Italian soccer is currently facing a big thunderstorm after the Italian police and the prosecutor of Milan announced the investigation 'Doppia Curva,' which is looking to prove links between the ultras groups of Inter, AC Milan and 'Ndrangheta, the Italian criminal group that has emerged over the past years as the most influential criminal organization in the world. The Italian police arrested 19 people accused of criminal ties, including the suspected leaders of the ultras groups of the two Italian clubs based in Milan.
During a press conference that explained the investigation to the press after the arrests, the prosecutors announced that the possible charges would include criminal association, with the use of "mafia methods," extortion, assault and more. The suspects, among other alleged crimes, wanted to take control of the business activities around the San Siro stadium, where Inter and AC Milan play their home games.
A few weeks before the arrests, things got more tense when one of the Inter ultra leaders, Andrea Beretta, killed a former local 'Ndrangheta boss, Antonio Bellocco, who was becoming a central figure of the Inter ultras group over the past years. That episode alerted the investigators as well, who at the end of September decided to arrest 19 people to prevent similar episodes of violence.
It's very important to underline that both clubs, Inter and AC Milan, are considered as "offended parties" in the investigation as the Milan prosecutor Marcello Viola clarified, having put in place rules to prevent wrongdoing but at the same time "they will also have to prove that they have severed any relationship with deviant supporters," Viola added in the same press conference. Let's now go point by point and explain what happened:
Who are the ultras?
First of all, let's explain who are the ultras and why they are often at the center of controversies. The word ultra means "more" and in the 20th century was linked to political activists and only later to groups of soccer fans. Starting from the 1970s and then in the 1980s, AC Milan and Inter fans started to group together in some specific sectors of the San Siro stadium, where they were more organized and where they could be identified as the warmest fans. At the time, the political belief was a much more central topic also for the fans at the stadium, due to the social and political environment of those years. Being an ultra was more a way to be part of a group and a different way to support their club, and this was not linked to physical violence until the 1980s, when they also saw the influences of the Eastern European countries and the English hooligans, that were less organized but much more violent.
However, things got more heated also in Milan and this is why both Inter and AC Milan ultras groups decided to leave their original sectors and moved to the opposite sides of the stadium. From this moment on, Inter's Curva Nord (the North side of the stadium) and AC Milan's Curva Sud started to become something bigger. Inter's ultras groups and AC Milan ones became a crucial part of the tifo, and their choreographies are known everywhere in the world starting from the 90's in particular. Over the years, the geography of their tifo completely changed: AC Milan ultras groups before and then the Inter ones after, decided to merge all the groups in a bigger one, shifting their structure in a pyramidal one, with only few individuals in charge of making the big decisions of the Curva. This change was not accepted by some of the historical figures of the groups, and as a consequence were left out of the new curse. In this new system, the criminal organizations had more space to become influent and to create relationships with the people in charge of the tifo. Controlling the Curva means controlling the income of the ultra's merchandising, the money flow of the season tickets and the away games, but there is more.
What's the investigation about?
Italy's anti-mafia prosecutor Giovanni Melillo explained well what it is all about: "This investigation shows the risks of infiltration creeping into professional and non-professional soccer by organized crime. We need to stop pretending not to see these risks." Police searched the houses of over 50 people, and arrested 19, including most of the top members of both Curva Nord and Curva Sud. There are two major levels of crime in this investigation: the first one is about the money flow and how it has been controlled by both ultras groups over the last years, and then how that was also influenced by the mafia organization called 'Ndrangheta.
At the same time, the business activities around the San Siro stadium became a key part of the investigation, as it has been suggested that both Curva Nord and Curva Sud were controlling activities such as parkings, food trucks, tickets and merchandising. Investigators also said that some of the suspects who are now in custody might also have been involved in drug trafficking.
The pact and how it changed
In terms of the relationship between the Curva Nord and the Curva Sud, things changed in the 1980s when both sides decided to enter into a non-belligerence pact to avoid violence, and that helped the atmosphere over the last three decades at least, as the Derby della Madonnina was almost never at the center of negative episodes that had to deal with violence. However, looking at the pact from another perspective, it definitely helped both ultras sides to work and collaborate over the years for their financial benefits. Sharing a stadium like San Siro, meant that both Inter and AC Milan shared the same economical interests. Working together and not against each others helped them to increase their financial interests despite the illusion of a rivalry that was real only on the pitch.
In fact, when Inter and AC Milan faced each other in the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League semifinals, in one of the most dramatic moments for millions of fans around Italy and not only, wiretaps that emerged from the investigation showed that the two ultras groups agreed on sharing the revenues of the final that was played in Istanbul regardless who was going to play that game. A moment that defined once again the fact that the two ultra sides were working together despite the historical rivalry on the pitch between Inter and AC Milan.
When Inter won against AC Milan in the second leg of the semifinal and qualified for the final, Inter winger and Milan born Federico Dimarco started to sing a chant on the pitch after the game with a microphone which included some offensive words against the Rossoneri Curva Sud, but something that Inter ultras fans were not singing anymore due to an agreement between the two sides. The AC Milan ultras threatened the Inter player with a banner in front of his house: "Dimarco, focus on playing, or we'll make you swallow your tongue." The reaction of the Inter ultras left many fans surprised and disappointed as the Nerazzurri's head of the Curva Nord Marco Ferdico (who was also arrested last month) apologised to the AC Milan ones and said that Dimarco "didn't know of the agreement". Later, the player apologized as well to the Rossoneri ultras and wrote on his Instagram: "Tuesday night after the game, I let myself go in a moment of thoughtlessness. I wanted to send my apologies to all the Milan fans who felt offended," he wrote.
Two murders that changed everything
There are two episodes that shaped the recent years of Inter's ultras history. As mentioned above, Inter ultras decided to merge into a unique big group called "Curva Nord Milano" instead of being fragmented in multiple and smaller groups, as AC Milan did before as well. This big change, in terms of leadership, left many old ultras in a difficult position, and some of them decided to leave their sector and were left aside also from the 'Direttivo', the summit that makes all the decisions. When former Inter's Curva Nord leader Vittorio Boiocchi was released from jail, he made his comeback at the stadium after more than 20 years, but things were very different than before.
On October 29, 2022, Boiocchi was killed by unknowns. Two years later, on Sept. 4 2024, one of the Inter ultra leaders, Andrea Beretta, killed a former 'Ndrangheta boss, Bellocco, who was becoming a central figure of the Inter ultras group over the past years.
Bellocco was a well-known figure due to his name, as the Bellocco are one of the most influential a powerful 'Ndrangheta families around the country. From the investigation emerged that the Bellocco family wanted to put his hands on the business activities of the stadium and of Inter's Curva Nord as he was introduced, according to the same investigation, by Inter ultra leader Marco Ferdico, who was arrested at the end of September 2024. Bellocco had a big influence for the business side of the Curva Nord and his presence meant also a direct link between the Inter ultras and the criminal organization. According to the early reports of the investigation, Beretta killed Bellocco because of a money dispute regarding the Curva Nord's money flow.
Who is involved so far?
Ferdico became a central figure of the Inter tifo over the last years, he was also a core part of the investigation when wiretaps showed he had a phone conversation with the Nerazzurri's manager Simone Inzaghi. The Italian coach already explained his position to the Italian police but he's currently not under investigation. Ferdico asked Inzaghi before the 2023 Champions League's final to ask to lobby the club directors for more tickets to the fan group while Inter chairman Giuseppe Marotta said the club was cooperating with authorities and had no direct contact with them.
Inter and AC Milan players are often involved with ultras groups, as they are a key part of the organized tifo at the stadium and not only. At the same time, clubs are considered as 'offended parties' as of today, as there were no direct involvements in the matter.
AC Milan captain, Davide Calabria, was also questioned regarding wiretaps that suggest of a meeting that took place in 2023 between the player and Luca Lucci, AC Milan's Curva Sud leader who has been previously convicted for drug-related charges. The Italian defender spoke to the investigators and explained he was contacted directly by Lucci to talk about the team issues, the dressing room and the performances of the team when was struggling but nothing more.
What's the business about?
When the investigation refers to the stadium activities as the core business of the ultras groups, they mean all the business activities that are happening inside and outside the stadium. The Prosecutors claimed that both Curva Nord and Curva Sud were working together and taking a percentage from the parking and food trucks but also they were controlling the illegal selling of tickets outside the stadium and the flow of the gates, making money out of it. For example, when fans were buying tickets for home games directly from the ultras groups, they were going through some specific gates that were controlled by the same ones as the stewards were controlled by them to let the people they wanted through the gates, as normally their ticket should be checked and matched with an ID card. Another core business was the away games as that was fully controlled by the ultras groups. If you are a member of the Curva you just sign up for it, and both ticket and travel is organized by the ultras.
The bigger picture
We are only at the beginning of the investigation and a lot will probably come up in the future. At the same time, it's clear that there is something that needs to be clarified about the relationship between clubs and ultras groups as what happened and what was revealed was not a secret at all. In 2018, an investigation said that the "'Ndrangheta was controlling the money flow of the Juventus' ultras groups", for instance.
Italian mafia expert and writer of 'Gomorra' Roberto Saviano said that "drug trafficking is the main profit of many ultras organizations. As proof of this, for example, when Luca Lucci, the head of the Curva Sud, was arrested in 2018, he was caught by the cameras while he was receiving drugs directly from Spain and at the hands of the Albanian clans with whom he was allied, he pleaded guilty and accepted an 18-month sentence".
Saviano also explains why he thinks clubs are involved in this scheme: "Because to have a match suspended, fined, or lost points in the standings, all you have to do is get organized. All it takes is a racist chant or throwing objects on the pitch. Or they can put pressure on clubs by protesting against coaches and players. The ultras, and with them the mafia in many cases, can therefore guarantee order or disorder in stadiums. And this gives them a lot of power. The clubs know the names, faces and interests very well, but they almost never report them. Juventus, Inter, AC Milan have known for years that the 'Ndrangheta and their ultras are linked. Even more, they know that drug trafficking and football are welded markets".