One of the mobbed-up suspects busted in the NBA gambling scheme is Nicholas “Fat Nick” Minucci, whose vicious, racially charged baseball bat beating of a Black man in Howard Beach, Queens, captivated New Yorkers for months more than two decades ago.
Minucci, a Gambino associate who now stands accused of playing on “cheating teams” in rigged card games, was convicted of the vile hate crime assault on then 22-year-old Glenn Moore in 2006.
At the time of the attack, Minucci was just 19 years old. On the morning of June 29, 2005, he chased down Moore and struck him in the head with a Louisville Slugger baseball bat while shouting the n-word. Prosecutors reported that Minucci shouted, “You fing n—! What are you doing in my neighborhood?”
During his dramatic three-week-long trial, Minucci, who was not a known mob associate at the time, claimed he wasn’t a bigot and insisted he only chased Moore because he believed Moore had come to Howard Beach to steal cars.
Nicknamed “Fat Nick,” Minucci reportedly lost 50 pounds as his case unfolded. He also attempted to argue that the “n-word” is so commonly used by rappers that it had lost much of its racist impact.
Minucci’s friend, Frankie Agostini, testified against him, describing the horrifying sound the bat made as it struck Moore’s head. “It sounded like Barry Bonds hit a home run. Bing! Like that,” Agostini recalled during testimony in Queens Supreme Court.
The attack left Glenn Moore with a fractured skull and dementia caused by head trauma, according to Dr. Steven Cercy, a neuropsychologist who testified at the trial in June 2006.
After deliberating for less than seven hours, a Queens jury found Minucci guilty. He was ultimately sentenced to 15 years behind bars. Although the exact date of his release is unclear, he became eligible for parole in 2019.
Minucci once shared in an interview that he was first called “Fat Nick” at age 9 and mentioned that he spent a lot of time playing cards in prison. Law enforcement sources also revealed that he had previously been charged with another bias attack for shooting paintballs at Sikhs outside a Queens temple on September 11, 2001.
Minucci narrowly avoided more serious charges in 2004 when attempted murder accusations related to a stabbing were reduced. The victim mysteriously died before trial proceedings could take place.
The stabbing case involved the 2002 assault of then-15-year-old John Rich of Broad Channel. In 2003, Rich tragically died after falling under the wheels of an A train at the Beach 98th Street station in Queens. Initially, Rich’s family suspected Minucci might have been involved in his death, but they later believed the fatality was caused by errors made by transit workers.
In the stabbing case, Minucci pleaded guilty to lesser assault charges and received five years’ probation.
https://nypost.com/2025/10/23/us-news/mobbed-up-suspect-busted-in-nba-gambling-scheme-is-nicholas-fat-nick-minucci-whose-baseball-bat-beating-of-black-man-was-a-huge-deal-20-years-ago/
