Donaghy and two accomplices in an illegal betting ring are scheduled to be sentenced within 3 days of one another this summer after the former NBA referee's sentencing date was postponed yesterday - for a fourth time. Donaghy, who has admitted to dishing inside NBA information to high school buddies James "Baba'' Battista and Thomas Martino in exchange for cash payments, was scheduled to be sentenced next week in New York on gambling and wire-fraud charges.
Yesterday, that date was pushed back again, this time to July 14, according to Robert Nardoza, spokesman for the federal prosecutors' office in Brooklyn.
Battista, of Phoenixville, and Martino, of Marcus Hook, are scheduled to be sentenced July 11 for their participation in the short-lived gambling ring, which the feds reportedly uncovered during an investigation of the Gambino crime family.
All three men attended Cardinal O'Hara High together in the 1980s. They launched the ill-fated gambling scheme in December 2006 at the Philadelphia International Airport's Marriott Hotel, Battista told a judge last month.
Donaghy, a Havertown native who resigned in July after 13 years as an NBA referee, faces up to 25 years in prison, but could receive a much lighter term under federal sentencing guidelines.
Battista, also known as "Sheep,'' is facing 10 to 16 months in jail, while Martino faces 12 to 18 months. *
