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Shots fired as man drives U-Haul toward Coast Guard base

admin - Latest News - October 25, 2025
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Shots fired as man drives U-Haul toward Coast Guard base



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Oct. 24, 2025, 6:50 PM EDTBy Daniel Arkin, Chloe Atkins, Jonathan Dienst, Erik Ortiz and Rich SchapiroFederal prosecutors allege a Georgia man named John Mazzola — nickname “John South” — played on the “Cheating Team” in rigged poker games in Manhattan and Miami. The brazen, high-tech scheme was backed by the Mafia and raked in millions of dollars, according to an indictment unsealed this week.At least some of this came as news to Mazzola’s wife.“We don’t even own our own home. He drives a piece-of-crap truck. They can check every account,” Tasha Mazzola said in a phone interview Friday.“I can tell you, he doesn’t even know half of those people on the list,” she added, referring to the 30 other defendants charged in what investigators dubbed “Operation Royal Flush.” She said her husband hasn’t played poker in New York City “in years” after he was robbed of his shoes and other belongings at gunpoint during a game.The government’s 22-page indictment suggests there is more to the story. In prosecutors’ telling, Mazzola was part of a criminal plot to lure big-fish gamblers to ritzy tables surreptitiously outfitted with card-scanning devices, X-rays and other cheating equipment. Mazzola, 43, also allegedly participated in an armed robbery to steal a manipulated shuffling machine.He is charged with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and robbery conspiracy. He appeared before a judge Thursday, and he was released with what authorities called a substantial bail package.The defendants’ backstories and their alleged criminal enterprise were starting to come into focus Friday, a day after federal officials announced two extraordinary investigations into the parallel worlds of illegal underground gambling and insider sports betting.The poker probe ensnared Chauncey Billups, head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, and a dozen associates of the “Five Families,” the Italian Mafia clans that have long ruled organized crime in the New York area.“The fraud is mind-boggling,” FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters at a news conference Thursday, referring to the alleged wrongdoing as a “criminal enterprise that envelops both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra.” At least one of the mobsters charged is an alleged captain in the Gambino crime family whose first felony conviction dates back to 1999.But some defendants appear to have been living in relative anonymity. Officials have released little information about Sophia Wei — nickname “Pookie” — the only woman charged in the poker ring case.In an interview on Friday, Wei’s former landlord in Queens, New York, said he formed a negative impression of her during the decade she lived in his building.“She was nasty. She was arrogant. She was a diva. She wouldn’t let me come upstairs if I needed to do a repair,” said Ashley Scharge, 66, who lives in Bayside. “Then she skipped out on me. She left my place in shambles, stuff all over the place — clothes, food.”Wei did not return requests for comment on Friday.In the indictment, federal prosecutors characterized Wei as a member of a “Cheating Team.” Billups was a “Face Card,” a high-profile person who the orchestrators believed could help draw in unsuspecting gamblers to fixed tables.Billups and Wei can be seen together in a photograph obtained by NBC News. The picture was taken in May 2019 during a game organized by Wei at a high-end hotel in New York City, where cocktail waitresses offered massages and beverages to the attendees as they played.Chauncey Billups and Sophia Wei, also known as “Pookie,” playing poker.Obtained by NBC NewsThe raft of court documents unsealed Thursday sketch out how the alleged cheating worked — and, in at least one case, when it came close to going off the rails.In the middle of a game in Las Vegas in 2019, Wei and other defendants realized Billups was winning too many improbable hands — thanks to the rigged shuffling machine. In text messages that were included in the government’s detention memorandum, Wei suggests that Billups attempt to avert suspicion by losing on purpose.In all, prosecutors say the scheme netted more than $7 million over six years.The FBI said it is still pursuing other leads.“It’s like anything. You peel back the onion, there’s more layers,” said Christopher Raia, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office. “This investigation is very much ongoing.”Daniel ArkinDaniel Arkin is a national reporter at NBC News.Chloe AtkinsChloe Atkins reports for the NBC News National Security and Law Unit, based in New York.Jonathan DienstJonathan Dienst is chief justice contributor for NBC News and chief investigative reporter for WNBC-TV in New York.Erik OrtizErik Ortiz is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital focusing on racial injustice and social inequality.Rich Schapiro Rich Schapiro is a reporter with the NBC News national security unit.Kate Reilly contributed.
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Nov. 25, 2025, 12:37 PM ESTBy Dareh GregorianPresident Donald Trump on Tuesday added two Thanksgiving turkeys to his long list of second-term pardons, offering the birds a dose of his much-discussed presidential immunity.After a White House speech that felt more like a campaign rally than a symbolic ceremony, Trump spared Gobble and Waddle from appearing on Thanksgiving dinner plates. He also joked that he was pardoning last year’s turkeys, Peach and Blossom, after a thorough Justice Department investigation found that President Joe Biden’s autopen use invalidated their pardons. “They were on their way to being processed,” he said. Waddle and Gobble are presented to journalists at the Willard InterContinental on Nov. 24 in Washington, D.C. Anna Moneymaker / Getty ImagesHe also quipped that he was considering naming the turkeys Chuck and Nancy — in a reference to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — but that he wouldn’t be pardoning them if that were the case. “I would never pardon those people,” he said.He then got into immigration, crime and other issues, while also taking time to mock Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat. “I refuse to talk about the fact that he’s a fat slob,” Trump said, before adding that “I’d like to lose a few pounds too, by the way.” The turkeys rested in their hotel room after their news conference on Monday.Anna Moneymaker / Getty ImagesHe then turned to what the event was about, saying, “Gobble, you’re hereby unconditionally pardoned.”Gobble, the official White House turkey, is a 52-pound bird, while Waddle, the designated alternate, is a slender 50. Both were hatched on July 14.Waddle visited the White House briefing room before the pardoning event, after the two birds had a luxurious hotel room stay. The gravy for the turkeys? After the ceremony, they’re slated to go to North Carolina State University, where, according to the National Turkey Federation, they’ll spend the rest of their days as ambassadors for the industry.Waddle visits the White House press briefing room Tuesday.Heather Diehl / Getty ImagesWhile Abraham Lincoln was reportedly the first to spare a turkey at the White House — doing so at his son’s request — the “pardon” tradition only dates back to 1989. That’s when President George H.W. Bush declared the bird he’d been sent had “been granted a presidential pardon.” Dareh GregorianDareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.
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Nov. 23, 2025, 6:19 PM ESTBy Andrew GreifOn their way to a Super Bowl appearance last season, the Kansas City Chiefs could do no wrong in close games, posting an 12-0 record in games decided by one score or less. Yet they entered Week 12 of the NFL season just 5-5 and facing the possibility of having a losing record through 11 games for the first time since 2012 because the Chiefs were no longer the league’s best team in the clutch — 0-5 in one-score games.That changed, finally, Sunday against Indianapolis. Trailing by as many as 11 points with a minute left in the third quarter, the Chiefs scored the final 14 points to beat the Colts in overtime, 23-20. The win gives Kansas City (6-5) a 59 percent chance to make the postseason; a loss would have dropped that likelihood to 31 percent, according to NFL statistics.”This is exactly what we needed,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “…Everybody made plays when we needed it.”The narrow win would not have happened without a defensive turnaround. After allowing the Colts (8-3) to score four times on their first six drives, the Chiefs held them scoreless on their final four possessions, all four of which ended in three-and-out and produced just 13 yards combined.The circumstances suggested the defensive stand was unlikely. Though Kansas City ranked eighth-best this season in defensive points added, and sixth-best on EPA allowed on dropbacks in the fourth quarter and overtime, Indianapolis posed perhaps their most difficult offensive challenge of the season, and led the NFL in yards per game. Colts running back Jonathan Taylor entered the game leading the NFL in rushing yards, touchdown runs and total touchdowns. But Taylor finished with a season-low 66 yards from scrimmage. And Indianapolis went nowhere over the fourth quarter and overtime even though they weren’t affected by the issues that had cooled their hot start. Quarterback Daniel Jones committed three turnovers and was sacked nine times in his first eight games, but in his last three games had seven turnovers and 12 sacks. The Chiefs didn’t get a single turnover, or sack, but still held the Colts to 11 points lower than their NFL-leading season average.Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo “had a great plan defensively against one of the best offenses in the National Football League,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.Kansas City has made the playoffs 10 consecutive seasons, the second-longest streak in NFL history. Continuing it was in jeopardy with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when Kansas City got the ball back backed up only two yards from its own end zone. When quarterback Patrick Mahomes found Rashee Rice for a 47-yard gain, it increased the Chiefs’ probability of winning by more than 20 percent, per the NFL.”You could feel the energy of the defense, of the stadium, and it was kind of that, ‘We’re not going to lose this game,'” Mahomes said. “We’re going to find a way to win, even though not everything has gone our way to this moment, we’re going to find a way.”Andrew GreifAndrew Greif is a sports reporter for NBC News Digital. 
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