up for sale.
The location at 80 Washington Place in Greenwich Village is named in the indictments against Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones. The 6-bed, 7-bathroom property has been listed for $24,900,000.
An undisclosed buyer paid $17 million for the property last year. Prior to that, it was owned by William Rainero, who grew up in the house and led its gut renovation. Rainero tried multiple times to sell the property from 2012 through to 2023. Seemingly in financial difficulty, he filed for bankruptcy in August 2023.
The $17 million it eventually sold for after 12 years on the market was almost half the original listed price of $31.5 million. During the time it was up for sale, rapper Travis Scott rented it while dating Kylie Jenner in 2021.
Mafia Families Hosted Illegal Poker Games at Townhouse
The timeline of when the poker games took place at the Washington Place townhouse remains unclear. The earliest noted rigged game was in April 2019, when Chauncey Billups participated in a game in Las Vegas.
Documents shared with CasinoBeats by the US District Attorney’s Office state Ammar Awawdeh and John Gallo “had been operating the Washington Place Game with the backing of the Gambino organized crime family, including defendants (Lee) Fama, (Joe) Lanni, and (Anthony) Ruggiero.”
“Defendant (Matthew) Daddino, a member of the Genovese organized crime family, also participated in the management of the 80 Washington Place Game.”
In November 2022, defendants Zhen Hu, Julius Ziliani, and Thomas Gelardo of the Bonanno crime family went to the house on Washington Place and assaulted an unnamed victim.
House Stormed as Rival Mob Families Clash
The document goes on to note that “In 2023, the Lexington Avenue Game and the Washington Place Game merged, and they operated jointly to conduct rigged games using technology supplied by defendants (Robert) Stroud and others.”
Stroud was ordered to remain under home detention after pleading not guilty in court on Thursday. Damon Jones, meanwhile, was released on bail. Several other defendants, including Billups and Terry Rozier, will enter pleas when they appear in court on November 24.
Despite an agreement to run the games together, it appears the Gambino and Bonanno crime families were soon involved in a feud. Awawdeh, an associate of the Gambinos, started his own competing poker game at the townhouse on the same night as the Lexington Avenue Game.
In response, on the night of October 11, 2023, Gelardo, Ziliani, and others of the Bonanno family stormed the house with weapons. Ziliani was armed with a gun, and Gelardo was armed with a baton.
They entered the house while a poker game was ongoing and assaulted Awawdeh. A brawl broke out, and Gelardo and Ziliani left the location.
Afterwards, Gelardo messaged Zhen Hu demanding that the group no longer associate with Awawdeh, Gallo (John), or Bruce (Osman Hoti).
Whether potential buyers are influenced by the events that have taken place at the house over the last few years remains to be seen. When asked if they thought the scandal would have an impact on the sale of the property, real estate agents did not immediately respond.
One description notes the house “was built in 1839 and was once owned by composer John Philip Sousa,” but does not mention that it also hosted Mafia-run poker games.
