Isiah Thomas, one of the most decorated players in the NBA, wants to leave no doubt his involvement in an FBI gambling investigation is nothing but ”a friend of a friend of a friend`s problem.”
The Pistons captain angrily denounced reports by WJBK-TV and two newspapers during the weekend that checks cashed for him at a grocery store owned by a target of the investigation had entered the probe.
”We opened up all the records to the IRS and the FBI,” he said. ”No problem.”
WJBK-TV station stressed Sunday its story never said Thomas was a target of the gambling investigation. To prove that, the station re-broadcast the Friday report.
”We said his name had only surfaced in connection with the investigation,” news director Mort Meisner said. ”We went to great pains to say he was not the target of the investigation.”
Authorities have linked the grocery owner, Imad Denha, to Henry Allen Hilf, the key figure in the gambling investigation and reputedly Michigan`s largest bookmaker, the sources said.
The gambling story-combined with the death of guard Joe Dumars` father before Game 4 and the deaths of at least seven people in victory celebrations- have cast a cloud over the Pistons`s championship. Thomas and Dumars are expected to be in Detroit Monday for the Pistons` victory parade downtown.
