Naples, 15 Oct. (AKI) – Anti-Mafia Tax police on Friday carried out dozens of raids across Italy against a suspected unlicensed mafia betting business worth millions of euros. The ‘Poker 2’ operation followed an investigation launched by in the southern city of Lecce.
Police reported a total of 498 people in dawn raids in Italy’s southern Puglia, Campania, Calabria and Sicily regions, the central Abruzzo, Lazio and Tuscany region, and in Lombardy, Liguria and Emilia Romagna in northern Italy.
The probe centred on an unlicensed Austrian company based in Innsbruck which allegedly ran the betting business through a network of 500 unauthorised betting shops which also handled online bets, according to investigators.
It was unclear from reports if 25 mafia supects arrested on Friday in Torre Annunziata near Naples were part of ‘Poker 2’.
The suspects included a former soccer player for the third division Sorrento football team, named as Christian Biancone; a female lawyer; and the wife of a senior military official, Naples daily Il Mattino said. source The suspects face a range of charges including mafia association, usury, extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking, fraud and unlicensed betting.
source adnkronos
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