Mafia bets:

Along with sports becoming an industry and its transformation into a billion dollar business, the attention of the big enterprisers has been drawn to it. Mafia and its syndicates started to enter the world of sports, discovering new ways to increase its revenues. Match fixing, bought players, corrupt referees and arrested club owners make the enjoyment of press readers all over the world.Extravagant amounts are bet every year, making bet agencies and their owners rich.

The professional better wonders what terrible misfortune has struck him, what adverse miracle has come up when, against all his exact calculations, the team he bet on has lost. If he only would have known that the match he bet on was fixed … that would have been a different story! We tried to collect a few articles from the world press in this folder, that report about match fixing, so that you can see how you’re losing money without being able to explain why!

FC Metalist and FC Karpaty punished for fixed match

17.08.2010

Control and Disciplinary Committee of the FFU (Football Federation of Ukraine) acknowledged the match of 26th round of the season 2007/2006 at the 17th football championship of Ukraine between the teams of FC Metalist (Kharkiv) and FC Karpaty (Lviv), which took place on April 19, 2008 the fixed one and deprived both teams of 9 points in the championship of Ukraine in the season 2010/2011, according to the minutes of the Control and Disciplinary Committee of FFU, posted on the official site of FC Metalist.

Referees considered technical defeat for both teams in this match. Both teams must pay cash contribution in the amount of 25 thousand c.u. in hryvnya equivalent. Control and Disciplinary Committee banned Deputy General Director of FC Metalist (Kharkiv) Yevhen Krasnykov and footballer Serhii Laschenkov to carry out activities related to football for life.

In addition, Control and Disciplinary Committee prohibited the Honorary Director of FC Karpaty (Lviv), Petro Dyminskyi to carry out any activities related to football for 12 months beginning rom the date of the decision which entered into force, former director general of FC Karpaty (Lviv), Ihor Dedyshyn - 5 years, director general of the Union of professional football clubs of Ukrainian Premier League Oleksandr Yefremov – for 6 months.

Control and Disciplinary Committee obliged 10 players of FC Karpaty (Lviv) to pay the required cash contribution amounting to 10 thousand c.u. in hryvnya equivalent, 8 players of the club - to pay 5 thousand c.u. in hryvnya equivalent.

On February, 1 at the meeting of executive committee of the FFU president Hryhorii Surkis said that FC Karpaty (Lviv) provided a video with the recognition of the former player of the team Serhii Laschenkov about the fixed match with FC Metalist.

In early 2010, Serhii Lashchenko said in an interview that he did not make any statements about the fixed match, and the video was dubbed.
Yevhen Krasnykov is punished for the transfer of 110 thousand US dollars for bonuses to the players of FC Karpaty for the defeat in the match against FC Metalist, Serhii Laschenko - for mediation in this transaction, Ihor Dedyshyn - for concealing information about the fixed match.

President of FC Metalist Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi considers illegal the decision of Control and Disciplinary Committee of the Football Federation of Ukraine to recognize the match of the 26th round of the season 2007/2006 at the 17th football championship of Ukraine between the teams FC Metalist and FC Karpaty the fixed match. Oleksandr Yaroslavskyi told about it in the statement, posted on the official site of FC Metalist.

Champions League - Police smash huge match-fixing ring

Reuters - Fri, 20 Nov, 2009

A match-fixing ring with more than 200 suspected members fixed or tried to fix around 200 matches across Europe, including three in the Champions League, in what UEFA called the biggest betting scandal in Europe.

Police in Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland staged simultaneous raids, arresting 15 people and seizing one million euros (£900,000m) in cash or goods as part of an investigation into the suspected manipulation of games across nine European leagues.

Bochum police said at a news conference on Friday that 200 people were suspected of being part of the ring that tried to rig about 200 matches.

Some 32 matches in Germany's lower divisions as well as dozens of first or second division matches in Turkey, Bosnia, Hungary, Croatia Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia were under investigation.

The investigation, which unearthed what UEFA representative Peter Limacher called Europe's biggest ever betting affair, included only matches played in 2009.

"We at UEFA are stunned by the magnitude of this," Limacher said.

Twelve matches in the Europa League, the second-tier club competition behind the elite Champions League, were also under suspicion, Bochum police official Ralf Ziegler said.

In 2005, Germany was rocked by a betting scandal involving Bundesliga referee Robert Hoyzer, who rigged matches as part of an international illegal betting gang and was sentenced to two years and five months in prison.

Breakdown of matches:

Champions League - 3 matches
Europa League - 12 matches
Unspecified number of U21 European championship qualifiers
Germany 4 matches - second division
3 matches - third division
18 matches - regional division
5 matches - Oberliga
2 matches - U19 matches
Belgium 17 matches - second division
Switzerland 22 matches - second division
Croatia 14 matches - first division
Slovenia 7 matches - first division
Turkey 29 matches - first division
Hungary 13 matches - first division
Bosnia 8 matches - first division
Austria 3 matches

Lakers beat Nuggets in Game 1 of another Fixed NBA Games

May 20, 2009

In Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the Denver Nuggets jump out to a 13-point lead in the first quarter over the Los Angeles Lakers. With 30 seconds on the clock and a tie game, the Lakers are handed the lead and the game by the referees as the Lakers go on to beat the Nuggets 105-103.

In what appeared to be a steal by Denver's Kenyan Martin from Kobe Bryant, a ticky tack foul was called that sent Kobe to the line to shoot two. He made both and the Lakers never looked back. Denver had their opportunities, but were unable to come back.

It has been almost two years since the story broke that former NBA referee, Tim Donaghy, was under federal investigation for betting on NBA games that he ref-ed. He pled guilty and is currently serving his 15 month prision sentence which began in September. All along Donaghy contested that the NBA, referring to Commissioner David Stern, is a big part of the blame. Stern cast Donaghy as a "rogue, isolated criminal" solely responsible for the betting scandal that threatened the credibility of the league and its referees.

I differ with David Stern and his claims. The mastermind of the fixed NBA league is David Stern himself. He controls the teams that will be in the NBA Final and how many games they will be played and funnels the leagues needs to the referees, so games end in certain teams favor. If it all goes as planned, the Lakers will certainly play againt the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

The need to fix match-ups if for big market television ratings. Although it would be a good match-up to watch Carmello Anthony of Denver and LeBron James of Cleveland, with the two entering the league at the same time, there would certainly be bigger ratings and bigger money in an LA vs. Cleveland match-up. Certainly a Denver/Orlando NBA Finals would be disasterous.

For at least 15 years, the NBA has been fixing games, to generate a big fan base, big money and big ratings. David Stern is the puppet-master and the referees are his puppets. What Stern is doing is a hundred times worse than what Donaghy did.

Tennis boss warns of mafia threat!

04.09.2008

Organized crime – including the Russian mafia – could be involved in fixing matches, the head of women’s tennis has told BBC Sport.

Larry Scott said some players claimed they had been asked to throw  matches. Scott said: “One has to assume that people running organized crime would be involved in trying to gain an advantage by corrupting the competition”. ”We have to be prepared for the possibility (of  Russian mafia involvement) but we have no proof”.

Turkish Football Federation probes sport-mafia links!

Wednesday, 27 October 2004

The Turkish Football Federation on Tuesday announced an investigation into alleged links between organized crime and football after a newspaper report claimed that a top mafia family influenced several first division games last season.
The daily Milliyet reported that the allegations emerged from transcripts of telephone conversations tapped by police in their investigation into the affairs of suspected mafia boss Sedat Peker.
Peker, 34, was arrested last week after a major police operation in which he and dozens of alleged henchmen were detained and charged with a wide range of crimes, including corruption and influence peddling involving top civil servants.
Milliyet reproduced excerpts of the transcripts, commenting: "The impression is that they (the Peker family) had a major influence on the matches of teams in the relegation zone" of the Turkish first division, known as the Super League.
The best known team the paper cited was Besiktas, along with Samsunspor, Rizespor, Akcaabat Sebatspor and Diyarbakirspor.
On several occasions, Milliyet wrote, Sedat Peker and his brothers spoke on the telephone with various team officials, naming players and the results they expected.
The results met their expectations, the daily said, often to vocal protests at the surprise results by spectators who cried corruption.
Some transcripts published in the newspaper also show that Pekers tried to influence the choice of referees for certain key matches.
A Federation statement carried by the Anatolia news agency said the probe would target not only last season's relegation zone teams cited by the paper -- they are all still in the Super League -- but also illegal football pools.]

Did Russian mafia pay Bayern to throw UEFA Cup semi-final against Zenit St Petersburg?

Nicked: Russian mafia gang boss Gennady Petrov is arrested by Spanish police on June 13

Did this man, Gennady Petrov (right), arrange for Bayern Munich to throw the semi-final of the UEFA Cup to Zenit St Petersburg in May this year?

That is the extraordinary claim of the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, who picked up information about the match-fixing in wire-taps made on several members of a powerful Russian mafia gang who were arrested in Spain on June 13.

Petrov, the leader of the ‘Tambovskaya’ mafia group that originates in St Petersburg, was one of 20 people arrested in Majorca, Malaga, Madrid and Alicante as part of Operation Troika, run by Garzon and targeted on Russian organised crime in Spain.

Around 400 Spanish police and secret service agents took part in the round-up.

In one conversation with a fellow gangster, Petrov is allegedly heard saying that Bayern had been paid 50 million (no denomination was mentioned) to lose the tie against Zenit.

One of his accomplices, Leonid Khristoforov, is also heard allegedly correctly telling Petrov in advance that the score of the second leg would be 4-0 to St Petersburg.

Romania Football: Mircea Sandu accuses the Betting Mafia!

08.06.2008

Mircea Sandu spoke today about the betting mafia. The President of the Romanian Football Federation revealed the fact that he received information according to which before the start of the last stage, incredible amounts have been bet for one of the matches for the victory of a team at a difference higher than 3 goals. This also happend in other two cases: Dinamo - FC Vaslui, 4-1 and Braşov - Gloria Buzău, 4-0, with a penalty missed by the players of Buzau.

The Godfather implied that a lot of people from the football world are involved in the betting scandal and announced that in certain cases arrests are to follow. Interesting is though that one of the people close to Sandu and high official of the Romanian Football Federation, Ionuţ Lupescu has been the image of a beeting agency and not long ago, the “Astra Sport Bets” company has become the main sponsor of the Secondary League, which is called, „Astra Sport Bets II League”.

UEFA investigates 40 cases of fixed matches, the majority of which in the Eastern Europe

26.09.2009

UEFA investigates 40 cases of match fixing in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, the majority of the clubs involved coming from Eastern Europe, informs AP. Peter Limacher, the head of disciplinary services at UEFA said that the cases involved early qualifying matches of clubs mainly from Eastern Europe over the last four years.

"Right now it's mainly eastern Europe clubs being investigated. They know they are not going to be involved later in the tournament and they are going out, so decide,'Let's make a profit. Matches are fixed directly or through betting. In the cases we have seen, it's really the deliberate planned fix of the games, the whole games. First, the result at halftime, then after 90 minutes. We need time to prove this, but in the cases where we can collaborate with the police we shall have results ", Limacher said.

In April, the FK Pobeda team (Macedonia) has been excluded for a period of eight years from the European competitions, after UEFA discovered that it has fixed the result of the match in order to obtain "an undeserved advantage for itself and a third party ". According to UEFA, other three clubs in Macedonia are being investigated. One of these is FK Milano, that lost in front of the Croatians from Slaven Koprivnika in the second round of qualifications in the Europe League with the score of 2-12.

Arrests in the Romanian football!

Cornel Penescu arrested!

13.04.2009

Today has been an agitated day for the Romanian football, when the president of the FC Argeş club, Cornel Penescu has been retained for 24 hours for soliciting and offering bribe. Furthermore, the DNA prosecutors sealed the office of the chairman of the Central Referee Commission (CCA), Gheorghe Constantin, retaining the leader of the fifers and standard bearers of our country.

There are more Romanian referees under suspicion to have favoured in this season the Piteşti group in matches against FC Braşov, Universitatea Craiova and Gloria Bistriţa. The names of some incriminated referees are on the news, such as Aurelian Bogaciu, Marcel Savaniu or Tiberiu Lajos, but also the best assistant in Romania in the last two years, Cristian Nica from Ploieşti.

Germany: Former referee Robert Hoyzer has been released after a year and 2 months of detention!

18.07.2008

Former German referee Robert Hoyzer has been released Friday after spending a year and two months in prison, being accused of influencing the results of many matches in the German championship, informs AFP.
Hoyzer (28 years old) has been sentenced on 17 of November 2005 to two and a half years in prison, being accused of fraud and organized swindle, after admitting to have received approximately 70,000 euro to influence the results of some matches played between April 10 and December 3rd 2004.

Match fixing in Belgium!

20.02.2006

The players of the Belgian football team, Lierse, who accepted to throw matches didn’t receive only money for non-combat but also have been death threatened and blackmailed by the Chinese sports betting mafia. The president of the Lierse club, Leo Theyskens, said that the players who threw the matches are only “small pawns” in this scandal. "The players have been easily manipulated and have been the victims of abuse. I am sure that the big players, the true guilty parties shall be quickly identified and punished for the convenience of football", told the Lierse official, who says that the main guilty part in this scandal is the former couch Paul Put, dismissed in November 2005.

The journalistic investigations in Belgium have shown that Put cashed 75,000 euro for each fixed match, money he further split with the football players involved. The "Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant" publications writes that the players who initially accepted to participate in match fixing, among who was also Mitu, have been blackmailed when they wanted to get out of match fixing. "According to the declarations of the Lierse players, they have been under psychic pressure and also physical threats. It’s the case of Cliff Mardulier, who has been threatened with a gun after the Lierse-Anderlecht match, played on February 18, 2005, according to his father’s or "De Standaard’s" record. Lierse should have lost that game with a high score difference, but the result was an even match, 1-1", writes the "Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant". The match fixing suspicions hang over 17 matches in the Belgian championship, eight of which have been played by Lierse. The stakes put for these matches were in amount of approximately 600,000 euro, while the average stake for a Belgian championship match is 30,000 euro. Paul Put, who had become the technical leader of the Mouscron team after being dismissed from Lierse, has been dismissed on Friday, as a result of his involvement in this corruption scandal. After Leo Theyskens made him “the central figure” of the scandal, Paul Put accused the Lierse official that he was aware of this business all along. The matches were fixed at the orders of the Chinese Ye Zheyun, a business man involved in sports betting. "He knew everything about the arrangement with the Chinese Ye ", said Put. In return, Theyskens said that Paul Put tried to attract him into the arrangement with Ye, but he refused and  said that the former couch of Lierse  is a “real criminal”.

Match fixing at Moldova – Elvetia?

03.04.2009

Russian newspaper Sovetski Sport wrote that, on the day of the match, at several betting agencies in Russia, a suspiciously large amount of money has been bet on the correct match of the game, 2-0.

The total amount exceeded a million euro, which rose suspicions over the correctness of the match. Even though the above mentioned newspaper claims that FIFA allegedly has opened an investigation as regards this case, the official governance did not confirm it.

Italian press claims Inter involved in match fixing for bet winning!

31.01.2009

The Milanese newspaper Il Giornale published an official report which shows how the team led by Masimo Moratti fixed up three matches in the last season in order to make money out of sports betting. Inter, winner of the title in the last stage of the last season, finished equal matches and intentionally lost several matches. Thus, as AS Roma got closer to the Milanese team the rate raised at the betting agencies in the end. The report mentions recordings of telephone conversations in this respect between the former couch and a Sicilian Mafia collaborator. One of the incriminated matches is the one with Siena, in the din penultimate stage. It concluded with a 2 – 2 tie and Materazzi missed a penalty that could have brought the victory at the end of the game.

Match fixing in Spain, too!

02.12.2008

A Tenerife football player in the Spanish league in 2007/2008 season stated that he had received money from the opponent team in the last stage, Malaga, so that he wouldn’t defend his chances fairly, so that the this team may win and move up in the first echelon, informs El Mundo. Jesús Antonio Mora Nieto „Jesuli“ admitted during a conversation with the president of a different club, Real Sociedad, that he accepted approximately 6,000 euro so that Tenerife lost the game in the last stage of the last season and Malaga moved up. The match was won by Malaga, with 2-1. The El Mundo journal cites from a telephone conversation between Jesuli and Inaki Badiola, recorded two weeks ago. The Real Sociedad Club led by Badiola takes a direct interest in this case, since it missed moving up in the first echelon because of the victory of the Malaga team. Jesuli did not play in the Malaga game, which took place on the 15 of June, due to an injury. „How much? How much did you receive so that you may lose this match? How much it cost so that we do not move up?“, Badiola asked Jesuli. „I can’t remember, but it wasn’t much since I didn’t play “, answered the football player, after which the Spanish official insisted: „5,000 euro, 7,000 euro?“. „It wasn’t 7,000. It was 6,000 euro“, the football player answered. According to El Mundo, as a result of these disclosures, Malaga, occupant of the 9th place in the Spanish championship, shall be investigated by the Spanish Football Federation.

5 football players in England suspended and fined for betting on a game!

02/10/2009

Appeals made by Peter Cavanagh, James Harris, David Mannix, Robert Williams and Andrew Mangan against sanctions decided by a rogatory commission of FA for betting on football matches have been rejected. Three of the players have bet a few thousand pounds on the fact that their team, Accrington Stanley, shall lose the League Two game with Bury in May 2008 – which it did happened (2-0).

Harris received a one year suspension and a 5,500 pounds fine, Mannix got a 10 months suspension and a 4,000 pounds fine, while Williams got away with only 8 months without the right to play and a 3.500 pounds penalty. Mangan, who played for Bury at that time has been suspended for 5 months and received a 2,000 pounds fine for betting for the victory of his team. Cavanagh received an 8 months suspension and a 3,500 pounds fine.

Italian referees involved in match fixing!

15/07/2004

Marco Gabriele and Luca Palanca are suspected by the prosecutors Filippo Beatrice and Giuseppe Narducci in Napoli, to have taken part in fixing several A and B series matches. On the list of the two prosecutors there are several names of inferior divisions players who haven’t been revealed to the public. The investigation started on May 11, following several searches performed at the headquarters of 12 clubs, Ascoli, Catanzaro, Crotone, Fermana, Lumezzane, Piacenza, Sassari Torres, Taranto, Chievo Verona, Lecce, Sienna and Reggina, the last four playing in the first division. According to judiciary sources, 15 persons, out of which 5 players, are alleged to have tried to illegally influence the results of matches in the first, second and third division, played within the last months, thus gaining substantial profits out of betting.

Mafia man serves up warning!

A former mafia member is helping the sport in the fight against betting corruption

With organised crime syndicates believed to be behind the betting scams that have repeatedly tarnished the reputation of tennis, the ATP have employed the services of a convicted member of the American mafia to warn their leading players of the inherent dangers of allowing themselves to be lured into a web of corruption.

In the light of investigations into unusual betting patterns surrounding last week’s defeat of world No 3 Nikolay Davydenko by the 87th-ranked Argentinian Martin Vassallo Arguello in the Orange Prokom Open in Sopot, Poland, the ruling body of men’s professional tennis has intensified its desire to banish the potential for players to be coerced into throwing matches.

Earlier this year the ATP invited Michael Franzese, a self-confessed high-ranking mafia member of the New York Colombo crime family, to lecture more than 200 of their leading competitors, who were called to a mandatory players meeting before the Miami Masters Series event which dealt with organised crime’s involvement in sports gambling.

Franzese, referred to by the American media and members of US law enforcement alike as the New York Mob’s “Long Island Don” and “The Prince of the Mafia”, was reputedly once one of the biggest money earners the mafia had seen since Al Capone. Facing repeated racketeering charges, he elected to plead guilty to yet another indictment, accept a 10-year prison sentence and then lecture on the adverse effects which his former career could have on sport.

A series of betting cases, linked to irregular betting patterns on online exchanges, were a predicament for the International Tennis Federation. When the ATP took over responsibility for the problem in 2003, they set up an anticorruption programme and immediately established a memorandum of understanding with Betfair, the world’s biggest internet betting exchange, which is based in west London.

More recently, the ATP chairman and chief executive Etienne de Villiers opted to approach Franzese, who had previously addressed such leading sporting bodies in the United States as Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. The audience in Miami was transfixed by the admissions of the former mafioso, and further input is planned.

An ATP spokesman said last night: “As well as the clear, stringent rules and sanctions connected with the anticorruption programme, we also communicate regularly with the players to help ensure they understand the rules and their responsibilities in this area. The presentation in Miami was one part of that ongoing education process.”

Despite being a clearly superior player in terms of world rankings, Davydenko’s odds drifted significantly before the match in Poland and even when the Russian took the first set 6-2, betting patterns at Betfair still showed that a larger amount of money than may be expected was being placed on the underdog to win, Davydenko citing a persistent foot injury for his subsequent retirement as Vassallo won 2-6 6-3 2-1.

Apart of the memorandum of understanding, an independent investigator has already been appointed by the ATP and Betfair to look into this latest case involving Davydenko, who is revered as one of the most diligent players on the ATP tour but was known to be suffering from the foot injury that caused him to default from the game against Vassallo Arguello.

Unsurprisingly, Davydenko distanced himself from any wrong doing when he was questioned about his withdrawal. “During the match I was starting to get problems with the whole of my foot and it was very painful,” said the 26-year-old Russian. “Normally I never retire because I like to fight.”

Vassallo Arguello, who was beaten 2-6 6-4 6-2 in the following round by Spain’s Albert Montanes, added: “I don’t think that he [Davydenko] has anything to do with this. I was playing against him but he was playing also with an injury, and that is all that I know about it and that’s also what I felt in the match. I felt nothing else.”

Meanwhile, Britain’s new minister of sport, Gerry Sutcliffe, insisted that sports stars who are found to have been colluding in betting scams will face jail sentences of up to two years in a government crackdown which is designed to protect the integrity of sport and eradicate match-fixing and illegal betting.

Sutcliffe maintained that the government would take a “zero-tolerance” approach to cheats, while sports governing bodies warned that betting-related scams could become a bigger threat to sport than drug doping.

“Even though incidents of cheating are rare, they are still deeply concerning and damage the integrity of sport,” said Sutcliffe. “That’s why we have taken this issue so seriously.

“When the Gambling Act comes into force on September 1, it will mark the start of a new zero-tolerance approach to betting cheats. It will introduce a new two-year jail sentence and give the Gambling Commission powers over betting fines for the first time, including the ability to suspend and void bets and a new requirement on bookmakers to share information with sporting administrators.”