Ultra-probe investigators quiz Inter boss Inzaghi

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 9 - Inter coach Simone Inzaghi was quizzed on Wednesday by investigators probing alleged violence, intimidation and other criminal activities by leaders of the club's hardcore 'ultra' fans and those of city rivals AC Milan.
    Prosecutors may also quiz, as people with information about the matter, Inter vice-president Javier Zanetti, former Nerazzurri defender, now at PSG, Milan Skriniar, and Milan captain Davide Calabria, judicial sources have said.
    The names of officials and players of the two clubs appear in the case documents over alleged "pressure" they came under and links with the ultras, sources said.
    The probe led to 19 arrests and prosecutors have opened a separate "prevention procedure" against the two Milanese Serie A clubs.
    The two clubs are currently not under investigation but will need to prove that they have cut ties with the 'ultra' world, in particular regarding the management of ticket sales.
    The clubs risk being placed under judicial administration, the sources explained.
    According to court papers, the clubs, in particular Inter, granted illicit concessions in economic activities including ticket sales, "providing tickets to people who belong to criminal organizations who then resold them at a huge price markup".
    This also regarded people who were under investigation or had been convicted for "Mafia-Style criminal association who transferred the money to the Mafia family they belonged to", according to the papers.
    Investigators referred to the stable relationship between the We Are Milano group headed by Inter ultra leader Andrea Beretta and the club as well as the regular access to the stadium of clan members who did not have a ticket after "strong acts of intimidation" against the stewards, "a situation that had been going on for years".
    The measure also cited as an example a "meeting" between some ultra leaders like Marco Ferdico, who was among the people arrested, with Skriniar and "contacts with coach" Simone Inzaghi.
    In particular Ferdico "explicitly asked Inzaghi to intervene with the club, or directly with (Giuseppe) Marotta", Inter's president, "to obtain an additional 200 tickets" for the Champions League final in Istanbul last year, according to wiretapped conversations from May 2023 that were included in the arrest warrants.
    Ferdico was allegedly promised by Inzaghi that he would talk to the club's heads, including Marotta, according to investigators.
    The probe highlighted that the Inter club was in a "situation of subjugation towards members of the Curva Nord" football fan group, and ended up "granting them favours, even though it was forced to do so".
    Although the investigation focused on the years "2019 and 2020, the situation has not changed, as of today", according to the measure issued by Milan preliminary investigations judge (GIP) Domenico Santoro. (ANSA).