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The murder of a FC Inter "ultras" has revealed the links between the mafia and hooligans in Milan

Andrea Beretta, one of the leaders of the Curva Nord 1969 of Inter, has killed Antonio Bellocco, member of a family of 'ndrangheta. Before the killing, Beretta had been under special surveillance for his violent attitude

Andrea GiambartolomeiRedattore lavialibera

13 settembre 2024

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The night before, the little match with other ultras. On the morning of 4 September, in Cernusco sul Naviglio (Milan), a fatal encounter, after an argument. According to the first reports, Antonio Bellocco, 36 years old, convicted for mafia association and member of a family of the 'ndrangheta of Rosarno, shoots and wounds Andrea Beretta, 49 years old, a well-known face among the leaders of the ultras supporting the FC Inter Milan, who reacts and stabs to death the younger man, who had joined the Curva Nord 1969 group a few years before. This is the first reconstruction released by the media. The case is being investigated by the Carabinieri, coordinated by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office. In the evening, Beretta was detained in the San Raffaele hospital, where he is admitted.

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Who is Andrea Beretta?

"He has manifested a serious social dangerousness"A police report on Andrea Beretta

On his Instagram profile, which was closed after his arrest, Beretta posted pictures of boxing gyms and training sessions, tattoos and posts in memory of Fabrizio Piscitelli, the ultras leader of Lazio (with whom the Inter curve is twinned and also united by extreme right-wing political sympathies), killed in 2019.

A few elements to understand something about him: Beretta was placed under special surveillance for a year and a half, starting in November 2022, at the request of the Milan Police Headquarters. "He has manifested a serious social dangerousness", said the police, recalling a series of previous convictions for theft, robbery, drug dealing, violence and threatening a public official and more. The bans on access to sporting events (Daspo), violated with a certain punctuality, and the final convictions were useless because - the decree reads - 'he continued to commit crimes even during sporting events', in clashes with the fans of Naples and Rome, but also in attacks on the police during minor league matches (such as Brusaporto-Dro Alto Garda or Sondrio-Seregno).

The chronicles record, on 16 February 2022, the assault on a Neapolitan scalper, who was kicked and punched outside the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in San Siro, shortly before the Inter-Liverpool match. For this episode, Milan's Questore Giuseppe Petronzi had signed a ten-year Daspo, the maximum possible duration.

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The 'mistakes' in managing the North Curve

"I don't give a shit about the mentality, my life revolves around making money"Andrea Beretta - Leader of the supporters of Inter FC

At the hearing in front of the Court of Milan, on 25 October 2022, 'Beretta made spontaneous statements acknowledging that he had made mistakes, related to the problems of managing the organized groups of the north curve, which has around 7,000 people, including several convicted criminals, for which the Daspo violations were due to the need to keep some situations under control'. The attack on the Neapolitan scalper had - according to him - no discriminatory intent, but he had intervened to defend a boy who had allegedly been targeted by some Neapolitans engaged in selling gadgets near the stadium.

On gadgets, Beretta had his interest. After running a bar in a sports centre in Cambiago (Milan), a concession revoked by the municipal administration in 2021, he had opened the shop 'Milano Siamo Noi' in Pioltello, where he sells official Inter clothing and merchandising with the logos of the Curva Nord 1969. Moreover, during a conversation intercepted by Digos in 2020, reported by Il Fatto Quotidiano, he said: 'Let's be clear: I don't like throwing things around (...) if I do this there must be an economic return (...) I don't give a shit about the mentality, my life revolves around making money'. And then again: 'You know very well I don't do things for the banner, I don't give a damn! Do you want to go to the curve and sing Bella ciao? I don't care'.

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Ease in using brutal ways to solve problems

The court, in its decision that became irrevocable on 17 November 2022, noted that all the events in which Beretta was a protagonist 'are in any case united by a substantial indifference (...) to the prescriptions of the authority and by a tendency to pass with extreme ease to the ways of deeds, even to resolve, in an extremely brutal manner, issues or disagreements arising in everyday life'. The murder of Antonio Bellocco on 4 September may be just the latest example.

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Certainly, Beretta had also ended up in the crosshairs of Nazzareno Calajò, the ras of the Barona, one of the most influential men in the Milanese underworld who, intercepted during an investigation by the Carabinieri of the Special Operations Group (Ros), expressed his desire for revenge against Vittorio Boiocchi (killed in October 2022 by persons still unknown) and Beretta himself: 'If I don't get it, I'll go to the San Siro and cut off his head in front of everyone, no problem, and Beretta and whoever is near him will pay too. In fact Beretta stays alive, I tell him: 'Bring me two million tomorrow, otherwise you'll end up like that, do it! Infamous, because you and all those on the bend are infamous. In the end you Inter fans are a bunch of carabinieri'".

This article was translated by our partner Kompreno with the support of DeepL.

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