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‘Betrayed by football’: Italian fugitive arrested in Greece

A fugitive on Italy's most-wanted list has been caught on the Greek island of Corfu after he was photographed as he celebrated Napoli's first Serie A title in 33 years, Italian police said on Saturday.

Published: 5 August 2023 15:00 CEST

Greek police officers

Greek police forces collaborated with Italian authorities in apprehending fugitive Vincenzo La Porta on the island of Corfu. Photo by Sakis MITROLIDIS / AFP

Vincenzo La Porta, 60, had been on the run for 11 years, and is “considered to have close ties” to the Camorra crime organisation in the southern Italian city of Naples, a police statement said.

He was sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison for his role in a criminal group skilled in tax evasion and fraud.

Police in Naples said they “never gave up” and “waited for him to make a misstep”.

“Then they found him, on the Greek island of Corfu. What betrayed him was his passion for football and for Napoli”, police said.

After a 33-year wait, Napoli won its first Serie A title since the days of Diego Maradona last May.

READ ALSO: Police arrest dozens in major raid on Italy’s youngest mafia

“La Porta could not help but celebrate. The police recognised him in a photo taken outside a restaurant,” in which the fugitive could be seen holding aloft a scarf in the team’s white and blue colours.

He was wearing a baseball cap, but investigators were sure they had their man. With help from their Greek colleagues, police began tailing La Porta.

He was then stopped as he rode his scooter and arrested. Greek police said the arrest took place on Friday.

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Italy's Liguria regional president arrested in corruption probe

Liguria President Giovanni Toti, a right-wing former MEP who was close to late prime minister Silvio Berlusconi but is no longer party aligned, was placed under house arrest, Genoa prosecutors said in a statement.

The 55-year-old is accused of having accepted 74,100 euros in funds for his election campaign between December 2021 and March 2023 from prominent local businessmen, Aldo Spinelli and his son Roberto Spinelli, in return for various favours.

These allegedly included seeking to privatise a public beach and speeding up the renewal for 30 years of the lease of a Genoa port terminal to a Spinelli family-controlled company, which was approved in December 2021.

A total of 10 people were targeted in the probe, also including Paolo Emilio Signorini, who stepped down last year as head of the Genoa Port Authority, one of the largest in Italy. He was being held in jail on Tuesday.

He is accused of having accepted from Aldo Spinelli benefits including cash, 22 stays in a luxury hotel in Monte Carlo – complete with casino chips, massages and beauty treatments – and luxury items including a 7,200-euro Cartier bracelet.

The ex-port boss, who went on to lead energy group Iren, was also promised a 300,000-euro-a-year job when his tenure expires, prosecutors said.

In return, Signorini was said to have granted Aldo Spinelli favours including also working to speed up the renewal of the family’s port concession.

The Spinellis are themselves accused of corruption, with Aldo – an ex-president of the Genoa and Livorno football clubs – placed under house arrest and his son Roberto temporarily banned from conducting business dealings.

In a separate strand of the investigation, Toti’s chief of staff, Matteo Cozzani, was placed under house arrest accused of “electoral corruption” which facilitated the activities of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra Mafia.

As regional coordinator during local elections in 2020, he was accused of promising jobs and public housing in return for the votes of at least 400 Sicilian residents of Genoa.

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