http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/2007/08/05/2007-08-05_pal_says_rogue_referee_wants_to_tell_his-1.html


Pal says rogue referee wants to tell his tale



BY DORIAN BLOCK
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, August 5th 2007, 4:00 AM



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BRADENTON, Fla. - Disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy's pal says his buddy really wants to come clean.

Really, he says.

"He wants to talk to you. There is a whole other side to this story," Vito Bavaro told reporters staking out the ref's for-sale mansion, but "he has to wait until everything is done."

The "everything" is the ongoing federal probe of Donaghy's alleged betting with mob-connected bookies on NBA games, including some he officiated.

NBA Commissioner David Stern has labeled the 40-year-old ref a "rogue, isolated criminal," but Bavaro, who comes by daily to take out Donaghy's garbage or bring him pizza, says different.

"Like everything else, there are two sides to the story," he said after his visit with Donaghy.

Bavaro is also Donaghy's realtor and is showing potential buyers the ref's Bradenton digs, on the market for $1.35 million.

Donaghy has been holed up inside the mansion, largely on his own, since the media began surrounding his house a month ago.

Bavaro says the investigation is the reason Donaghy is selling, but he would not say whether there were also personal or financial considerations. Donaghy's wife, Kim, who spent Friday night at the house, has been sleeping elsewhere most days with the couple's four kids.

Donaghy, who resigned his job with the NBA when the probe became public, is expected to surrender later this month on federal gambling charges in Brooklyn.

dblock@nydailynews.com

A ref who has a gambling problem with the mob has a "pal" named Vito?

Posted by joec32033:

A ref who has a gambling problem with the mob has a "pal" named Vito?

Anybody think he'll get wacked ?

No what he is saying is this.

The feds are giving me some time to handle my business, because the blow I'm getting ready to unleash will make "HE MAN" proud.



When you become a rat, feds do a few things for ya before you start whistling...ask those in federal protection programs who change their identity and family name.


Now after you testify you are on your own with a new name and live somewhere in palo alto calif or Albuerquerce New Mexico worrying the 1st few months and being afraid when people start staring at you .

Donaghy isn't from the hood, so the no snitch policy doesn't apply to him.


I hope he tells it all with no stones un-turned.