Donaghy said he profited around $100,000 during 4 years of betting. He started gambling in 2003 with a golfing buddy. In late 2006, he began calling in picks - sometimes moments before game time - to James "Baba" Battista and Thomas Martino, two Philadelphia-area acquaintances who pleaded guilty last year to their involvement in the betting scheme.
Donaghy, a graduate of Cardinal O'Hara and Villanova, told Simon that he bet on "probably over 100 games.'' Asked how many of those games he officiated, he replied: "Uh, a lot."
But he's sticking to the story, detailed in his new book, "Personal Foul," that he was able to place winning bets 70 to 80 percent of the time using his inside knowledge of the game - not by shaving points.
"I knew that there were certain relationships that existed between referees and players, referees and coaches, and referees and owners that influence the point spreads in games," Donaghy said.
Federal prosecutors told a New York judge last year that "there is no evidence that Donaghy ever intentionally made a particular ruling during a game in order to increase the likelihood that his gambling pick would be correct.'' They also stated, however, that he had acknowledged that he "compromised his objectivity as a referee because of his personal financial interest in the outcome of NBA games, and that this personal interest might have subconsciously affected his on-court performance.''
Lawrence Pedowitz, the former federal prosecutor hired by the NBA to investigate its officiating program, uncovered nothing that would "contradict the government's conclusion," writing in his report: "It seems plausible to us that Donaghy may not have manipulated games."
