Former world football champion sentenced to Mafia trial – sport.ORF.at

With 129 convictions, 19 acquittals and four additional acquittals, one of the most important trials for the mafia in northern Italy ended on Wednesday. 147 people have been brought to justice since 2015 in Reggio Emilia. Businessmen and gang leaders have been accused of the "Aemilia" trial, which helped the Calabrian mafia "Ndrangheta to settle in the wealthy north of Italy.

In addition to civil servants, politicians, craftsmen, entrepreneurs and journalists, the accused was former football player Vincenzo Iaquinta and his father. The charges included mostly clbadic Mafia crimes such as murder, money laundering, extortion, bribery and sale of votes in local elections.

Two years of imprisonment for Iaquinta

The former Juventus striker, Iaquinta, who became world champion in 2006 with Italy, was sentenced to two years in prison for unlawful possession of weapons and support for the "jail". Ndrangheta, reported the Italian media. His father was sentenced to 19 years in prison for belonging to the Calabrian mafia.

"You ruined my life here", doing nothing and because he is from Calabria, Iaquinta scolded journalists in court on Wednesday. It has nothing to do with mafia.

The "Ndrangheta is considered one of the most dangerous, rich and powerful mafia colonies in Italy. It is designed to control much of the global cocaine trade. Over the past three decades, Ndrangheta has continued to expand into northern Italy, where it uses, among other things, regularly registered money laundering companies.