Staten Island man pleads guilty in NCAA fixing scheme

cmannphoto/iStock(NEW YORK) — A Staten Island man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he tried to bribe college basketball players to fix games, his attorney said. Federal prosecutors said that Benjamin Bifalco concocted a “scheme to fix an NCAA college basketball game.” Investigators learned of the alleged crime in December 2018 as part of an organized crime investigation. He acknowledged to the court that he approached a player and offered him money to lose by more than the point spread of a college basketball game but the player wouldn’t accept it, as per his attorney, Vincent J. Martinelli. Bifalco, 25,