"International soccer authorities and law enforcement officials are struggling to combat rampant game fixing by what they describe as sprawling networks of organized crime, a problem that has plagued the sport for decades but appears to have intensified recently" as reported by Jeff Z. Klein for The New York Times.
What's next in the world? Case fixing judges? Drug trafficking cops? Self-dealing politicians?
More State Department cables have been disclosed by WikiLeaks which reveal the concerns of a diplomat from the U.S. embassy in Sophia that suspected mafia bosses may have their hands in some of Bulgaria's soccer clubs as reported by AFP. A January 2010 cable alleges: "Bulgarian soccer clubs are widely believed to be directly or indirectly controlled by organised crime figures who use their teams as a way to legitimise themselves, launder money, or make a fast buck."
In "coordinated raids across Asia, police investigators arrested more than 5,000 people and seized nearly $10 million in a monthlong operation to smash sophisticated soccer gambling dens that took bets via cellphones and Web sites" which allegedly were connected to organized crime groups further involved with money laundering, prostitution and corruption as reported by Doreen Carvajal for The New York Times: "The police in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand worked with the international police organization, Interpol. Interpol, based in Lyon, said more than 800 gambling dens, which placed more than $155 million in bets, were disrupted."
Declan Hill, author of The Fix: Organized Crime and Soccer, has the back story on the raids for the BBC News, and he cynically advises, perhaps accurately so, that "one should not take them too seriously":
The vast illegal gambling industry has corrupted sports leagues and also many police forces across Asia. I spoke to a number of Malaysian policemen, gamblers and bookmakers who told me about the staged raids that go on. One told me: "Occasionally the bookies will give the police a gambling house to raid. Just for show: keep the system turning. Not make anyone look too bad." * * * The press release on the current arrests speaks of £10m ($15m) being confiscated and 5,000 people being arrested. This is relatively small potatoes.
The latest scandal involving match fixing in European soccer involves "allegations out of Germany [of] criminals supplying sedatives to team doctors and officials to be used to affect players and the outcome of games" as reported by Chris Young for The Toronto Star:
The lawyer for a man accused of kidnapping and fraud in connection with nearly $1.6 million (all figures U.S.) in manipulated soccer bets said that prosecutors believe his client's gang did not shy from "locking up people in basements" or "sedating players" via drugs given to team doctors and hotel cooks. "According to prosecutors, they were extremely violent," Burkhard Benecken, lawyer for a man identified as Deniz C., told the Associated Press. * * * [P]rosecutors believe a network of about 200 people are suspected of being involved, with the ringleaders believed to have profited by at least $15 million, AP reports. * * * German investigators have said that 200 European games are under scrutiny, along with five clubs in Albania and Latvia and nine countries named by German authorities. Few details have been released, but prosecutors have said 15 people have been arrested in Germany and two in Switzerland.
In 1999 he was banned for a year after a magistrate found that he had ''openly exploited the club to his own benefit on an ongoing basis.'' * * * Two members of the former football chief's family have alleged mafia involvement according to a confidential police report obtained by the Herald. The report names two of his relatives as suspected Mafia figures. His cousin, Frank, has been described as ''Il Capo'' in the South Australian Parliament. An investigation by The Age this year revealed that Mr Labbozzetta and the Sydney property developer Pat Sergi had lobbied Liberal politicians to prevent the Victorian mafia figure Francesco Madafferi being deported. Madafferi has since been charged with money laundering, drug importation and conspiracy to murder. Mr Sergi was named at the Woodward royal commission as being a principal in Robert Trimbole's Griffith drug syndicate. The late crime boss fled the country using an airline ticket in a false name obtained from the travel agency of Mr Labbozzetta's family. Mr Sergi and the head of Parramatta Eels, Roy Spagnolo, who are Club Marconi members, have been hitting the phones to muster support for Mr Labbozzetta's attempt to wrest control of the club from its president, Tony Campolongo, who is seeking re-election.
