(SP) – Louisville head coach Rick Pitino expressed dismay today over reports that he has been the head of a New York crime family since 1984, saying he had no idea he was the godfather of an organized crime syndicate authorities say is responsible for dozens of murders, as well as illegal gambling and drug-running up and down the East Coast.
“I personally never pulled a trigger of buried a body,” said Pitino. “If people below me in the organization were murdering, those were just some bad actors who did scurrilous things. I will get to the bottom of this.”
Several of Pitino’s capos were charged by federal authorities yesterday for their role in decades of crime.
“I honestly had no idea that organized crime was going on,” said Pitino. “I assumed we were just helping the local community and that the trucking and municipal waste industries were extremely profitable. I am as shocked as anyone. And I promise that I will fix this and, if anyone turns on me, their entire family will be killed.”
Pitino also added that if he did accidentally take control of a crime family in 1984, “it was because of my grief over 9/11.”
