Judicial sources in Spain said Wednesday that a Spanish investigating judge had sent recordings purporting to reveal a match-fixing plot to German authorities.

Russian Premier League champion Zenit crushed Bayern 4-0 at home in its return match to win 5-1 on aggregate before going on to beat the Glasgow Rangers in the final of the competition.

“There is nothing to comment on because even if there is an investigation, Zenit has nothing to do with this,” said Alexei Petrov, a spokesman for Zenit.

In a statement issued on the club’s web site Wednesday, Zenit said its performance in the matches against Bayern and Glasgow “is the best proof the victories were achieved in honest, uncompromising contests.”

Sports, Tourism and Youth Politics Minister Vitaly Mutko, who also serves as president of the Russian Football Union, said the allegations of match fixing were another attempt to discredit football in the country.

UEFA, European football’s governing body, said Wednesday it was aware of the reports about a match-fixing investigation. Bayern said Wednesday it had no information about the reports.

Zenit Denies Links to Mafia Match Fixing – 03 October 2008 – http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/371401.htm

Dick Advocaat’s club collected their first- ever European prize on May 14 when they beat Rangers 2-0 in the City of Manchester Stadium thanks to second-half goals from Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyryanov.

But on Wednesday, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that an operation led by investigating judge Baltasar Garzon had uncovered evidence that the second leg of Zenit’s semi-final against Bayern Munich might have been fixed.

The newspaper reported that taped telephone conversations between Gennadios Petrov, the alleged head of Russian mafia in Spain, and his associate Leonid
Khristoforovit, boasted in advance of the match that Zenit would win the game 4-0, which is exactly what happened.

Now the recordings have been sent to the German authorities and a Spanish judiciary source said: ‘The judge has sent to the German attorney general part of the conversations that were intercepted in Spain during the investigation into Russian plots in our country.’

Both Petrov and Khristoforovit have been in custody since the arrest of 20 people in June in a wide-ranging investigation into money-laundering, drug-trafficking and extortion.

Madrid newspaper ABC reported that Spanish police also recorded two telephone conversations alleging that the pair, who both hail from the St Petersburg area, bragged about spending sums between 20 and 40 million euros (£16million to £32m) to ensure Zenit won their semi-final against Bayern Munich and the final against Rangers.

The taped telephone conversations mention that 50 million of an unspecified currency had been paid to Bayern – a suggestion that is strongly denied by the Bundesliga
club.

A spokesman said: ‘Bayern Munich knows nothing about this suspicion. We are going to try to get as much information as we can.’

Zenit insisted they had beaten Bayern in the semi and Rangers in the final by fair means and said it was insulting to all three clubs to claim otherwise.

A spokesman said: ‘There have been a number of mass-media reports quoting various sources in Spain which touch upon the reputation of FC Zenit. The performances by Zenit in the games against Bayern and Rangers are the best proof that the victories have been achieved in honest and uncompromising fights.

‘Allegations in the media over supposed match-fixing plots are insulting for all the clubs mentioned.

‘At the moment, Zenit lawyers are evaluating the context of the original publications. After this work is completed, a decision will be made on legal methods of protecting our club’s reputation and that of the sport in general.’

A Rangers spokesperson said: ‘We were not aware of this and are not in a position to comment.’

UEFA director of communications William Gaillard told Sportsmail the governing body was anxious to establish the credibility of the allegations, which do not suggest how the mafia tried to fix the result, as a matter of urgency.

‘We know about this story and it is something that our investigations unit would obviously be keen to look into,’ said Gaillard.

‘Allegations of this nature are always worrisome to hear. It is important that we find out what is factual and what is only speculation or part of a newspaper story.’

The Final fury: Zenit anger at claims of mafia link to UEFA glory – By George Grant – Last updated at 11:22 PM on 01st October 2008 – This story was found at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1066304/The-Final-fury-Zenit-anger-claims-mafia-link-UEFA-glory.html

Pentiti – those who were formerly part of the “family” and have now repented – have disclosed all the details behind this established system.

“The Sopranos” meet the football world and we have learned all about the sleazy techniques of New Jersey boss Anthony “Tony” Soprano and his crew in the mega-hit tv series created by David Chase.

The DiMeo crime family also liked their football, the American kind though, what with loony druggie Christopher Moltisanti running illegal betting shops and Tony himself becoming obsessed with sports gambling in the final season.

But back in the “Old Country”, and in the real world, Cosa Nostra (Our Thing) had set the bar higher and was prepared to fully infiltrate the Palermo football club.

After all, the Rosanero have become hot property in recent years: after languishing in the lower leagues for several years, they finally returned to Serie A in 2004 and have established themselves as one of the top sides.

Under these circumstances, president Maurizio Zamparini’s club might have looked like the Holy Grail to criminal organizations that plague this wonderful island.

According to Palermo’s prosecutors, the Lo Piccolo clan, headed by Salvatore and his son Sandro, were hot on Zamparini’s heels to get a cut of the Rosanero’s business affairs, and it has emerged that they wanted to “participate” in the project to build a new stadium and an adjacent commercial centre in the Zen quarter of the Sicilian capital.

When met with resistance from then sporting director Rino Foschi, the Mob did not hesitate to employ a method of retaliation that will sound familiar to movie buffs.

Just like film studio boss Jack Woltz was made “an offer he can’t refuse” by Don Vito Corleone in “The Godfather” and woke up to the eery scene of his purebred horse’s bloody severed head in his bed, Foschi was sent the mutilated head of a goat on Christmas Eve, 2006.

Salvatore and Sandro Lo Piccolo – both arrested in November 2007 – had some solid connections inside the fiery patron’s club: Giovanni Pecoraro, close friend of Cosa Nostra Don Salvatore “Totuccio” Milano, and Marcello Trapani, lawyer for the Lo Piccolo’s.

The two men were arrested earlier this week and charged with Mafia association and aggravated extortio, though prosecutors have stressed that Zamparini never backed down in the face of intimidations and the entrepreneur was pleased with the investigation’s outcome.

Honest
“I am happy that has been proved this is an honest club run by good people,” he stated before the Rosanero played in Naples on Wednesday night. “I have heard that a figure [Pecoraro] that we booted out last year, has been apprehended.”

In fact, Pecoraro worked as a representative for the Rosanero youth team, but was dismissed when his name emerged on several pizzini (piece of papers commonly used by the Mob) found in Salvatore Lo Piccolo’s hideout.

But when the dust settled, Pecoraro and Trapani were once again buzzing around all Palermo-related affairs, and they were frequently spotted at the Barbera stadium.

La Repubblica has printed several pictures showing numerous “wise guys” inside the arena: in one of these, boss Salvatore Milano is amicably conversing with Palermo’s Vice President Guglielmo Micciché before the start of a game.

Informers
Antonino Nuccio and Andrea Bonaccorso, former soldiers in the Lo Piccolo clan, are among those who were “flipped” and have become informers for the DDA (Anti-mafia District Department): “San Lorenzo and Resuttana families would get 100 tickets for each home game,” they revealed.

Foschi is not under investigation, but DDA’s prosecutors will reportedly interrogate him over the next few days. Wiretapped phone conversations have also showed that the former sporting director received pressures from Trapani and Pecoraro to introduce a number of youth team players into the first team.

The duo were also football agents for a plethora of Palermo youngsters and planned to quickly increase their market value: Alberto Cossentino and Paolo Carbonaro were indeed represented by Trapani and made their debut in Serie A last season, under Coach Stefano Colantuono.

As if fan violence, stadium bans and poor attendances were not enough, now Calcio presidents have to fend off attacks from mobsters too: while Premier League clubs are taken over by wealthy foreign investors, the Belpaese teams run the risk of falling victim to the organized crime, who tries to spread its voracious tentacles beyond their usual activities and envelop Italians’ favorite toy. A broken toy.

Cosa Nostra’s Hands On VIP Tickets And Youth Talents – Vince Masiello – 28/09/2008 13:15 – This story was found at: http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=885869

The seats were given to the Mafia bosses and divided among members of the Mafia ‘families’ of Palermo, reported Italian daily La Repubblica on Thursday.

Information about the free tickets emerged from prosecutors’ inquiries that led to the arrest of the lawyer of Salvatore Lo Piccolo, one of the most powerful Mafia bosses.

It is alleged that the tickets provided by the football team served as a sort of ‘protection’ racket or ‘pizzo’ and the bosses also pressured Palermo’s coach to use players who were protected by the Mafia bosses.

The aim of the Mafia was to progressively infiltrate the Sicilian team and eventually take control of it.

If somebody refused, threats would quickly arrive to the person putting ‘obstacles’ in the way. There have been claims that on one occasion the decapitated head of a goat with a gag in its mouth was sent to Palermo’s former sporting director, Rino Foschi.

The Italian daily claimed that on another occasion Mafia intermediaries wanted the team to sell a player to a foreign team for two million euros and split one million between Giovanni Pecoraro and Marcello Trapani, two important members and intermediaries of the Lo Piccolo clan.

Both Pecoraro and Trapani were recently arrested by Italy’s finance police and have been accused of extortion and Mafia association against the football team and its President, Maurizio Zamparini.

Trapani also allegedly invested up to eight million euros of Mafia money in construction companies located in the north of Italy.

Italy’s four main criminal organisations are the Sicilian Mafia, the Camorra in Naples and the surrounding Campania region, the ‘Ndrangheta in the southern region of Calabria, and the Sacra Corona Unita in the southern Puglia region.

Football seats reserved for Mafia bosses – AKI – 25 Sept. 2008 – This story was found at: http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Sport/?id=1.0.2512086101

Explosive Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini has stressed that his club is completely clean from any association to the Mafia, and has boasted that any such crime organizations cannot touch the Rosanero while he is in control.

The city of Palermo, as the capital of Sicily, has always had its inevitable links to the Mafia, with the Italian island widely regarded as the birthplace of the Cosa Nostra.

Recently an investigation was carried out which claimed that two figures related to Palermo Football Club had links to a Mafia organisation that was trying to get their hands on affairs related to the new stadium, and a shopping mall to be built in the same area.

The findings showed that the club is clean, and Zamparini has boasted that there is no chance of the Mafia ever infiltrating any of his club’s activities.

“Both I and all my staff have always operated with full transparency,” Zamparini told Mediagol.it.

“I am pleased that this investigation of the magistrates clearly reveals that Palermo Football Club is clean, and is managed by good people.

“With the exception of what happened to Rino Foschi, something which caused me great sorrow, there have been no other attempts at intimidation against my people because I know, and they know, that if it happened again, a minute later I would be gone from Palermo.”

Zamparini was referring to an infamous incident involving Foschi two years ago when the former Palermo sporting director received a, Godfather-style, severed goat’s head in the post, from the Mafia, as a warning after a poor run of results.

The Mafia Can’t Touch Me – Zamparini – 24/09/2008 18:00 – Anthony Sormani – This story was found at: http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=879996

Italy was shocked when hundreds of fans went on a rampage in railway stations in Naples and Rome at the end of August, vandalising trains, intimidating passengers and letting off flares.

Now the government has revealed that at least 27 of them have links with the Camorra, the mafia organisation based in Naples and the surrounding region of Campania.

Reporting to a government committee on the incident, interior minister Roberto Maroni said more than 800 of the 3,000 fans who attended the Rome versus Naples match had criminal records for robbery, drugs, assault and other offences.

“The presence of such a high number of habitual criminals, in particular those belonging or close to the Camorra, constitutes a further risk factor… (for) violence at matches,” said Mr Maroni, a member of the right-wing Northern League party in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition.

Angry at transport delays, around 200 fans rioted on August 31 at Naples train station, forcing passengers off the train to Rome, breaking windows and slashing seats with knives.

On their arrival in Rome they stormed through the city’s main station, Termini, throwing smoke bombs and fireworks, and vandalising the buses that took them to the stadium.

It was a violent start to the Serie A season and led to Napoli fans being banned from travelling to away games for the rest of the season. In his report to the Senate committee, Mr Maroni called for stiffer penalties for attacks by hooligans on police officers and more English-style stewarding of fans.

Once known as the ‘English disease’, hooliganism has been a serious problem for Italian soccer for years.

Measures to deal with violent fans had to be beefed up twice last year, once after the death of a police officer in a riot in Sicily in February and again in November, when fans went on the rampage in Rome after a policeman killed a Lazio fan at a motorway service station.

Links between some football fans and extremist political groups are well known, but ties with the mafia have received less attention.

Italian football fans ‘linked’ to mafia – By Nick Squires in Rome – Last Updated: 3:51PM BST 11 Sep 2008 – Telegraph.co.uk – This story was found at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/2798970/Italian-football-fans-linked-to-mafia.html

Almost 30 in Naples- Rome train rampage close to Camorra

Naples — More than two dozen of the Napoli fans whose hooligan rampage shocked Italy at the start of the season are linked to the Neapolitan mafia or Camorra, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Wednesday.

Reporting to a Senate committee on the incident, Maroni said more than 800 of the 3,000 fans who attended the AS Roma-Napoli game in Rome had criminal records for robbery, drugs, assault and minor offences.

Of these, 27 are believed to have Camorra links, he said, confirming an ”hypothesis” made by the city’s police chief in the aftermath of the events.

”The presence of such a high number of habitual criminals, in particular those belonging or close to the Camorra, constitutes a further risk factor… (for) violence at matches,” Maroni said. On August 31, fans rioted at Naples train station in anger at delays and forced passengers off an Intercity train which they wrecked on their way to the Roma-Napoli game.

Four railwaymen were hurt.

Maroni said some 200 fans were involved in this incident, which caused damage estimated at some 500,000 euros.

The fans also stormed through Termini Station in Rome, throwing smoke bombs and fireworks, and vandalised the buses that took them to the stadium.

Two Napoli fans were arrested at the stadium, one with a knife and the other for arguing with an officer, along with three Roma fans.

The five were released pending trial, adding to polemics.

In response, Maroni said Napoli fans identified from video footage would be regarded as organised criminals and receive two-year stadium bans.

At the time, he also banned all Napoli fans from travelling for the rest of the season. Soccer authorities subsequently closed both stands of Napoli’s San Paolo stadium – where hard-core fans congregate – for the next four home matches.

In his report to the Senate committee, Maroni said moves to privatise grounds, introduce English-style stewarding and stiffen penalties for attacks on police should be sped up.

Last year authorities stepped up anti-hooligan measures twice, once after a police officer’s death in a Catania riot in February and again after a Rome street rampage in November following the death of a Lazio fan killed by a policeman at a motorway service station.

In all, during the course of the season, Italian soccer’s match safety panel issued 30 travel bans: 9 to Napoli, 6 to Roma, 4 each to Catania and Atalanta, 3 to Torino and 2 each to Fiorentina and Cagliari.

This year more matches are expected to be attended only by home fans and more games played behind closed doors.

Authorities have also pledged to root out extremist political elements from fan groups.

Soccer: Napoli fans in Mafia link – ANSA – 2008-09-10 14:14 – This story was found at: http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2008-09-10_110258644.html

“We have found no evidence of ‘Russian or Italian Mafia’ involvement in corrupting the integrity of tennis,” Ben Gunn and Jeff Rees wrote in their report.

“This allegation appears to have arisen from media speculation and has ‘developed in the telling’. We suggest that this remark has been exaggerated in the media and by others to the extent that it has gained a life of its own; it has gained a credence that is unworthy and wholly unsubstantiated on the available evidence.”

However, Gunn and Rees believe that criminal gangs could be at work in tennis. “We do not doubt that criminal elements may be involved in seeking to subvert or corrupt some players or players’ support staff; that may even involve organised criminal gangs, but to elevate that suspicion to a claim of ‘Mafia’ involvement is, in our view, a distortion of the facts and it is positively damaging to the sport,” they wrote.

Gambling on tennis is big business. Figures published yesterday showed that more than £283 million was traded in wagers on Betfair, the peer-to-peer betting exchange, on the men’s matches during last year’s Wimbledon Championships, including more £30 million on the final contested by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The women’s matches attracted trades on Betfair totalling more than £172 million. Those are peer-to-peer bets, but the figures are astonishing and demonstrate what can be gained by those who can establish an illegal edge over the rest of the gamblers.

However, Gunn and Rees said that there was no evidence to suggest that those players who turned down an approach to throw a match and then reported the offer to the authorities were taking a personal risk with their own safety.

“There is a common view that players are afraid of reprisals or threats of violence to themselves or their families if they report any nefarious report. The experience of other sports is that there is no evidence that such a fear is justified.

“We found no evidence of any tennis player or family being threatened following any alleged approach from a would-be corruptor.

“The real danger lies in a player initially complying with a corruptor’s demands and subsequently refusing to co-operate. At that stage, the player may well be vulnerable to threats, blackmail or other forms of coercion.”

The review identified five potential threats to the sport: “Namely, corrupt practice by players and others in respect to gambling; breaches of the rules in relation to tanking [giving up trying to win]; violation of credentials; misuse of inside information and illegal or abusive behaviour towards players.”

No evidence to back Mafia links in tennis – By Mark Hodgkinson – Last Updated: 11:18pm BST 19/05/2008 – Telegraph Media Group Limited – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/05/20/sthodg220.xml

Inter is leading the league by one point over Roma going into the last game, but the club has had a clamorous end to the season after a series of faltering performances and dressing room clashes.

Yesterday, the club’s tailor, Domenico Brescia, 55, was revealed to be a convicted murderer who is close to the Crisafulli Mafia clan.

Brescia is also thought by police to be a cocaine dealer, and his conversations with several Inter players and Roberto Mancini, the manager, were recorded by investigators.

The transcripts of over 2,000 phone calls between Brescia and Mancini, Marco Materazzi, Sinisa Mihajlovic and other members of the club were leaked. The vast majority of the phone calls were mundane and concerned tickets to matches, or alterations to clothes.

However, in one call Mr Mancini is recorded discussing Daniele Bizzozzero, a Mafioso associate of Brescia’s who had fled to Monte Carlo and then Paris in a bid to escape the police.
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“What happened to him,” Mr Mancini is heard asking. “How was he arrested? I told him to stay [in Paris] and wait for a pardon.”

Brescia then said that Bizzozzero was stupid, to which Mr Mancini replied: “He has always behaved well with me.”

Questions were immediately raised about why Mr Mancini was discussing the fate of a criminal, and why he advised him to remain on the run. In other phone calls, Mr Mancini demanded “two coathangers” urgently and another Inter employee referred mysteriously to “packs of stuff” left in Brescia’s car.

However, the police said they had no intention of prosecuting anyone at the club. The club cut all ties with Mr Brescia one month ago, when the full extent of his criminal past became known.

“We have only had commercial relations with Domenico Brescia,” said a spokesman for the club. “He was our emergency tailor, seeing as his shop is very close to our Pinetina training ground. He has never been an Inter employee.”

Brescia’s lawyer, meanwhile, insisted he was close friends with several Inter players and had been visiting the training ground daily for 30 years.

The leak of the documents at such a sensitive time provoked a storm of outrage among Inter’s fans, who insisted that the media was trying to unsettle the team.

In recent days, Luis Figo has been targeted by protestors after he allegedly ran over an unlucky black cat on purpose.

Mr Mancini, meanwhile, has been undermined by the club’s owner, Massimo Moratti, and is expected to leave Inter at the end of the season, with Jose Mourinho arriving as his replacement.

“We have wasted so many opportunities this season,” said Roberto Mancini following last week’s 2-2 draw with Siena. “But I have no fear [about this Sunday's match].”

Meanwhile, the final round of matches threatened to descend into chaos yesterday after Inter fans were banned from travelling to Parma. Roma fans have already been banned from travelling to Catania because of security fears.

Leaders of Inter’s Ultra factions said they would travel to Parma anyway, and called upon “all Inter fans in Italy to make the trip, surround the stadium and make our voices heard”.

Roma fans quickly responded, saying that they would also journey to Parma and cheer the home team.

Both Parma and Catania need to win their respective games to avoid relegation.

Inter Milan caught up in Mafia row – By Malcolm Moore – Last Updated: 9:00pm BST 15/05/2008 – Telegraph Media Group Limited – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/05/15/ufninter115.xml

Nikolay Davydenko has again defended himself against suggestions he threw a tennis match last year, and rubbished talk that he had links with the Russian mafia.

The Association of Tennis Professionals is looking into his match with Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello in Poland last August after an online betting agency voided all wagers because of suspicious betting patterns.

Vassallo Arguello won after losing the first set when Davydenko retired in the third set with an injury.

Davydenko, who progressed to the Australian Open fourth round on Friday with a straight sets victory over Frenchman Marc Gicquel, maintains he couldn’t play on with a stress fracture of the foot.

“I had an examination straight after and (received treatment) for pain relief,” he told reporters Friday. “Injury retirements happen in matches.

“It’s stupid because I’m a top player and I have enough money from prize money and winning tournaments.

“Why (do) I now need to (throw a match for money)? It’s impossible.

“I have tournaments every week and I try every match for possibly two or three hours on court to try to make money like this, not like that (match-fixing).

“Everybody is thinking I’m a bad guy. It’s pretty tough to say every week to the people ‘you know, I didn’t do anything wrong’.”

Vassallo Arguello told a Melbourne newspaper this week that there was nothing untoward in his match against Davydenko.

Davydenko said suggestions he was linked with the Russian mafia were “like something out of a movie”, adding that he was relatively unknown in his home country and that his only ties were his parents who live in a tiny town.

“Around me, I have only my wife, my brother, doctor, family, physio… but I have no mafia around,” he said.

“I never even had Russian sponsors because I moved to Germany early and nobody knows about me in Russia.

“I spent no time in Russia. I have no friends to contact in Russia. How can I be involved with Russian mafia if I’m in Germany. The Russian mafia should come to Germany to see me? It’s not possible, no.

“In Russia, I don’t have any pressure from anyone, not from the Russian Federation because I’ve never been with them.

“I don’t need to pay back money to anyone. I make my own money and play for myself. I have no pressures. I have no credit to give to anyone. I’m free.”

I have wife and family but no mafia – Sapa-AFP – January 18 2008 at 10:24AM – http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=30&art_id=nw20080118101808574C115975