The Italian police are carrying out a large operation this Monday in Milan (north), with dozens of arrests and searches among ultra fans of the Inter and Milan football clubs, including their leaders, suspected of “criminal infiltration”, with mafia links . “Since the early hours of this morning, a vast operation by the State Police and the Finance Guard has been underway, coordinated by the Anti-Mafia Directorate of the Milan Prosecutor’s Office,” both police forces indicated in a joint statement. Those arrested are suspected of “the crimes of criminal conspiracy, with the aggravation of the mafia method, in addition to extortion, injuries and other serious crimes.”
In the maxi-operation in Milan, “with the focus on the directives of the organized fans of the two Milanese soccer teams,” the agents also executed other precautionary measures, search warrants and numerous searches. Among those arrested is one of Inter’s main ultras leaders, Marco Ferdico, very close to Antonio Bellocco, who was murdered on September 4 by Andrea Beretta, head of the club’s ultras. Luca Lucci, head of the Milanese ultras, already convicted of drugs, has also been arrested, in addition to Christian Rosiello, bodyguard of the well-known Italian rapper Fedez, according to local media.
“The suspects are almost all related to the ultra fans of the two main Milanese teams and the crimes are related to the football business,” the note explains. There are a total of 19 precautionary measures, 16 in prison and 3 under house arrest. The police operation comes weeks after the murder of Belloco, one of the most recognized figures of the radical Inter group and linked to the ‘Ndrangheta, the powerful Calabrian mafia, stabbed by Beretta after being shot. Already then it was suspected that the fight between the two, fatal for Bellocco, could be related to a much deeper plot of illegal businesses that the Milan Prosecutor’s Office is now investigating.
