http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/michael_mccann/07/18/referee.scandal/index.html

I believe Bob Delaney has been fixing many times during his career.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?page=munson_donaghy_080723

Tim Donaghy: In what is known in federal courts as a "5K letter," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Goldberg told Judge Amon on May 8 that Donaghy's "cooperation was significant both in its timing and its scope." Donaghy went to the FBI and to Goldberg as soon as he learned of the federal investigation and quickly told them everything he knew.



"The fact of the matter is that it was Donaghy who approached the government -- not the other way around," Goldberg said. His information provided "direct evidence of the details of the conspiracy -- how it began, how the scheme was carried out, and who played what role."



In addition to evidence that led to the indictments of Battista and Martino, Donaghy gave the government additional material on earlier gambling and on other schemes involving NBA officials. Federal officials acknowledge the additional information but "decline to disclose whether they are pursuing, or will be pursuing, charges" against other individuals.



As former prosecutor Alonso observed, this level of cooperation with government prosecutors routinely results in sentences of probation without a day in jail.



In addition to his cooperation with the government, Donaghy and Lauro have filed significant evidence on Donaghy's gambling disorder and what he has done about it. If Donaghy is a victim of the disease of compulsive gambling, he might qualify for a reduced sentence under a guideline provision known as "diminished capacity." It would be another compelling reason for a lenient sentence.



Compulsive gambling is recognized as a disease in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (the DSM), the bible of psychiatry. The DSM definition of compulsive gambling has 10 criteria, including a preoccupation with gambling, a need to bet increasing amounts of money, unsuccessful efforts to stop, attempts to chase losses, and lies to family and others about gambling.



If a gambler meets five of the DSM's criteria, he has a serious problem. Donaghy qualified on seven of the 10 criteria, according to a nationally recognized expert, Stephen M. Block, hired by Lauro and Donaghy.



Government prosecutors offered very little in response to Donaghy's claim of diminished capacity. They tried to suggest to Judge Amon that Donaghy had stopped gambling at one time and that he had done his gambling in secret. But both his attempt to stop and his attempt to keep it secret simply add to the strength of Block's conclusion that Donaghy is indeed a pathological gambler.



Alonso predicts that Donaghy will not go to jail. Donaghy is the only one of the three in the scheme who will be credited with cooperation, and there is nothing more important in a federal court sentencing than cooperation. But the notoriety of Donaghy's manipulation of NBA games might make it difficult for Judge Amon to grant total probation. There is an abuse of trust in Donaghy's behavior that might be a factor in Amon's decision. Look for a sentence of four or five months of incarceration.

Lester Munson, a Chicago lawyer and journalist who reports on investigative and legal issues in the sports industry, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

Not when they can't impeach or prosecute the powers that be.