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Mafia-linked online gaming ring busted in Italy

Xinhua, January 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Italian police on Wednesday arrested 11 people suspected of being involved in illicit businesses of video lottery and online gambling, also linked to mafia clans, local media said.

Assets worth around 10 million euros (10.8 million U.S. dollars) including restaurants, cars and checking accounts were seized as part of the operation, which was code-named "The imitation game."

The illicit businesses, which had a daily turnover of roughly 11.5 million euros, were carried out through as many as 12,000 virtual gaming tables throughout Italy, national newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.

A businessman in the gaming sector renowned both in Italy and abroad, Luigi Tancredi, was among the people arrested. Tancredi, known as "The king of slots," was the key figure behind the illicit activities, investigators said.

His criminal group had created "a system of gambling and online games much more profitable than drug trafficking," prosecutor Michele Prestipino told a press conference in Rome later on Wednesday.

Investigators found that the server of the group's main illegal website, named "dollaropoker," had been placed in Tampa, United States, while the computer technicians working at the site were located in Romania.

Though not directly belonging to a mafia syndicate, Tancredi allegedly had close links with members of a powerful clan within Camorra, the Naples-based mafia.

Investigators said Tancredi was paying the clan between 45,000 and 60,000 euros monthly in order to gain easier access to the gaming business and beat his competitors in an illicit way.

The powerful Calabrian-based 'Ndrangheta mafia was also allegedly involved in the business through links with an "important 'Ndrangheta boss," Nicola Femia, according to Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy's main economic newspaper.

Wednesday's arrests followed another large operation carried out by Italian police last July, when more than 40 people were arrested and nearly 60 businesses seized in a probe into an online gaming ring run by 'Ndrangheta and worth some 2 billion euros. (1 euro = 1.08 U.S. dollars) Endit