Luciano Moggi (and his son) are going to prison

By: Francesco | January 8th, 2009

It as been 2 years and a couple of months since the big Calciopoli scandal in the summer of 2006. That trial already ended, with various people getting bans from football (Moggi received a 5 year ban). A second trial was held against the famed Italian Football Agency GEA, headed by Moggi’s son Alessandro and Marcello Lippi’s son Davide. All of these agents were accused of “private violence” and “attempted private violence” towards some of their clients (the most famous being Napoli midfielder Manuele Blasi). The big people accused were Luciano Moggi, the director general of Juventus, his agent son Alessandro Moggi, Davide Lippi (son of Marcello Lippi and head of the big Italian football agency GEA), as well as some other agents like Franco Zavaglia, Francesco Ceravolo, and Pasquale Gallo. As you may know, the legal system in Italy is extremely slow, and only today were the verdicts handed out to the indicted agents. The prosecutors wanted Luciano Moggi in bars for 6 years, his son Alessandro for 5 years, 3 and a half years for Franco Zavaglia, 2 years and four months for Francesco Ceravolo, 1 year and 4 months for Davide Lippi, and 8 months for Pasquale Gallo. Today the sentences were made in the Tribunal Court of Rome.

First off, Lippi, Zavaglia, Ceravolo, and Gallo were acquitted of all charges. They are all relieved and can continue their work as football agents. Which then leads us to the Moggi family. Luciano Moggi was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, while his son Alessandro will be joining him for 1 year and 2 months. Both were guilty of “private violence” and “attempted private violence”. So is Moggi going to be locked up behind bars in the coming weeks? No, of course not. He will present his final appeal to the court (which, knowing Italy, will probably take a very long amount of time) and then we will see what his ultimate fate is.

Moggi said to reporters outside the court after being sentenced today, “We now will go to golden goal.”

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Category: Juventus, Rumors & News, Serie A

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mele419

No one is going to be punished for this and we all know it.
ursus arctos

Essentially, conspiracy in the large case, and obstruction of justice/witness tampering in the GEA-related case.
Nnahoj

ursus, what are the criminal charges against Moggi?
ursus arctos

People with money rarely go to jail for white collar crimes. And some of them become prime minister . . .

I should have mentioned that there is also the primary criminal proceeding related to Calciopoli, which is scheduled to begin in Napoli on the 20th of January.
Johonna

So, does anyone actually go to jail in Italy? I mean, it seems like the statute of limitations for most crimes expire before anyone is actually brought to trial. Or is that only for white-collar crimes?
ursus arctos

Yes, these sentences are suspended on the grounds that the crimes were committed prior to May 2006. They will still appeal the convictions, though.

Note that he still faces potential jail time for threatening witnesses in the original proceeding.
Lev Lucien

Wait a second....wasn't Moggi sentenced to a suspended sentence? Meaning he would have an 18 month incarceration period if he were to break the law in a set period?
Francesco

Yes Nnahoj, it seems I should’ve been more specific. As we know the Calciopoli scandal already finished and Moggi received a 5 year ban from football.
Nnahoj

Shouldn't it be clarified that the sentences handed down were in relation to the trial of the GEA Sports Management Agency, and not the Calciopoli scandal of some years ago? From my understanding this was a separate trial with separate defendants (other than Moggi). The only common factor (again, from my understanding) between the two was that the wire taps that led to the outbreak of the Calciopoli scandal was actually set up for the purpose of bringing down GEA.
Francesco

Yep Lorenzo, that quote came right out of Moggi's mouth. Maybe he can find a future in stand-up comedy.
LorenzoRosanero

lol - if that quote is indeed true, that's fantastic!