You never know what you’re going to unearth in the seedy world of organized crime … but an NBA ref? That’s the big claim in the New York Post this morning. An unnamed ref betting on games … including games he officiated. Yikes. The first game we’ll have to ask about is Game 3 of the NBA Finals last year. Mark Cuban will forever have ammo against David Stern if the ref in question was calling that game. The details:

The investigation, which began more than a year ago, is zeroing in on blockbuster allegations that the referee was making calls that affected the point spread to guarantee that he - and the hoods who had their hooks in him - cashed in on large bets. Federal agents are set to arrest the referee and a cadre of mobsters and their associates who lined their pockets, sources said.

So who’s the ref? If you’re not up to speed on your NBA refs, edumacate yourself right here. We’re expecting a flood of Joey Crawford guesses, but we’ll be checking IP address to make sure they’re not all coming from San Antonio. Can this story even be true? When we see Bennett Salvatore and Leon Wood, the last thing we think is, ‘mobbed up.’

[*Update: Tremendous find by one of our commenters - NBA ref Bob Delaney used to be an undercover State trooper who infiltrated the mob and then turned into a ref. This is a fascinating connection ... no?]

[**Update II: The New York Times has the guy: Tim Donaghy. Crazy props to one of our commenters, KSK's Unsilent Majority, who guessed Donaghy earlier today in comments portion of this post.]

NBA in a Fix (NY Post)