Those who expected a parade of well-known football faces in front of the Turin offices of the Public Prosecutor's Office will have to wait. At least until the magistrates have acquired and screened the chats in which there could be elements useful for the investigation of betting. Those bets on unlicensed sites that could become a small setback from a legal point of view, but a gigantic stumbling block for the career of the players involved (for now there are three suspects) if made on sporting events, suddenly slamming them off the field and for not insignificant times. The forensic copies of their mobile phones will presumably be acquired this week, with the appropriate summons from the lawyers, and only then will it be necessary to possibly proceed with those to hear them in person.
The investigation by the federal prosecutor's office, led by Giuseppe Chinè, starts with that of the ordinary magistracy of Turin. The police flying squad deals with a file that is part of an investigation by the District Anti-Mafia Directorate on illegal bets with the aim of money laundering or illicit earnings of large sums. A part that does not concern the players under investigation.
The names for now are those of Nicolò Fagioli, a Juventus player, Nicolò Zaniolo, a former Roma striker and now at Aston Villa, and Sandro Tonali, a former AC Milan player and now at Newcastle, and they are a sort of collateral discovery. They could only be called to answer for 'abusive exercise of gaming and betting activities', an offence provided for by Law 401 of 1989, punishable by a fine and imprisonment of up to three months, but with the possibility of leaving the trial by paying a sum as an oblation. Basically they bet on the wrong sites, illicit sites. Nicola Zalewski, Roma's Polish full-back, is not among the suspects, called into question by Fabrizio Corona in his social media revelations on the matter. Nor is it a foregone conclusion that the entire dozen names that the photographer has announced to make will end up being investigated by the judiciary: The next revelations on Tuesday after the national team match. The risk to sports careers, on the other hand, is tangible.
It would be a slap in the face, if the investigation conducted by the Federal Prosecutor's Office were to lead to the ascertainment of the violation of art. Article 24 of the Code of Sports Justice, which deals with the "prohibition of betting and obligation to report", in paragraph 3 speaks of a disqualification of not less than three years (it can reach up to disqualification), which with plea bargaining or collaboration in investigations can reduce the penalty from a third to over 50%. The Code goes further, obliging professionals to immediately inform the FIGC Prosecutor's Office if they become aware of bets by others, individuals or companies.
Meanwhile, other details are emerging in the press. The newspaper La Repubblica claims that Leo Bonucci knew about the Fagioli affair, but he is not involved in betting. After all, Juve have already made it known that they have informed the FIGC, as soon as they learned of Fagioli's possible involvement. "We are sorry for him, we immediately took action with the Federal Prosecutor's Office. It will not only serve to punish the boy, but we need to re-educate the system," says its sporting director, Cristiano Giuntoli, speaking from the Trento Sports Festival. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Tonali's former teammate, also said that he needed help: "I know little about this story, I've never heard anything from him, I've never heard him feel bad. If he is sick of gambling, you have to help him, because it is like a drug. You have to figure out if he played at the casino, I did too. Then, of course, if you bet on football, it's another story."
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