Drug violence in Rosario and soccer: the beginnings of a world champion and suspicions about his pass

The bullets that stung -symbolically- near the

once again brought the attention of drug violence to the soccer spectrum.

In Argentina, a decade ago, the Justice came to investigate the pass of

, recently champion in

, on suspicion that a percentage of his pass corresponded to the

gang , which controls a large part of the illegal traffic of drugs in Rosario

Drug trafficking collects millions daily outside the system.

To enter it into the circuit, a business that matches these figures is necessary:

.

Shortly after Correa's debut as a professional in San Lorenzo 2013, the soccer player was summoned by the Rosario Justice, which sought to determine whether or not Los Monos owned a percentage of his pass, which was already beginning to trade strongly.

Because?

After the murder of

, listed as one of the leaders of the gang, in the investigation of the case, wiretaps were carried out in which Correa's family began to be mentioned on several occasions.

Correa is from Rosario and lived part of his childhood in the Las Flores neighborhood, precisely the epicenter of Los Monos

.

The suburb in which the Atlético Madrid forward rehearsed his first dribbling on the outskirts of the Santa Fe metropolis is the same one where one of the largest gangs dedicated to drug trafficking in the country was established.

There he lived with his nine siblings and their parents, until in 2007 he left the city to live in Buenos Aires, after signing as a youth player for Ciclón.

Ángel Correa was born in the same neighborhood where the Los Monos empire began to be built.

Photo: EFE

Then, his representative was Francisco Lapiana, targeted by the Justice for an alleged relationship with Los Monos.

When he was summoned to testify, Correa already had

as proxy and with the permission of the club, the striker returned to Rosario to respond -as a witness-, the way in which the different participations of his pass were made up.

He was 18 years old.

In the wiretaps, they recorded conversations between Lapiana – his former representative and who took him to the test in San Lorenzo, and

, alias

, one of the leaders of Los Monos.

The representative also had a previous case for counterfeiting money and the investigation followed the hypothesis that he could be one of the gang's front men.

In court, Correa said that 60 percent of his pass corresponded to San Lorenzo, 30 was still in the hands of Lapiana and the remaining 10 to Giménez, his representative.

As a precautionary measure, the Justice informed San Lorenzo of the impossibility of transferring the soccer player, since the portions of his pass could be considered evidence.

But that time, Correa also answered for his relationship with alleged members of Los Monos: his voice was also recorded in the wiretaps.

Monchi and Correa were talking on the phone before a San Lorenzo-Boca game in which the footballer had a notable performance and put the final 3-0 with which he won the

.

In the previous one the two spoke naturally about the tickets and the parking obtained for Machuca and others to enter the stadium.

During the early hours of Thursday they shot at the Único supermarket that belongs to the family of Antonela Roccuzzo.

In addition to the shots, a message dedicated to the captain of the Argentine National Team was found.

Photo: Juan Jose Garcia

In his response, he explained that he knew the people mentioned because of their relationship in the Las Flores neighborhood, where they were all from.

The case continued, Correa was again summoned to testify, but he refrained from attending because he already lived in Spain, after being transferred to Atlético de Madrid.

Lapiana was pointed out as one of the front men of Los Monos but was acquitted at the end of 2019 of the accusations of illicit association and money laundering.

That same year, one of the leaders of the Los Monos hit men, Leandro Olivera, was arrested in Rosario along with his partner, Julieta

, Ángel's sister, and released hours later for not finding any connection to the gang.

But the "mega cause" did not only include the name of Correa.

There were another 120 footballers under the magnifying glass of Justice, including

, when he went from the lower ranks of Newell's to Boca, long before the sale to Valencia of Spain was finalized.

A percentage of the Rosario midfielder was also from Lapiana.

Without tools to verify it, soccer is not shown with stains from the Creole drug trafficking cartels, no matter how eloquent the links may seem.

The investigation did not prevent Correa from developing his career or that of any of the other soccer players whose last names appear on the case sheets.

In any case, for the investigation that ended with several members of Los Monos behind bars,

look too

He threatens Messi: "They don't take care of Rosario. We can't chase even a motorcycle," said Javkin and crossed Aníbal Fernández

Threat to Messi: how the neighbors live in the hottest neighborhoods of Rosario due to drug trafficking