Vercher said that Donaghy has been contacting company employees and book vendors with "increasingly irate and threatening calls," demanding money for his book.
"One thing he said in particular is that, 'You know I have associates in the Gambino crime family and they are active in this part of the state,' " Vercher said. "This stuff has gotten really ugly, really quickly."
Donaghy, a Cardinal O'Hara and Villanova product who served about 13 months in prison on wire-fraud and gambling charges for betting on NBA games, strongly denied that he had threatened anyone. He called Vercher "vindictive,'' and said he simply wants to know how many books were sold and where the money is.
"Absolutely not, there's nothing to that at all," he said of Vercher's allegations. "It came down to the fact that I asked for the accounting, which I'm allowed to do per my contract with them, and they didn't provide me with the accounting . . . It just went downhill quick, and all I wanted to know was how much money was in the bank and to see the statements."
Donaghy said he's concerned that Vercher might have spent the money. She says that it's in a holding account, and that the company will tally the profits by July, after the conclusion of the 180-day period during which vendors have the option to return unsold copies.
Then, Vercher said, "We have to send [the profits] to the U.S. Attorney's Office and not him directly."
"Her career has been based on spinning stories, but it's not flying this time,'' Donaghy said of Vercher. "I don't know what she did with the money, but she's backed into a corner, and she's trying to turn it back on me. I can only hope that I'm paid at some point."
The dispute is getting nastier by the minute.
