Winning back-to-back titles and being named Finals MVP made Isiah Thomas one of the biggest stars in the NBA. However, shortly after the Detroit Pistons won the 1990 NBA Finals, Thomas was embroiled in a controversy.
Reports surfaced that Zeke was one of the targets of an FBI investigation regarding a nationwide illegal gambling operation. The report alleged that Thomas ran high-stakes dice games inside his Detroit home. He vehemently denied the accusations.
"There's never been a craps game at Isiah Thomas' house,' Isiah said . "Very few people have ever been inside my house. I could name to you on one hand the number of people who've been to my house."
Zeke cashed checks at a grocery store
Thomas was dragged into the issue because his name appeared on checks totaling $100,000, which were cashed at a grocery store owned by Isiah's neighbor and good friend Emmet Denha. According to Thomas, his mother taught him to cash checks at supermarkets to avoid crowds and for convenience.
The checks were linked to Bloomfield bookmaker Henry Alan Hilf, who at that time was the subject of a grand jury investigation on an alleged multi-million dollar sports betting ring. Denha reportedly helped Hilf launder gambling money. Zeke wasn't linked to the betting issue but was rumored to have conducted high-stakes dice games in his house.
"I will take a lie-detector test, I'd pee in a bottle, they could take some blood," added Thomas. "My father-in-law is head of the Secret Service in Chicago. There ain't no way in hell I'll be doing something wrong."
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Isiah married a Secret Service agent's daughter
Thomas is married to the former Lynn Kendall, whose father worked for the U.S. Secret Service. Aside from providing security services to U.S. presidents, the USSS also conducts investigations into currency and financial crime. That's why Zeke said it would have been impossible for him to be involved in something his wife's dad would know.
Although he was never charged with any wrongdoing, Thomas voluntarily submitted himself to FBI interrogation to explain his relationship with the targets of the probe. Meanwhile, his buddy Denha ended up doing 65 months in Federal prison after he was found guilty of laundering more than $6 million in sports betting money for Hilf.
Seven years later, a book entitled Money Players claimed that Isiah and former Pistons teammate James Edwards were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars playing dice games with persons linked to organized crime. The book also linked them to point-shaving. It also claimed that the NBA found nothing against Thomas and Edwards after doing a light investigation.
Related: Isiah Thomas thanked Larry Bird for saving his career following his racist remarks: "Larry, you had my career right at the palm of your hands"
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