It appears Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta and his family have some deep, deep mob ties.

Fertitta, who bought the Rockets in 2017 for $2.2 billion, is apparently a fourth-generation member of a mafia family.

Henry Abbott of TrueHoop has more and you can read his entire article to get all the full details about the Rockets owner's family history:

While I did not encounter anyone who suggested Tilman Fertitta is in the mob presently, his family tree is a tangle of magazine articles, FBI busts, books, wiretaps, even a major Hollywood motion picture about the old days of the mob.

The Fertittas are legendary, woven into the incredible history of Galveston, Texas.

Gary Cartwright writes in Texas Monthly about how Tilman Fertitta’s family—related to the Maceo family by marriage—came to power:

Tilman Fertitta’s grandfather Victor, whose mother was Olivia Maceo, was born in 1908 and went on to own the famed Balinese Club in Galveston.

There are a lot of billionaires who would like to own NBA teams. It is curious that in 2017, well into the tenure of the strategic Adam Silver, Fertitta—with the baggage of his family name, a need for profoundly creative financing, and not even the high bid—made it to the front of the line.

The Rockets are among the 22 teams that will be partaking in the “bubble” games at Orlando, Florida.

Before the 2019-20 season was suspended in March, the Rockets were in sixth place in the Western Conference standings with a record of 40-24.

The Rockets have never advanced to the NBA Finals in the James Harden era. This season gives the franchise yet another opportunity to accomplish that goal.