Serie C, Reggio Calabria: referee fixed matches for betting, 5 arrested | OneFootball

A referee from the Reggio Calabria section, Luigi Catanoso, was arrested along with four other accomplices as part of the "Penalty" operation, coordinated by the Reggio Calabria Prosecutor's Office for criminal association aimed at sports fraud.

Serie C, Reggio Calabria: Corrupt referee favored betting, 5 arrests

According to the investigations, Catanoso allegedly bribed other referees by offering payments of up to 10,000 euros, with the aim of influencing matches to ensure a certain number of goals and thus favor bets on the Over. The system involved matches from the Primavera, Primavera 2, and Serie C championships, but investigators claim that the organization was planning to extend the scam to professional championships as well.

The fraud mechanism and unusual bets

The investigation began with a suspicious flow of bets detected by the Customs and Monopolies Agency on a Primavera championship match, which immediately caught the attention of investigators.

"These were bets placed mainly in Calabrian towns such as Condofuri, Melito Porto Salvo, Palizzi Marina, and Reggio Calabria," explained the Reggio Calabria prosecutor, Giuseppe Borrelli. Among the monitored bets, 219 out of 288 were on Benevento winning a match against Cesena.

The mechanism was simple: the corrupt referees awarded penalties, expulsions, or favored teams with more advantageous odds, allowing other accomplices to gain significant financial returns even through unauthorized foreign betting platforms.

Involvement of entrepreneurs and referee suspension

Two Tuscan entrepreneurs, father and son, owners of a betting agency in Sesto Fiorentino, have already been arrested for financing the criminal system. Despite being suspended by sports justice, Catanoso managed to continue influencing matches through other referees.

Prosecutor Borrelli clarified: "From the activities carried out, no direct involvement of players has emerged, but it is an association promoted by a referee who had in the criminal program the objective of altering the results of some youth sector matches, with the intention of extending interests to professional championships as well."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.