Jontay Porter Says Mafia Threats Drove NBA Betting Scandal, But Were They Even Real?

Former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter told The New Yorker he feared that mob enforcers would target his pregnant wife unless he repaid a $200,000 gambling debt.

But an investigation by the magazine suggests the Mafia figures he believed were behind the threats may not have existed.

The New Yorker’s Nick Berardini traced phone numbers supposedly belonging to supposed Mob bookmakers but instead found people already implicated in the betting scheme that ended Porter’s NBA career. None have been identified by prosecutors as having Mafia connections.

Porter, who was permanently banned from the league in 2024, has described how mounting gambling debts pushed him toward a conspiracy to manipulate bets on his own performances.

Threats Against His Family

In 2022, Porter sought bookmakers willing to extend him credit through an acquaintance, Johnny Kalaj. He soon owed more than $160,000 to a group he understood to be linked to the Jewish Mafia, according to the magazine.

Kalaj warned of frightening consequences if he failed to pay.

Porter later dealt through another intermediary, Ammar Awawdeh, who introduced him by text to “Vinny,” described to Porter as an Italian Mafia bookmaker. His debt to Vinny reportedly reached around $200,000.

Porter said Awawdeh told him Vinny had served time for manslaughter and described a debtor having a finger cut off. Awawdeh denied making that claim when contacted by The New Yorker.

Was the Mafia Real?

Berardini found that Porter never spoke directly with the alleged Mafia bookmakers, communicating only by text and making repayments through Kalaj or Awawdeh.

More strikingly, the number for Vinny was registered to Bruce Pham, Awawdeh’s associate and a participant in Porter’s betting conspiracy. Numbers for contacts supposedly representing separate criminal groups also used the same phone-service provider.

Several professional gamblers and a person connected to the case suspected an arrangement in which middlemen collected losing bets but found reasons not to pay winners. Awawdeh once refused to pay Porter nearly six figures in winnings, citing previous late payments, the magazine reported.

Asked whether Vinny actually existed, Awawdeh declined to give a straight answer to The New Yorker.

Porter joined a scheme to leave Raptors games early, enabling associates to bet on his underperformance. The NBA banned him in April 2024, and he subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

His Mafia fears may have been genuine even if the identities behind the threats were not.