Serie C: at least 3 matches fixed with the help of the Bisceglie footballer

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The investigation by the Catania postal police into “Corner bet” that led to house arrest orders for Andrea Leanza, 39, owner of a betting center, Rosario Cavallaro, 39, employee of a private company and former footballer Giordano Maccarrone, 29, born in Catania, formerly of Bisceglie and now playing for Foggia in Serie D, began after the complaint of the owner of a Catania betting agency according to which thousands of euros had been stolen from some of his accounts through abusive computer access. During the investigation into computer fraud, which subsequently led to the identification of other suspects, responsibilities for fraud in sports competitions emerged. There were at least three football matches in the last championship in which the interest of those arrested was ascertained: Trapani-Bisceglie, Rende-Bisceglie and Bisceglie-Sicula Leonzio. The wiretaps and computer analyses of various smartphones, seized during the searches ordered by the Prosecutor's Office, have highlighted - say the investigators - "a criminal association dedicated to carrying out fraud in Lega Pro football competitions. In particular, Leanza and Cavallaro, in order to obtain a profit from winnings from sports bets, taking advantage of the active collaboration of Maccarrone, at the time a Bisceglie footballer, worked to alter sometimes the outcome of matches, sometimes the number of corners and sometimes the number of expulsions of players". These last two types of bets were made on events that, unlike the final result of the match, would have gone unnoticed, say the investigators according to whom the same bets were made on foreign gaming platforms to evade possible investigations.

In relation to the news that appeared in the media regarding the Corner Bet investigation by the Catania Postal Police, the President of Lega Pro Francesco Ghirelli states: “We have learned of the investigation and are treating it with the utmost seriousness. We have immediately activated our internal procedures by carrying out the necessary checks with our consultants at Sportradar. We confidently await the results of the investigation by the competent authorities and we are at their complete disposal. We are against bandits on the pitch and in court. We will appear in the proceedings and have already assigned the task to Prof. Avv. Astolfo Di Amato. At the same time, we would like to highlight the importance that training and prevention against fraud in sports betting, especially among young people, has for our League. The Lega Pro Integrity Tour, now in its 91st stage, has already seen three training meetings with the clubs in Siena, Vicenza and Padua this season. Our commitment against match fixing is total and the Integrity Tour is constant proof of this, just as our closeness and collaboration with the police is total”.