Pool Hustler Tied to Basketball Fixing to Plead Guilty in Mafia Poker Cheating Case

Gambler “Sugar” Shane Hennen, the common thread linking three federal sports-betting and poker-cheating cases, is expected to plead guilty to wire fraud conspiracy for his role in rigged high-stakes poker games operated by members and associates of New York Mafia families.

Hennen, 41, a convicted drug dealer and pool hustler who later reinvented himself as a social media sports-betting tout, is accused by prosecutors of supplying the hidden technology used to rig high-stakes poker games backed by members and associates of the Gambino and Genovese crime families.

According to the indictment, the devices read the value and order of cards in the deck and transmitted the information to an offsite operator, who relayed it to a player at the table through a “quarterback” using covert signals. Hennen also participated in the games as a member of the cheating team, according to prosecutors.

Ex-NBA Players Recruited

The games took place in New York and the Hamptons and involved the recruitment of former professional athletes, including Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones, to add credibility. Thirty other people have been charged in that case.

Separately, Hennen is accused of helping orchestrate a sprawling point-shaving conspiracy that allegedly bribed players in NCAA Division I basketball and the Chinese Basketball Association to manipulate games for betting purposes.

Prosecutors say Hennen was among the scheme’s key fixers, recruiting players and coordinating wagers placed using insider knowledge of the manipulated contests.

He was allegedly part of the group that bet the under on prop wagers involving Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter in a January 2024 game against the Los Angeles Clippers and a March 2024 game against the Sacramento Kings.

Porter, who was banned from the NBA for life in April 2024 following an investigation, told the group in advance that he would exit early from each game claiming injury.

Porter pleaded guilty in July 2024 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in Brooklyn federal court and is awaiting sentencing.

Intercepted at Airport

In January 2025, Hennen was detained by police in relation to the Porter case as he attempted to board a flight to Colombia at Harry Reid International Airport.  

He was carrying almost $10K in cash and several phones at the time of his arrest. He told police he was visiting the South American country for dental work.

Hennen has pleaded not guilty in both the Porter betting case and the point-shaving prosecution. Those cases remain pending.