Keystone-SDA
This content was published on October 01, 2024 – 5:15 p.m
(Keystone-SDA) The Milan public prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation into alleged criminal infiltration of organized fans at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium. Pretrial detention was ordered for 16 people and house arrest was ordered for three others.
“A legal earthquake is shaking Inter and Milan,” writes the Italian news agency Ansa. The two Milan football clubs Inter Milan and AC Milan are threatened with compulsory administration. This will be imposed if they cannot prove that they have no connections that involve forms of intimidation or submission to the ultras.
The investigations so far have shown that the Inter Milan club is clearly dependent on the representatives of the “Curva Nord” – i.e. the club’s ultras. The leaders of the Nordkurve are accused of “mafia-like behavior,” and a leading member of the Ultras is among those arrested on Monday.
In addition, investigations are also underway for blackmail, false statements, the production of forged documents, unauthorized access to computer systems, resistance to state authority, physical injuries and fights. The criminal investigation follows several lines of investigation, which began in 2018.
Entanglements with the ‘Ndrangheta
The wiretapping protocols showed a real “lust for blood and profits,” writes Ansa. This led to agreements and pressure on the clubs, in particular to control the resale of tickets at excessive prices in the fan curves. These deals were also shared with the Calabrian mafia ‘Ndrangheta.
The two Milan football clubs immediately agreed to cooperate with the investigators and provide any documentation and information requested. But the picture that emerges from the extensive and detailed investigation by the Milan public prosecutor’s office is “worrying,” notes Ansa.
“Area without legal control”
The San Siro stadium and the activities associated with it are “outside any legal control”, and at Inter Milan there are major “organizational deficiencies” in the management of relations with the fan base, Ansa quotes the documents from the public prosecutor’s office.
The Ultras managed to “penetrate every activity” that has to do with the San Siro stadium. This was turned into a “free area” without any legal control.
The lack of countermeasures against the numerous violent clashes would have created ideal conditions for control over almost all economic activities in the stadium.
