The only woman charged in the sprawling New York City mafia and NBA-linked poker scam spent years cavorting with celebrities and musicians before her stunning arrest, high-flying photos from

Antonio Gates is denying any involvement in any rigged poker game after being linked to the ongoing gambling scandal that has wrapped up current and former NBA players.

A big-money poker ring involving NBA figures indicted this week for allegedly cheating unsuspecting rich players echoes decades of films and TV shows, with supposed Mafia involvement adding to the drama.

On Sunday, Torre reported that Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Antonio Gates allegedly hosted and participated in an allegedly rigged poker game in Miami. The game was allegedly organized by Curtis Meeks, who was indicted earlier this week. Gates is the first former NFL player to be linked to the scandal.

In the wake of the sweeping FBI gambling investigation that led to the arrests of Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier, questions have been raised about who else in the sports world was involved. Billups was arrested in connection with one part of the investigation, which looked into rigged poker games run by multiple Mafia families.

They used the star to do it. They had us excited. The only reason they were able to pull this off was because they had a professional athlete in place.”

Wild allegation filed this week by federal prosecutors in one of the most sweeping and sensational betting scandals in recent professional sports history.

Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Heat guard Terry Rozier were among those arrested in an FBI probe into sports gambling.