Organised crime and murder: top Inter and AC Milan ultras imprisoned
All 16 people standing trial for a variety of offences, in a fast-track procedure which began in March, were found guilty and handed sentences which added up to 90 years.
The crimes broadly involved activities around the iconic San Siro stadium on matchdays, from ticket touting to control of parking, sales from concession stands and taking payment from people without tickets and letting them into the stadium.
Andrea Beretta was one of three people handed the harshest sentence, the former leading Inter ultra being found guilty of criminal conspiracy aggravated by mafia methods and the murder of fellow top Inter ultra and mobster Antonio Bellocco.
Beretta turned state's witness after stabbing to death Bellocco during an altercation outside a boxing gym in a Milan suburb, weeks before the arrest in September of 19 leading Inter and Milan ultras.
The murder of Bellocco was especially shocking due to his status as a scion of an 'Ndrangheta mafia family, from the southern Italian region of Calabria, which bears his surname.
Beretta was also one of six people to be arrested in April for the murder of notorious ultra and career criminal Vittorio Boiocchi in October 2022.
Power struggle
He stepped up to take over the "Curva Nord" section of the San Siro from Boiocchi who was gunned down outside his house at the age of 69 as part of a power struggle between rival factions.
Beretta and Marco Ferdico -- sentenced to eight years -- used Bellocco's 'Ndrangheta connections to push aside more traditional football hooligans, linked with far-right politics, who were bidding for top billing among the Inter ultras.
Milan's top ultra Luca Lucci was also given 10 years in prison for criminal conspiracy and planning in 2019 the attempted murder of a rival ultra, Enzo Anghinelli.
His right-hand man Daniele Cataldo, judged to be the man who carried out the attack on Anghinelli, was handed the same prison sentence.
The fast-track trial, known as "rito abbreviato", is a legal procedure in Italian law in which defendants are judged on the basis of evidence brought by prosecutors, with no debate of that evidence by legal teams.
The procedure allows trials to be completed in a much shorter space of time than the years it takes for the ordinary judicial procedure, under which the remaining three people arrested in September began their trial in February.
That trio includes Francesco Lucci, who often took charge of the Milan ultras during his brother Luca's frequent problems with the law for offences that include drug trafficking and the assault of an Inter fan who was blinded and later committed suicide.
Neither of the clubs were charged in relation to the crimes, and were awarded 50,000 euros each as civil defendants and damaged parties in the trial.
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France 24
18 hours ago
- France 24
Organised crime and murder: top Inter and AC Milan ultras imprisoned
All 16 people standing trial for a variety of offences, in a fast-track procedure which began in March, were found guilty and handed sentences which added up to 90 years. The crimes broadly involved activities around the iconic San Siro stadium on matchdays, from ticket touting to control of parking, sales from concession stands and taking payment from people without tickets and letting them into the stadium. Andrea Beretta was one of three people handed the harshest sentence, the former leading Inter ultra being found guilty of criminal conspiracy aggravated by mafia methods and the murder of fellow top Inter ultra and mobster Antonio Bellocco. Beretta turned state's witness after stabbing to death Bellocco during an altercation outside a boxing gym in a Milan suburb, weeks before the arrest in September of 19 leading Inter and Milan ultras. The murder of Bellocco was especially shocking due to his status as a scion of an 'Ndrangheta mafia family, from the southern Italian region of Calabria, which bears his surname. Beretta was also one of six people to be arrested in April for the murder of notorious ultra and career criminal Vittorio Boiocchi in October 2022. Power struggle He stepped up to take over the "Curva Nord" section of the San Siro from Boiocchi who was gunned down outside his house at the age of 69 as part of a power struggle between rival factions. Beretta and Marco Ferdico -- sentenced to eight years -- used Bellocco's 'Ndrangheta connections to push aside more traditional football hooligans, linked with far-right politics, who were bidding for top billing among the Inter ultras. Milan's top ultra Luca Lucci was also given 10 years in prison for criminal conspiracy and planning in 2019 the attempted murder of a rival ultra, Enzo Anghinelli. His right-hand man Daniele Cataldo, judged to be the man who carried out the attack on Anghinelli, was handed the same prison sentence. The fast-track trial, known as "rito abbreviato", is a legal procedure in Italian law in which defendants are judged on the basis of evidence brought by prosecutors, with no debate of that evidence by legal teams. The procedure allows trials to be completed in a much shorter space of time than the years it takes for the ordinary judicial procedure, under which the remaining three people arrested in September began their trial in February. That trio includes Francesco Lucci, who often took charge of the Milan ultras during his brother Luca's frequent problems with the law for offences that include drug trafficking and the assault of an Inter fan who was blinded and later committed suicide. Neither of the clubs were charged in relation to the crimes, and were awarded 50,000 euros each as civil defendants and damaged parties in the trial.
Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
At least 14 people killed in Russian overnight attack on Kyiv
A Russian missile and drone attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight on Tuesday killed at least 14 people and wounded more than three dozen others, according to Ukrainian officials. The attack is the latest in a series of mass drone and missile attacks on Kyiv. It came at a time when world leaders convened at the Group of Seven – or G7 – meeting in Canada, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to attend. Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko told reporters at the scene that a US citizen was among those killed in the attacks after suffering shrapnel wounds from the blast. Explosions could be heard for hours throughout the night in the early hours of Tuesday. Thirty apartments were destroyed in a single residential block, according to Klymenko. He noted the death toll is likely to rise as emergency workers descended to the scene of a collapsed apartment building to search for bodies buried under the rubble. People were wounded in the city's Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts. Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said fires broke out in two other Kyiv districts as a result of falling debris from drones shot down by Ukrainian air defences. Canada, which assumed the presidency of the G7 this year, invited Zelenskyy to the summit, where he is expected to hold one-on-one meetings with world leaders on Tuesday. Zelenskyy was set to meet with US President Donald Trump in Canada on Tuesday, though the White House announced that Trump would be returning unexpectedly to Washington on Monday night instead of Tuesday due to rising tensions in the Middle East. Russia has launched a record number of drones and missiles in recent weeks. Moscow escalated attacks after Ukraine's Security Service agency executed an operation targeting war planes in air bases deep inside Russian territory. The Ukrainian leader says little progress has emerged from direct peace talks held in Istanbul, with the exception of prisoner exchanges, expected to conclude next week. At this year's Paris Air Show, fighter jets are taking a backseat. Unmanned and autonomous technologies are driving the future of defence and dominating the conversation at Le Bourget airport in northern Paris. With 2,400 exhibitors from 48 countries and 300,000 visitors expected, the world's biggest aerospace event opened against an intense backdrop of global tensions. As Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its fourth year and tensions are soaring between Israel and Iran, it has become urgent for Europe to modernise its defence capabilities. On Monday, Italian giant Leonardo and Turkey's Baykar Technologies announced a joint venture to co-develop a new generation of unmanned systems, with the first drones expected to be delivered in 2026. 'When it comes to unmanned systems, Europe is quite behind,' said Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani. 'First of all, I think the target is to fill the gap… We need to develop different platforms with different payloads... and offer them to different countries. That will already be a very important target in the short to mid-term," explained Cingolani to a group of reporters. Cingolani stressed that Europe will soon need not just drones, but also land and sea-based systems. 'The Ukrainian war has completely changed the landscape,' he said. 'We know that we have to be ready.' For defence consultant Xavier Tytelman, the turning point for this edition of the fair is the industrialisation of high-intensity warfare. "In the past, we said 'We are going to make drones'. Now, we are actually offering drones with well-defined prices, which shows a very strong trend of military industrialisation," he told Euronews. Europe's previous lag on large drone platforms may no longer matter. Smaller, more agile systems that are cheaper to produce and easier to deploy are now proving decisive on the battlefield. Beyond strategy and scale, sovereignty has become a defining theme aduringt this year's edition. The push to develop 'ITAR-free' (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) equipment -free from U.S. export restrictions - is visible across the exhibition area. 'There's one fundamental element here, and that's the return of sovereignty. You see it everywhere with many booths labelled 'ITAR Free.' That means there are no American components, so the U.S. can't prevent them from using their own equipment, like they did in Ukraine, where we supplied missiles that couldn't be used because they contained U.S. parts," explained Tytelman. "Now, all around us, Europeans are organising themselves to be more sovereign, independent, to work together, to complement each other's technological capabilities, and to achieve 100% European industrialisation. That's another major deep, structural trend.'
France 24
5 days ago
- France 24
Two UK men jailed for 'brazen' gold toilet heist
James Sheen, 40, and Michael Jones, 39, were jailed at Oxford Crown Court in central England for four years and 27 months respectively. The sentences came as it was revealed that Sheen is already serving 19 years in jail for a string of other offences including a museum burglary and attacks on cash machines. The fully functioning 18-carat artwork was stolen in a raid on an exhibition at Blenheim Palace -- the birthplace of Winston Churchill -- near central Oxford in September 2019. The toilet artwork dubbed "America" was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and had been on display as one of the star attractions at an exhibition in the 18th-century home. Passing sentence, Judge Ian Pringle said: "This bold and brazen heist took no more than five-and-a-half minutes to complete. "America has never been seen again." Weighing around 98 kilograms (216 pounds), the artwork was insured for $6 million and was made with 20 kilograms of gold valued at around £2.8 million. It was stolen just hours after a glamorous exhibition launch party by the sledgehammer-wielding thieves. Prosecutors said the work was likely broken up or melted down and sold soon after the theft. The gold has not been recovered. It is believed that Sheen took the 20 kilos of gold to the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter on September 2019 and sold it for £26,000 a kilogram -- earning £520,000. Jurors heard earlier that Sheen first got in touch with a third man, Frederick Doe, two days after the raid to ask if he could help him sell some of the gold. Doe replied to Sheen in a WhatsApp message: "I do know just the man you need to see." The 37-year-old, described by a judge as a "foolish" middleman, escaped jail for his role in the heist. He was handed a suspended sentenced last month after being found guilty of conspiracy to transfer criminal property. Jones previously said he used the toilet at Blenheim Palace the day before it was taken. Asked what it was like, he told the court it was "splendid". Sheen admitted burglary and money laundering offences. Judge Pringle said his four-year jail term would be added to the 19 years he is already serving. Jones was found guilty of burglary after an earlier trial.
