Is Lazio just like Inter? The shadow of organised crime behind the anti-Lotito protest

frafiomatale (78)in #sports • 3 days ago

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This is the English version of the post La Lazio come l'Inter? L'ombra della malavita dietro alla protesta anti-Lotito, originally published in Italian in the ITALY community.

For several weeks now, Lazio fans have decided to boycott the Olimpico Stadium during their team’s home matches. Inside the capital’s venue, the Biancocelesti games are now followed by just a few thousand spectators, and the silence of the massive empty stands has been making the rounds among sports fans worldwide.

A protest described as peaceful, intelligent, perhaps even the only viable way to wear down the resistance of the president-senator and push him to sell. It has been joined not only by ordinary fans, but also by several VIP supporters, journalists, and intellectuals who support Lazio.

The Lazio fanbase seems to have reached the limit of its tolerance toward the club’s president and owner, and is now attempting a desperate move to achieve its goal—namely the sale—should the rumors circulating in recent weeks about an interested group of investors prove to be true.

So far, it might seem like a romantic tale, reminiscent of football from another era, embodying the struggle and power of the people against a wealthy “tyrant.” However, recent revelations suggest that reality may be quite different from appearances, and that the truth, as often happens, lies hidden behind a thick and deep layer of metaphorical clouds.

Emptying a section of the curva, perhaps a ring or even an entire sector, is something ultras can manage quite easily. In the past, we have often witnessed families and ordinary fans being threatened (or even physically attacked) to force them to leave the stadium or stay away, according to the will of more extreme supporters. But doing so with an entire stadium likely requires a much higher level of organization.

And this is where the latest reports come in, suggesting that behind this dramatic protest there may even be some clans of organized crime from Rome. It is important to clarify that investigations are still ongoing, but based on what has emerged so far, a rather disturbing picture seems to be taking shape.

According to investigators, there is a possibility that certain figures linked to the ultras world—and also known within organized crime—are trying to exert unbearable pressure on Lotito, not merely as a “sporting” protest, but as part of an attempt to take control of the club through a group of friendly entrepreneurs.

The methods used may have gone beyond those of a civil protest, focusing instead on the printing of posters, T-shirts, and other defamatory material, as well as threats and the spread of false information, all with a single objective: to influence public opinion, wear down the president’s resistance, and somehow force him to sell the club.

Supporting this theory is also a curious event that occurred last week during the match between Lazio and Milan, when the ultras and the rest of the crowd suddenly—and for just one week—returned to fill the stands of the Olimpico stadium.

Why that specific match and not another? Could it have something to do with the fact that the Rossoneri are the main rivals of Inter in the title race, and that Inter itself is another club allegedly heavily infiltrated by organized crime? As Andreotti used to say, “thinking badly is a sin, but often you’re right.”