Officers investigating match-fixing scandal search room of defender Domenico Criscito days before championships start
Police officers swooped on the Italian national football team's training camp at dawn on Monday to search the room of defender Domenico Criscito, and inform him he is being investigated in a widening match-fixing scandal.
At the same time as the visit, which came just days before the start of the European football championships, police arrested 19 people, including 11 players, among them Stefano Mauri, the captain of leading Serie A side Lazio, and placed Antonio Conte, the manager of champions Juventus, under investigation.
Officers arrived at the Italian team's camp at Coverciano in Tuscany at 6.40am to tell former Genoa defender Domenico Criscito he would face questions in the investigation into gambling on fixed results, which has already seen one team docked points and players handed lengthy suspensions.
"You can imagine the atmosphere here, everyone knows everyone and people are not exactly calm," one official at the camp told the Guardian. Of the 32 players invited to Coverciano, around 27 were due to be named on Monday on a provisional list for championships by team manager Cesare Prandelli, with the final list of 23 to be unveilde on Tuesday. Criscito, who plays for Zenit St Petersburg, was expected to make the cut.
Magistrates in Cremona who are running the investigation have focused previously mainly on Serie B matches, but Monday's operation revealed that investigators now have the top division in their sights.
Among those arrested were Omar Milanetto, the former captain of Genoa, and Sampdoria striker Christian Bertani, as well as fixers who allegedly paid off players to lose games or pre-arrange the number of goals to be scored. The investigation of JConte concerns his time at Siena.
The Juventus manager's lawyer, Antonio De Rencis said: "Conte's reaction is that of someone who's completely innocent and strongly determined to prove his total innocence."
Siena president Massimo Mezzaroma has also been placed under investigation.
"The searches are connected to what's happening with Siena," said Cremona prosecutor Roberto Di Martino. "There are seven, eight games being looked at and there have been statements that make us think they were manipulated. The searches involved players, coaches and directors of the club, including Conte and Mezzaroma."
Di Martino said said the search of the national squad's training camp concerned just one player
"We shouldn't place too much emphasis on the blitz at Coverciano, it is a problem that concerns only Criscito and not other players in the national team at the moment," he said.
"Also we shouldn't place too much emphasis on this anyway, the notification of an impending investigation is a tool we have, but not a guilty judgment. There's been no action taken against Criscito travelling, he can play at the Euros easily."
Italian media reported that Serie A games last season under suspicion involved Napoli, Sampdoria, Brescia, Bari, Lecce, Palermo, Lazio and Genoa.
La Repubblica reported on Monday that investigators were interested in a meeting held in May 2011 in a Genoa restaurant by Genoa players Giuseppe Sculli and Domenico Criscito, two members of Genoa's Ultra fan groups and a known Bosnian criminal.
Investigators believe that much of the match-rigging was organised by an eastern European gang known as The Gypsies, which allegedly paid out thousands of euros to players.
Cremona magistrates have been issuing arrest warrants since last year as they work through their investigation, dubbed Last Bet. They are also passing their conclusions to Italy's football federation, which is referring players to its own sporting tribunal, which is handing down sporting convictions well ahead of pending criminal trials.
The federation will start a massive trial on 31 May involving 22 clubs, 52 players and 33 matches, mostly played in Italy's Serie B in recent seasons.
Magistrates in Bari and Naples are meanwhile mounting their own investigations into match fixing.
Italian football was rocked in 2006 by the Calciopoli match-influencing investigation, which resulted in relegation for Juventus and the stripping of two of its league titles. A number of players playing for team tainted by the scandal were preparing for World Cup duty as the news broke, but went on to lift the cup.
"I would say without doubt that is devastating news," said Giovanni Trapatoni, the Italian manager of the Irish national team. "What could be the Italian team's reaction? On one side it is clear that news like this can bring people down, but it could also push them to show the clean face of football," he said. "As someone who has been abroad for years, I have to say we are creating an ugly image for our football." Read More
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