Twelve chief ultras have been arrested on Monday morning as they were found to have created a criminal strategy to reinstate some privileges that a previous inquiry, that had shown some connections between the Calabria mob and the Curva, had taken away.
The operation “Last banner” discovered that the hardcore fans were blackmailing Juventus in order to get tickets to scalp on. It also revealed a pact among the various groups of supporter, Drughi, Tradizione, Viking and Nucleo 1985, to keep a sort of military control in the Curva. The new investigation was born after the club filed a report a year ago.
The Turin prosecutors charged them with criminal conspiration, stating that the tickets were obtained through violence and that the fans willingly got the Stadium disqualified or the team fined for racist chants in order to get their wishes. The un-affiliated supporters were often prevented from cheering though intimidations. The Curva had a lengthy strike last season that was briefly interrupted in key matches. They supposedly protested because of the spikes in the season ticket prices, but the inquiry now shows that there was more to it.
Among the ones arrested there are the Drughi’s chief Dino Mocciola, his right-hand man Salvatore Sacava, Tradizione leader Umberto Toia, Beppe Franzo, the president of the fan association. They will face trial for conspiracy, extortion, money laundering and private violence.
The head prosecutor Paolo Borgna stated: “Juventus are the victim, but so are other fans that were forced to quit going to the stadium because of intimidations and since they could no longer tolerate the vexations, the general climate in the Curva, the racist slurs that tarnished Turin and Piedmont. It could seem as an obvious thing but this investigation turned the general knowledge about ultras’ behavior into precise evidences of felonies perpetrated by specific persons that will be put on the stand for it.”
The Drughi in particular were able to rack up hundred of tickets with a thorough activity in the whole Italy and with the assistance of some specialized shops. There were 39 raids to get documents in Alessandria, Asti, Como, Savona, Milan, Genoa, Pescara, La Spezia, L’Aquila, Florence, Monza, Bergamo and Biella. Most of the ultras involved were able to have a firm grip on the proceedings in the stands even though they were hit with a 10-year stadium bans in the past. The police racked up over 225 wiretaps to help the investigation.
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