Disgraced NBA Official, Tim Donaghy, Joined A White Power Gang In Prison

Larry Brown- Tim Donaghy says he joined a white power gang while serving his prison sentence because he wanted protection after ratting out some fellow inmates for gambling.

Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison in 2008 for betting on games while working as an NBA referee. He served 11 months and then was released to a halfway house, but he violated the terms of his release and was sent back to finish his sentence.

According to a new profile by Pat Jordan in New York Magazine, Donaghy joined a white power gang while in prison. 

From Jordan’s article, which says Donaghy didn’t like his experience there. 

“Too many criminals,” he says. Men who had killed informants, meth dealers, wives. He called his mother: “Mom! Oh my God! I don’t belong here! I could get killed.” But that didn’t stop him from ratting out his fellow inmates for gambling. Then he joined a white-power gang to avoid retribution (he didn’t want to get the tattoo and says they let him shave his head instead).



Generally speaking putting the words 'white' and 'power' together is never a healthy combination. That's why Tim Donaghy is going to get criticized for lumping himself in with a bunch of skinheads behind bars. Well, you can chastise the ex-NBA referee for a lot of things. Mainly fudging the results of multiple NBA postseasons and being a hypocritical little snitch behind bars, but you can't blame him for joining a white gang in prison. There aren't many things that the majority of black men in the cell block are going to think cross the line, but compromising the integrity of NBA games is without a doubt one of them. I'm sure Tim Donaghy was like public enemy number one of the African American inmate coalition. They were probably chomping at the bit after they found out the guy that was ruining their bets for all those years was about to be jail cell adjace. Shit, they probably thought the only positive about having him around was his liberal views on sports betting. Leave it to Tim to get his surroundings mixed up. Gambling on the NBA isn't okay when you are a part of the NBA Tim, it's just fine after you are in prison for fixing the NBA.

You got to do what you can to survive in prison. A dorky looking white dude that was imprisoned for fixing the outcome of sporting events to benefit himself financially doesn't have too much to hang his hat on in terms of street cred. In fact, he really has nothing other than his skin color. If that's how he has to identify himself to come out on the other side of an 15 month sentence with his limbs still attached then I can't fault him too much. Shit, I haven't done anything to piss off black people, but they are still the last group of people I am approaching upon entering prison. I would imagine everyone puts on their meanest face while serving their sentence and no one looks angrier than a pissed off black guy. Not to mention that they couldn't tarnish their image by letting someone that looks like a youth soccer coach hang around. If Tim had to be a bigot for a few months just to pay for his protection then I would say it was a wise investment.