An anti-Mafia inquiry has unearthed evidence of a match-fixing scam which has led to the arrest of players, coaches, presidents and administrators.More than 50 people have been arrested and many more placed under investigation as part of an Italian match-fixing inquiry.Anti-Mafia prosecutors in the southern Italian town of Catanzaro are leading the inquiry, which resulted in a dawn raid on Tuesday related to “dozens” of suspect results in the Lega Pro and Serie D.According to La Repubblica, those arrested include at least 15 players, six club presidents, eight sports administrators, coaches, general managers and 10 leaders of gambling institutions across the globe.
Attorney Antonino Lombardi, in collaboration with officials of a special police operations unit, have been investigating countless matches across the third, fourth and fifth tiers of the Italian football league system, which are thought to have made huge sums for players, coaches, presidents, directors and punters who were all aware of the possibility of matches being fixed.At least 30 clubs are thought to have been involved in arranged games, including Pro Patria, Barletta, Brindisi, L’Aquila, Neapolis Mugnano, Torres, Vigor Lamezia, Sant’Arcangelo, Sorrento, Montalto, Puteolana, Akragas and San Severo.The charges laid against those arrested include conspiracy to defraud in favour of Mafia organisations, in particular the ‘Ndrangheta, a Calabria-based criminal empire.Italian football has been plagued with match-fixing investigations in recent years, with former Italy internationals Giuseppe Signori and Cristiano Doni being implicated in a 2011 scandal.Previously, Juventus were relegated and other teams suffered extensive points deductions over the 2006 Calciopoli trials, which found clubs guilty of seeking to influence the appointment of match officials.
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