A court in Italy has sentenced three members of a mafia-linked family to a cumulative prison time of over 52 years for illegally operating an online gambling empire.
Worth over $65 million, the illegal gaming business operated online poker and casino sites that were hosted in other counties like the United Kingdom and Romania but offered services to Italian residents despite not having a license to do so. Some of these sites were Vivacasinoelite.com, 888Suite.com, Davidcasino.com and Vanillascasino.com.
After a three-year long trial, the Bologna Court found Nicola Femia, his son Nicola Rocco, and daughter Guendalina guilty and gave them varying prison sentences. Nicola Femia was sentenced to 26 years and 10 months, Nicola Rocco received a jail termof 15 years and Guendalina got 10 years and three months. The family is linked to the mafia group known as the Ndrangheta’s.
A London-based partner Massimiliano Rizzo was also found guilty of charges related to conspiracy to organize illegal online gambling activities and sentenced to three years in jail.
He was however cleared of charges of associating with mafia. Rizzo had held the licenses for all the gaming sites being operated by the group. The illegal organization had a wide network of supervising staff covering 50 gaming centres all across Italy. Rizzo frequently travelled to Italy for picking up his monthly revenue share which was around $25,000.
Italian authorities had recorded conversations between Rizzo and Femia which often involved Rizzo or his associates offering technical support. In 2013, local police was given the approval to arrest the family members after evidence showed that 1,500 rigged gaming slot machines in the region were linked to Femia. Along with the named individuals, 28 others involved in the illegal venture were arrested.
Femia’s Romanian partner was cleared of all charges. The judge ruled that he was not part of the criminal organization and wasn’t therefore responsible for ensuring the business adhered to Italian gaming regulations. The court’s decision has been upheld by the country’s Supreme
Court. The illegal gaming empire was uncovered following an investigation by a Gazzetta di Modena journalist Giovanni Tizian.
Subsequently, Tizian alleged that he had received death threats from Femia in an attempt to stop the investigation. The journalist sued Femia and was awarded $52,900 in compensation.
The court sentencing Femia took the threats made against Tizian into account while deciding on Femia’s jail term.
This is the first time that a mafia-linked group has been prosecuted successfully in the region of Emilia-Romagna which is not known for having ties to the mafia.
