Members of the Bills Mafia are the reason why Amanda Perino, a woman from Amsterdam, is now a lifelong fan of the Buffalo Bills. This happened after a serendipitous twist of events that involved a trip to the States for work in September, and a U.S. SIM card.

"Within about ten minutes of putting the SIM card in, my phone started pinging and pinging and pinging with all these text messages. I was like, what is happening?" Perino said.

She happened to have chosen a number that formerly belonged to a member of a Buffalo Bills fan group. She was drawn into a fantasy football group chat.

"I tried to ignore it, but then I sent them a message and I said, 'Hey you can leave me out of this chat because it's my new number. I think I took a number from your friend. I'm sorry. Leave me out of it.' Right away, they were like, 'We're not going to do that,'" Perino said. 

"Sucked into the Bills Mafia chat. You're going to be in there for the rest of your life unless you change your phone number," said Ken Glowacki from Lancaster. 

Perino's new number had previously been Glowacki's. Since his nickname in the chat is KG, Perino's became NKG, standing for New KG.

"So the chat continued and continued and continued and eventually I had to take part because it was too funny," Perino said.

Over time, she found herself looking forward to this world of football, Bills, food, and guy talk; however, the all-men group didn't realize Perino was a she.

"They just assumed I was a guy. They were talking sports and I was taking part in it," Perino said. 

This all led to the newcomer being invited to come to the tailgate and a game. 

"I just thought to myself, that would be so funny if I showed up and showed them who I actually am. I had never been to a tailgate before, I had never been to a football game, I had never been to Buffalo," Perino said. 

That changed when the Bills played Miami. Perino had to be in New York City for work, so she decided to make the trip to Buffalo and surprise the fans, still not revealing her identity until she arrived wearing a shirt that read NKG. 

Now back in Amsterdam, Perino says the experience is not just about football, it's about friendship. She will not only stay a Bills fan, she now has lifelong friends in Western New York.