The 1978–79 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal involved a scheme in which members of the American Mafia recruited and bribed several Boston College Eagles men's basketball players to ensure the team would not win by the required margin (not cover the point spread) or win by the required margin (cover the point spread) , allowing gamblers in the know to place wagers against that team and win. Scheme proposal The scheme was conceived by Rocco Perla and his brother Anthony in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during the summer of 1978. The Perla brothers were small-time gamblers who saw the upcoming 1978–79 Boston College Eagles basketball season as a perfect opportunity to earn a lot of money. Needing an inside man, the brothers wanted to recruit Rick Kuhn, a high school friend of Rocco who was entering his senior year at Boston College and was expected to be a key member of the 1978–79 Eagles team. The Perla brothers proposed a simple scheme: they, along with Kuhn, would select certain basketball games where the projected point spread separating Boston College from its opponent was expected to be significant. Kuhn would be responsible for ensuring, by his play on the court, that Boston College fell short of the point spread. Thus, for example, if participating bookmakers determined Boston College to be an eight-point favorite in a particular game, Kuhn would be paid a bonus, usually $2,500, if they won by less than eight points. In addition, they were given the opportunity to bet the money they were paid and double their winnings. Kuhn agreed to participate, and brought in his teammate Jim Sweeney. Setup The Perla brothers mobilized a betting syndicate to maximize their potential gain from the scheme. They contacted a local friend, Paul Mazzei, who was known to have influence within major New York gambling circles. Mazzei in turn contacted Henry Hill, a Lucchese crime family associate from New York who had befriended Mazzei while both men were serving sentences in a federal prison. Mazzei and the Perlas were particularly hopeful that Hill would enlist the support of his associate, James Burke, to finance the payments to the players and to set up a network of bookmakers who were in on the scheme. These bookies could handle large bets and lay them off and spread the bets among a number of unsuspecting bookmakers around the country so as not to arouse suspicion.