Salvatore Sollazzo New York Jeweler and Gambler Who Swindled College Basketball Bettors

Salvatore Sollazzo was a Sicilian jeweler who gained great notoriety as a gambler who fixed NCAA basketball games. Many of the games were played at New York's famed sports venue Madison Square Garden. Teams whose players were caught up in Sollazzo's swindles were Long Island University (LIU), St. John's, New York University (NYU) and CCNY (City College of New York). The scandal was exposed in early 1951 along with news that Sollazzo owed $147,000 in back taxes to the IRS.