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CRIME

Police arrest 18 ‘ultra’ football fans over drug-fuelled violence

Italian police announced on Tuesday the arrest of 18 'ultra' fans of Atalanta suspected of drug trafficking, extortion, robbery and acts of violence in and around the Serie A club's stadium.

Published: 7 March 2017 14:07 CET
Updated: 7 March 2017 16:07 CET
Police arrest 18 'ultra' football fans over drug-fuelled violence
Atalanta supporters cheer on their team with a banner reading 'No Fear'. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP

Atalanta are enjoying their best season to date in Italy's top flight, sitting in fifth place only four points off the league's third and last Champions League qualifying spot.

But the Bergamo club's reputation for boasting one of the most fervent match day supports in Italy has been dented amid charges of trafficking and drug-fuelled violence by dozens of supporters, including a 73-year-old and a 63-year-old.

An investigation was launched in September 2015, in which police used hidden cameras around the stadium and the city and intercepted “hundreds” of telephone calls between suspects before launching a raid codenamed 'Mai Una Gioia' (Never a Joy).

A joint raid by Italy's Polizia di Stato (National Police) and Bergamo police on Tuesday morning uncovered large quantities of drugs at several addresses, leading to the arrest of 18 fans from a total of 26 questioned, according to statements.

“During the course of the investigation, hundreds of hours of intercepted calls and hidden camera footage have helped document dozens of cash exchanges, the violent robbery of a drug courier and several extortion attempts on drug users unable to pay their debts,” said a statement by the Italian National Police.

It was accompanied by photos of the drugs uncovered during the raid, posted on the Polizia di Stato Twitter account with a statement which said: “Seized by Bergamo police during the #Maiunagioia operation, leading to 18 arrests, eight precautionary measures and 30 stadium bans.”

The police statement said fans used secret language to buy and sell drugs, mainly cocaine and marijuana, in and around the stadium, after which “acts of violence” often followed.

Police had to intervene in the centre of Bergamo last January following violent clashes between 'ultra' fans from Inter Milan and Atalanta.

CRIME

Italy has most recovery fund fraud cases in EU, report finds

Italy is conducting more investigations into alleged fraud of funds from the EU post-Covid fund and has higher estimated losses than any other country, the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) said.

Published: 8 April 2024 17:05 CEST
Italy has most recovery fund fraud cases in EU, report finds

The EPPO reportedly placed Italy under special surveillance measures following findings that 179 out of a total of 206 investigations into alleged fraud of funds through the NextGenerationEU programme were in Italy, news agency Ansa reported.

Overall, Italy also had the highest amount of estimated damage to the EU budget related to active investigations into alleged fraud and financial wrongdoing of all types, the EPPO said in its annual report published on Friday.

The findings were published after a major international police investigation into fraud of EU recovery funds on Thursday, in which police seized 600 million euros’ worth of assets, including luxury villas and supercars, in northern Italy.

The European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, established to help countries bounce back from the economic blow dealt by the Covid pandemic, is worth more than 800 billion euros, financed in large part through common EU borrowing.

READ ALSO: ‘It would be a disaster’: Is Italy at risk of losing EU recovery funds?

Italy has been the largest beneficiary, awarded 194.4 billion euros through a combination of grants and loans – but there have long been warnings from law enforcement that Covid recovery funding would be targeted by organised crime groups.

2023 was reportedly the first year in which EU financial bodies had conducted audits into the use of funds under the NextGenerationEU program, of which the Recovery Fund is part.

The EPPO said that there were a total of 618 active investigations into alleged fraud cases in Italy at the end of 2023, worth 7.38 billion euros, including 5.22 billion euros from VAT fraud alone.

At the end of 2023, the EPPO had a total of 1,927 investigations open, with an overall estimated damage to the EU budget of 19.2 billion euros.

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