Teacher shot by 6-year-old sues for $40 million; FBI gambling probe names NBA players and the Mafia - TCN Sidebar

True Crime News: The Podcast

True Crime News

Society & Culture, True Crime

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of True Crime News The Sidebar Podcast: Joshua Ritter breaks down the biggest cases making headlines across the nation. He discusses the FBI’s gambling indictment leveled against NBA players and members of the Mafia, a judge’s ruling to allow alleged Charlie Kirk shooter Tyler Robinson to wear civilian clothes in pretrial hearings, and first grade teacher Abby Zwerner’s $40 million lawsuit against her former employer after she was shot by a 6-year-old student. Tweet your questions for future episodes to Joshua Ritter using the hashtag #TCNSidebar. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the sidebar presented by true crime news, taking you inside the
0:14.9	courtrooms of high profile and notorious cases from across the country.
0:18.5	I'm your host, Joshua Ritter.
0:20.0	I'm a criminal defense lawyer based in
0:21.4	Los Angeles and previously an LA County prosecutor for a decade. We are recording this on Wednesday,
0:27.5	October 29th, 2025. In this week's episode, a judge rules to allow Charlie Kirk's alleged killer
0:34.5	to wear civilian clothes in pretrial hearings. Plus, a first grade teacher's
0:40.1	$40 million lawsuit after she was shot by a six-year-old student. But first, a high-profile
0:47.5	federal indictment names NBA players and members of organized crime families in an alleged scheme to rig illegal poker games.
0:56.5	I'm flying solo today, so let's go ahead and just jump right in. First, out of Brooklyn, New York,
1:01.9	a gambling scandal surrounding rigged poker games and additional illegal activity has been
1:07.7	unearthed after a federal indictment named being NBA figures and members of
1:12.2	prominent organized crime families. The recently unsealed indictment lists 31 defendants,
1:18.3	including NBA player Damon Jones and head coach and Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups,
1:23.2	along with associates from the Bonano, Gambino, and Genovese crime families, all part of La Cosa Nostra.
1:32.3	The defendants allegedly used technology, including hitting cameras and x-ray tables to cheat
1:38.3	high-profile players out of at least 7 million in high-stakes illegal poker games. Billups and Jones, along with
1:46.0	other co-conspirators, allegedly acted as quote-unquote face cards to entice the participation
1:52.4	of unwitting victims into the rigged games. Profits from the clandestine card games were
1:58.0	allegedly funneled into La Cosa Nostra crime syndicate,
2:01.8	enriching one of the most notorious criminal networks in the world, according to federal
2:06.4	prosecutors. When some of the victims realized they had been cheated and refused to pay,
	...

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