Joseph N. Gagliano - No Grey Areas: The Inside Story of the Largest Point Shaving Scandal in History and the Consequences Thereafter

No Grey Areas

By

Joseph N. Gagliano

NO GREY AREAS

Copyright @ 2016 VDB Associates, LLC

Published by Rebel Publishing. All rights reserved worldwide.

No part of this publication may be copied, modified, reproduced, transmitted, or translated in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission from Rebel Publishing, and/or Joseph N. Gagliano.

This publication cannot be used to tailor products, create new products or derivative works in any written, visual, or audio form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical. Any and all references to earlier publications associated with materials contained herein confirm previous copyrights by Rebel Publishing.

ISBN: 978-0-9971248-1-1

E-ISBN: 978-0-9971248-0-4

Printed in the United States

Rebel Publishing

3104 E. Camelback #605

Phoenix, AZ 85016

Website NoGreyAreas.com

Thoughts & Thanks

My Wife - What a journey!

My Kids - I count my blessings each day for having each of you in my life. I couldnt have dreamt of having better kids. I hope you guys know how much youre loved

Andre - You define the word unconditional. Even though I have some years on you, I look to you as an example of the man I need to be. You have affected and changed so many lives. Add mine to that list

Mikey Cash - I will tell you till my dying day, you may never fully understand how you saved me

Ryan - Youre my little Brother. A true trusted friend. Not many days passed during my darkness that I didnt hear from you. You kept me filled with hope

Dad - Things were never supposed to be this hard. You may not think I noticed or listened to things over the years, but know I did. I just messed them up internally. You will always be my hero

To the ones Ive hurt - All I can do is ask for your forgiveness. And, say that Im still a work in progress

To the haters - Little can be said. Except that we are ALL flawed in our own ways

Contents:

Foreword

By:

Andre Wadsworth

1998 NFL 3rdOverall Pick & Founder of Impact Church

T his book No Grey Areas introduces you to a man and his choices (past, present and future ). Choices he made that continually kept molding him into the person we all strive to be: a giving friend, a caring spouse and a loving parent.

Whether we want to recognize this or not, in some form or fashion we all want to be a GOOD LEADER and WINNERS in this so called GAME of life. Though leadership may be hard to define, the one characteristic common in all leaders is their ability to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN and Joe definitely has that talent.

This book holds true to the saying that the two most important things embraced by others in life are RELATIONSHIPS and MONEY. That said because theyre always the closest things to you!

I remember my dad telling me Regardless of what came BEFORE or what has yet to come - what matters MOST RIGHT NOW is how YOU choose to respond to the CIRCUMSTANCES in front of you!

The key word is CHOOSE and the CHOICE is yours to make. good or bad!

Throughout the book you will see Joe Gagliano aka Joey (thats what I like to call him), make choices that will have you saying WOW, this guy must like pain. He made some foolish early life choices that led him down a path to rationalize the acceptance of grey areas. Each choice made only with hopes to overcome a prior mistake.

Joe makes no excuses in the process of writing this because he openly acknowledges having all the opportunities one could wish for. Yet, along the way, he drifted. He drifted and then had to pay a price for the bad choices made.

Joe actually owns up to all choices made, and admits without shame, to being one of the stupidest smart guys you will ever meet. That growth process was learned through a painful life journey. One that is detailed in this story. Starting all the way back with a few early life defining moments.

Pain teaches us all lessons. But, pride seems to keep us from learning those lessons.

Chapter after chapter youll witness the transformation of his youthful pride and ego into a man of clear purpose, conviction and humility. I believe that transformation only took place, because after all the suffering endured, he finally decided to CHOOSE the right people, surroundings and thoughts. The rest of the process fell into place from there.

Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Andre Wadsworth

Introduction

T he buzzer sounded. I had just fixed three college basketball games in a row, and I gently smiled as a cool five million dollars went right into my pocket. A few short years later, however, my joy and abundance would come to an endalmost to the point of suicide. As of this writing, Im sitting on a wooden stool, typing my story on an antiquated twenty-plus-year-old typewriter, with no correction tape, while currently an inmate in a federal prison for the 2nd time in my life.

Who am I? Why should you care?

Im a guy who has made poor choices for the sake of greed and success. A guy who applied God-given talents to build wealth and success, and then managed to misapply those talents and got a very different end result. A guy who charted a path that took him into grey areas and then had to pay the price for those ill-fated choices.

I am the guy with a story that can make a differencea real difference in your life or the life of someone you know.

Bad results did not happen to me overnight, but rather through a series of poor choices and decisions that ultimately resulted in my downfall. I am a guy who is here to shine a bright light on the very painful, dark and public journey that Ive endured so that I might positively impact others.

You may not be wandering into that grey area of your life right now. But, at some point in every persons life, temptation is placed before you. What you do with that choice is up to you.

I chose poorly.

This story is about the trading markets, a national sports scandal, building successful companies, losing everything (a few times), pursuing love, fighting suicidal depression, and finding redemption through faith.

My roller coaster ride stems from a single, early and fateful life choice I made in 1993. Remember the Arizona State mens basketball point shaving scandal? The one in which four college games were fixed?

That was me.

I organized and financed the entire scandal when I was a naive twenty-four-year-old, and to this day it remains one of the largest scandals in sports history.

I have never spoken about it, and I never wanted to. Over the years I have turned down many lucrative offers because I did not want to tell my story for the sake of entertainment or to turn a quick buck. I always knew that if I told the story, it had to serve a positive purpose for others.

I never had interest in a spotlight, or to put my family through that dark journey once again. But now, after having to accept a plea bargain on a second felony solely because I was an easy target,