The list of their crimes is long and brutal. Do not be surprised that the Slovak captain was trembling and afraid in front of them – Other – Football

Slovak football representative Milan Škriniar very unwillingly became part of a serious case, the threads of which go all the way to the dreaded Southern Italian mafia ‘Ndrangheta. She wanted to spin up her business in the north of the country through the Milanese ultras.

And what does Captain Škriniar have to do with it?

Requested meeting

In the past, he met with the leading members of “Curva Nord”, the largest, but also somewhat feared fan group of Inter Milan. Some of its members have been in pre-trial detention since the end of September.

It turns out that criminal episodes of football radicals happened all too often in both Milanese clubs during the past years.

This involved ticket sales, parking control at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium (San Siro) and the introduction of “protection”, i.e. a kind of bribe in exchange for payment to street sellers of T-shirts and other counterfeits.

Although the practices of ultras may have been suspected, evidence was lacking. However, Škriniar’s meeting with them is nothing new.

“In February 2023, when it was evident that the relationship between Milan Škriniar and Inter was broken and that he was going to leave him for free after the expiration of his contract, an hour or two before the Milan derby kick-off, the ultras published and handed out a letter to all of us in the stadium that they had spoken to him and they cleared the air about his situation and why he is leaving,” journalist Nima Tavallaey Roodsari, expert on Inter Milan and founder of the website semperinter.com, recalls for Športweb.

In a letter that the ultras circulated around the stadium, they explained the entire genesis of the transfer scams, placing much of the blame for the unexpected split on Inter Milan’s management.

Finally, read what is written in its conclusion. “Recognizing that the whole situation was poorly handled, to say the least, and hoping that it would be a lesson for the future, we decided to look forward with Inter in our hearts.

We will do it without any animosity towards Škriniar, who by right should no longer wear the captain’s armband, but he still deserves our respect for everything he has done on the pitch.”

It is said to be common

To clarify the situation – the transfer saga of Milan Škriniar from Inter Milan dragged on for many months. The club has been pressuring him since autumn to sign a new contract, but the native of Žiar nad Hronom has already decided to leave. He thus lost not only the captain’s armband, but also a place in the starting line-up.

In this case too, it turned out that anyone wants to have a hand in Italian football, perhaps even ultras groups, which are often connected to the local underworld.

According to the Milanese investigators, who recently got hold of the phone recordings, representatives from “Curva Nord” – even with the knowledge of the club itself – forced a meeting with Škriniar.

Marcom Ferdico and Mauro Nepi simply had to find out what and how…

They first went to the training center to see him, but since they couldn’t get there, they met him at a restaurant near the stadium. It all happened in 20 minutes. According to the file, Ultras asked Škriniar about his future.

“In any case, he is leaving… He has already made up his mind one hundred percent,” read the message, which both “fans” subsequently sent to their boss.

“However, it is very common in Italian football. In all clubs. Just look at the photo that Napoli ultras took with the owner of the club, Aurelio De Laurentiis, after they had some misunderstanding between them.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic also writes about these practices in his book. Unfortunately, that’s how it is,” emphasizes Tavallaey Roodsari.

Hamšík’s watch

Finally, Marek Hamšík’s Neapolitan experiences from his long tenure at the famous club from Campania can testify to the fact that it is not that far from the mafia environment to the football field in Italy.

Perhaps, when the police discovered a photo of him together with one of its bosses, Domenico Pagano, during a raid against the Camorra in 2010. According to the police, the legendary “Marekiaro” had no idea who he was taking pictures with.

At the beginning of his time in SSC, he lost his watch, which is said to be absolutely normal in Naples, and he still says it was his fault. But Hamšík does not steal without consequences, and the mafia gave the long-fingered man a hard time.

“Later I learned that he also got something for it,” the national team’s record holder smiled recently in an interview with Sport TV.

In 2014, he calmed the ultras directly from the playing field, as the match with Fiorentina was preceded by violent clashes and police shooting. Hamšík had to look into the eyes of Gennaro De Tommaso – the son of the Camorra.

“The watch case is not at all atypical. It’s almost common for ultras to protect players like this, but this protection comes at a price. And that is the approach to them. They are under pressure. For example, so that they don’t refuse a meeting like Škriniar,” explains Tavallaey Roodsari.

The Italian investigators mention that the defender of PSG did not care about everything during the debate with the ultras. “You could see how his voice was shaking… He was a bit scared…” was heard in the wiretapped telephone conversation.

“And most people should understand him. And to understand its reasons. Especially when they read about the crimes some of the members are accused of. Which also answers the question about the impact – whether, for example, they have an impact on the possible expulsion of the player from the club,” repeats the Inter Milan expert.

The biggest shame

According to the Italian media, Inter’s coach Simone Inzaghi (he was supposed to provide extra tickets for the ultras to the 2023 Champions League final), vice president Javier Zanetti, will be the first to testify in front of the investigator, and it is said that it will be Skriniar’s turn after him.

According to the prosecutors, their personal meetings with the ultras were a way for the “fans” there to make the club understand that “the new management of Curva Nord will be involved in several matters, including those related to the transfer market”.

Denník N reports that, according to its information, the Slovak representative will not be interviewed after all.

In any case, such meetings are against the local sports rules, La Repubblica writes that the investigators are therefore trying to determine whether the contact that Inzaghi and Škriniar had with the ultras was related to the case under investigation. If they come to such a conclusion, penalties could also be imposed.

According to the Tuttosport portal, the case that causes the Nerazzurri the biggest shame is the case of Milan Škriniar.

The prosecutor’s office and sports justice are interested in the reasons that led Inter to give permission for a meeting between ultras and players whose contract is expiring and who does not intend to renew it. The investigator will be interested in whether the club indirectly pressured the 29-year-old Slovak.

Corriere dello Sport recalls that none of the former or current protagonists of Inter will be the subject of the investigation, “but they are people informed of the facts regarding the relations with the arrested ultras”.

“Therefore, they will give their testimony in accordance with the provisions of Article 362 of the Criminal Code, which obliges them to answer truthfully the questions that will be put to them.

Inzaghi, Zanetti, Calhanoglu, Škriniar and the captain of AC Milan Calabria will not be able to exercise the right not to answer, as the aforementioned Article 362 of the Criminal Code says:

Refusing to answer or answering falsely; or restraint towards public administration are expressly punished according to § 371 bis of the Criminal Code.”

Football and then a knife

The whole case was started by a tragic case in early September, when the Milan police arrested Andrea Beretta, the top boss of the Curva Nord, after he killed Antonio Bellocco, a person close to the Calabrian Ndrangheta, by stabbing him eleven times – six times in the neck and five times in the heart – in front of a local gym. He was the son of a respected mafia boss.

According to the Ansa news agency, the two had been friends for many years and the night before the brutal murder, they played a little football together with other Milan fans. The reason for this act was said to be the deals on San Siro. Bellocco was to demand a division of the profits from the trade and threatened.

“Bellocco joined the ultras because he wanted to make money. His murder by the leader of the ultras is easily explained by the fact that Bellocco wanted to take command of the shops and concentrate all the illegal income for himself,” describes the motive of the murder for the newspaper N Filippo Conticello of Gazzetta dello Sport.

Beretta has been the leader of the Curva Nord for some time, this position is handed down among the Inter ultras according to the exact hierarchy. He was the right-hand man of the former boss Vittorio Boiocchi for years and took this position only after his death. Boiocchi was shot dead in 2022 after a drug-related incident.

PSG does not suit him

For Milan Škriniar, the current investigation is an unwanted inconvenience, but his work at Inter Milan is already a thing of the past. However, he is currently unsuccessfully fighting for a place in the PSG starting line-up. He recently made it clear that he does not like the position in the French big club at all.

Tavallaey Roodsari watched his performances week after week at Inter, but he suspected that it would not be easy for the Qatari billionaire.

“I’m not surprised he’s struggling after the appointment of Luis Enrique. Skriniar plays best when the defensive line isn’t too high, as he’s not the fastest in the world.

I think this is a big factor why he is not doing well in Paris. Together with his injuries, these are serious reasons for concern,” he thinks.

At the end of the transfer period, it was speculated that the Slovak defender could go to Saudi Arabia, and in recent days, Juventus Turin has been mentioned.

“However, a possible return to Inter is impossible. For a simple reason – club president Giuseppe Marotta and sports director Piero Ausilio made it clear that their relationship with Škriniar ended in November-December 2022.

The local ultras would probably welcome him, of course, if he showed them again that he is fighting for this jersey. This is the most important thing for all football fans when evaluating any player,” adds Tavallaey Roodsari.

Andrea Baretta, arrested head of Curva Nord.