Fiorentina's former AS Roma,
Galatasaray, Aston Villa Italy striker Nicolò Zaniolo told
prosecutors probing illicit betting by a dozen Serie A players
that he knew that there might be dangerous people behind the
bets.
"I knew perfectly well that I had played on illicit platforms
and I knew that there could be dangerous people behind it",
Zaniolo, under investigation in the investigation into the
clandestine betting ring, said in a statement in October 2023
to Turin prosecutors, who have since passed the case on to
colleagues in Milan.
"It all started because I wanted to play poker and blackjack
and, being on the national team with (Nicolò) Fagioli, I asked
him where I could play".
And so Zaniolo allegedly obtained the number of Tommaso De
Giacomo, the alleged coordinator of the ring.
It was he, Zaniolo explained, who "sent me a link on which I
entered my username and password".
Also on file is the statement of ex Roma wing back Alessandro
Florenzi, also from 2023, who also spoke about the mechanism of
the "bank transfer" sent "to a jewelry store called Elysium" to
pay off debts.
He told the prosecutors that he had made transfers for "140-150
thousand euros".
Necastle's ex Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali, again two years
ago to the Turin prosecutors, said that he had "come to have a
debt towards them", that is, "Tommy and any managers of the
platform", of "500 thousand euros that I paid in part" through
transfers to the jewelry store, in part with "winnings".
Also on file are two statements from Fagioli from October 2023
and February 2024.
The former Juve player explained that he had bought "fifteen
watches in the Milan jewelry store", some worth 15-20 thousand
euros each (the amounts were "increased"), and "four or five,
from what they told me, were withdrawn by my creditors". He too
had reached debts of hundreds of thousands of euros.
"The organizers of the sites - Fagioli further stated in the
statement - had proposed that they would give me some advantage
if I brought other bettors".
It was always Tommaso De Giacomo, according to the prosecutors,
who pushed Fagioli "to 'hook up' other footballers".
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