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Part 2: Mafia Prosecutor Ed McDonald on How He Got Henry Hill to Snitch
Part 1: Ed McDonald on Prosecuting $6M Mafia Lufthansa Heist, Featured in "Goodfellas" Movie
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Former federal prosecutor Ed McDonald breaks down how Henry Hill unexpectedly exposed the Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal while entering witness protection — a real-life moment later echoed in *Goodfellas* with Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco. McDonald explains how Hill connected Jimmy Burke, Paul Massey, Tony and Rocco Perla, and BC player Rick Kuhn to a scheme that used mob ties, Pittsburgh drug contacts, bookmakers, and college basketball betting lines to manipulate games during the same era as the Lufthansa robbery investigation.
In this interview, McDonald details the FBI’s hunt for corroboration beyond Hill’s testimony, including phone records, player interviews, and key witnesses such as Jim Sweeney and Kuhn’s former girlfriend. He also revisits the 1981 Brooklyn federal trial before Judge Henry Bramwell, the role of Sports Illustrated in complicating Hill’s credibility, and why the case became one of the most infamous sports gambling scandals in NCAA history.
