Mafia, Football and Ultras: How Organized Crime Cave The San Siro Tribunes
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In recent years, Italian football has become not only a billion -made business, but also an arena where organized crime has demonstrated its new face of influence.
On September 30 last year, police searched for over 40 addresses in Milan and arrested 19 people. This marked the beginning of the biggest lawsuit against football fans in the history of Calcho. The revelations about the warm connection of the leading ultrace groups of « Inter » and « Milan » with the mafia shook the public of the Apennines And they emphasized how deep the criminal structures can penetrate into the heart of national football culture. Milan Paolo Storari District Prosecutor probably feels like the late Giovanni Falcone felt in life, since without security he could not go out to throw away the garbage, and the trial began in March against 16 of the agitators of Nerazuri and Rosoni.
The mechanism of mastering
As early as 15 years ago, Ndrangeta penetrated the most extreme ultrasound of Juventus and tried to use fenator organizations to grow a business in Turin. The unleashing of the ball of connections between the football ultrasounds of the other rich city in northern Italy – Milan, and organized criminal groups begins with a seemingly ordinary murder with a seemingly ordered murder.
| The head of the agitation of « Inter » Vittorio Boioki was shot in front of his home on Fiteli Otheperanza Street, an hour before the match of Inter with Sampdoria in 2022. |
The 60-year-old Ultras, popular with the nickname Uncle, has led the 2019 campaign. Uncle has served a 26-year sentence for drug trafficking, abductions and armed robberies. And it starts to knit an even thicker network of dependencies between the end fractions among the Nerazzurri and the Mafia ultras. A year later, only from the economic activities of Giuseppe Meazza – ticket speculation, sale of fan items, etc. Bojki is already over € 1 million a year, according to the investigation. His runner -up – Andrea Bereta, however, has another plan. To take his place and allied with ‘ndrangets to raise the business to a qualitatively different level.
Inter spokesman for « Inter » Marko Ferdiko makes contact between Bereta and Antonio Beloko, a member of the famous Calabrian family with a huge influence in the ‘Ndrangeta. From that moment on, the fate of Vittorio Boioki-Chicho has been resolved. And the investigators and the Milan Prosecutor’s Office, who are already eavesdropping on everyone involved, know that things are getting serious because the ‘ndrangeta arrives in Milan.
| On October 29, 2022, the Bojoki killer fired 5 times on the move of a 9mm Luger pistol, Czech production, and 2 of the bullets were deadly. |
The power over Kurva Nord moves to Bereta and Beloko, who, according to special intelligence, are not interested in football, but only in profit.
From ideology to criminal business
With the help of Antonio, the Beloko Dwarf, Andrea Bereta builds a large-scale network through which he minestize almost every part of the fan culture of San Siro Stadium. From a resale of tickets with an election of 300-500%, through control over VIP parking lots and the sale of goods, to the influence on coaches – the Mafia uses ultras as a control tool.
In 2023, at the Champions League final between Inter « Inter » and « Manchester City », Beloko and Bereta made a profit of approximately 270,000 euros alone from a resale of tickets. They buy wholesale gaps for about 100 euros and resell them for 900-1000 euros.
| The total value of their gray economy around the stadium is estimated at 1.5 million euros a year, according to the Italian prosecutor’s office. |
Part of the revenue is returned to ‘ndrangets and are used for money laundering, financing international traffic and purchasing weapons.
Fragile alliances and internal wars
However, the Union between Beloko and Bereta is short -lived. At the end of 2024, the tension between them escalated. According to investigators, Beloko wants to displace the beret from the management of the fan articles We are milanowhose turnover is estimated at about € 200,000 a year. In September 2024, after training in the gym, they both climb in a white sedan where
| Bereta stabs white, 21 times, and the latter manages to shoot him in his feet before. Beloko crawls from the car and dies on the pavement. |
This event puts an end to the Union and speeds up the large -scale investigation. At the time of the crime, both Beloko and Bereta are eavesdropped by the services. Transcripts of their telephone conversations are among the thousands of pages of police and court documents, some of which have already been published by La repubblica and The Washington PostS These documents, along with hours interrogations, show how organized crime has penetrated the highest levels of Italian football culture.
Therefore, the revelations do not stop there. Authorities have found that Beloko and his people have maintained ties with Luke Luchi -Joker, the leader of Milan’s ultras and also accused of international trafficking in 2 tonnes of cocaine. The two groups of warring the stands are cooperating behind the scenes to divide the revenue from ticket sales, including for the 2023 Champions League final, for which a total of over € 500,000 was expected.
| Investigators have a video recording that clearly shows Beloko and his right hand Ferdiko enter the Luke Luchy Tattoo Studio Italian ink in the center of Milan. |
At that time, the derby della Madonina in the Champions League semifinals and the two groups agreed to separate the profit from the tickets in Istanbul, which from both teams to qualify for him.
The Bulgarian trace
According to the « flying squad » of the special services of Milan, leading the investigation, an indisputable guarantor of the murder of Bojoki in 2022 is Andrea Bereta. Bereta himself is currently a protected witness in the hope of avoiding the bloody retribution of the ‘Ndrangeta for the death of Antonio Beloko. Bereta admits that he paid 50,000 euros for the elimination of Bojoki 3 years ago, with Marko Ferdiko, his father Gianfranco, Christian Ferrario, Pietro Andrea Simoncini, directly involved in the murder – the relationship with the ‘Ndrangeta, and Daniel D’Alesandro.
| D’Alesandro was arrested in a special operation of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior-Burgas on April 12 this year at a hotel in the resort of Sveti Vlas and after the ruling of the Court of Appeal-Burgas is to be extradited to Italy. |
The role of football clubs
The question that logically follows: How do world -renowned Italian football clubs allow similar pressure from ultras? How did none of the club guides signal for mafia pressure?
| Police eavesdrop on a conversation in which Marko Ferdiko directly threatens coach Simone Inzagi that fans will cause problems in the final against Manchester City in Istanbul if they are not provided with another 200 tickets. |
I’ll be short, sir. We have a thousand tickets, but we need 200 more to be calm.
Marco Ferdiko. A spokesman for « Inter » Ultras
Inzagi agrees to forward the request to the administration and the tickets are provided.
Inter and Milan are the property of the US Oaktree Capital respectively (which controls assets for over $ 160 billion) and Redbird Capital, which in 2022 bought Milan for $ 1.2 billion. Both clubs are under pressure from the state to actively assist in the process of clearing of mafia influence.
| Inzaghi and one of the best players in the team Hakan Chalhanoglu were punished to miss a match for their unauthorized contacts with the Ultras. |
The punishment is unprecedented and comes as a result of an agreement by the two with the prosecutor’s office of Milan, which also imposed a € 70,000 fine on Inter and 30,000 euros on Milan. The officers for relationships with the supporters of the two clubs are also sanctioned (Slo – Supporters Liaison Officers).
Mafia and Football – Contemporary Symbiosis
Football is a huge industry. Merchandising revenue, television rights, tickets and sponsorship exceeds € 25 billion a year in Europe. This makes him a logical target for the mafia. But in Italy – a country where football is not only a game, but a cultural identity – mafia intervention is particularly destructive.
| ‘Ndrangets not only benefits from ultras, but also uses access to stadiums as a way to build political and economic contacts. |
Control over parking lots and VIP areas is not just for profit, but for access to influential figures. The entrance to certain areas of the stadium was controlled with « security tax », reaching up to 1000 euros per match for some clients.
In addition, part of the revenue from the sale of beer and food around the stadium (about 20,000 euros per game) also went to the structures of the mafia. The system was so well built that even suppliers were obliged to work with « established » intermediaries.
The case with « Inter » and « Milan » is just the tip of the iceberg. The investigation of the prosecutor’s office and the Milan police shows how organized crime can master a key public space – such as the football stadium – and make it a source of power and money.
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Football should remain a field of passion and sports culture. But if the state, clubs and real football fans do not respond decisively, the stadiums can become a scene for the next act of the Mafia Theater – this time not in the shadows, but in the center of public attention. If these economic chains are not interrupted, football clubs will become involuntary complicit in money laundering, tax evasion and transnational crime financing. And if the similarities in this picture with real faces and events from the Bulgarian football reality seem real, the mistake is not in you. There are many similarities, and the difference is only one, but essential – in Bulgaria, a similar large -scale investigation seems impossible. At least for now.
