Bad Sport (2021) s01e03 Episode Script
Footballgate
1
[man in Italian] I became
a public prosecutor
because I believe in justice and truth.
This is a very tough city.
Every neighborhood in Naples
is controlled by the Camorra,
a group like the Mafia.
For a long time, I had a security team
to prevent my murder.
In 2003, Camorra informants told us
that there was something corrupt
at the very highest levels
of Italian football.
[fence rattling]
Everybody knows Italy lives for football.
But we never imagined
that this investigation
would lead to one of the biggest ever
scandals in Italy.
[crowd cheering]
[whistle blows]
The storm engulfing Italian Football
is growing.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] Goal! Incredible!
[man 1] These shocking wiretaps
are like an earthquake.
[man 2 in English] Managers and officials
could end up in jail.
[crowd cheering]
[man 3 in Italian] The world of football
is poisoned.
- [cameras clicking]
- [chanting]
[man 4] Juventus, champions of Italy.
[man 5 in English] This is seismic.
The biggest scandal
in the history of Italian football.
[theme music playing]
[crowd cheering]
[Pino in Italian] That summer,
witnesses told us
about a group we'd never heard of before
The Roman Posse.
The Roman Posse was a mysterious
and secret group of powerful referees
who were influencing football matches
at the highest level,
that is the Serie A league.
[ominous music playing]
Power is fascinating.
Power captivates and corrupts.
Referees have enormous power.
If that power is used illegally,
it can shape the outcome of a game,
or even an entire season.
Our witnesses told us
that the Roman Posse
was somehow connected to
the most important club in Italy,
Juventus.
[crowd cheering]
[chanting]
[man in English] Juventus are
the most successful club in Italy.
And have been, historically,
going all the way back to the 1950s.
[crowd cheering]
In 2004, Juventus had
27 Serie A titles to their name,
which is pretty incredible,
because that's almost as many
as the next two teams combined.
[crowd cheering]
[in Italian] The passion, the love
like the love for your wife.
I was born in a black and white shirt.
[woman in English] Juventus are owned
by the Agnelli family.
They are like the Kennedys.
This is a family that contributed
five percent of the annual GDP of Italy.
[Gabriele] They own Fiat,
they own Ferrari,
they have a media empire.
The Agnelli family is the closest thing
that we have in Italy to a royal family.
It's hugely, hugely powerful.
[ominous music playing]
[water dripping]
[Pino in Italian] I knew the investigation
would be really difficult
because football is a very important part
of this country's economy.
It was an investigation into power.
You can't do this type
of investigation alone.
The first thing I did
was call Rome's Military police.
[church bell tolling]
[man] I got a call
from Public Prosecutor Narducci,
and I told him straight away
this is really serious.
We got on straight away.
[laughs]
We smoked a lot together.
Uh, I was a cigar smoker,
and he smoked cigarettes.
[Pino] Our goal was to find out everything
about the Roman Posse.
Who was part of it? What were they up to?
We needed to reach
the heart of the system.
[Attilio] It was going to be difficult
to find evidence of crimes.
We didn't have anyone
on the inside, an informer.
[Attilio] So, we got a warrant
to tap their phones.
We needed to wiretap the two people
in charge of the Referees' Association.
Paolo Bergamo and Pierluigi Pairetto.
[Attilio] We also wiretapped
the sporting director of Juventus
who had enormous power.
His name was Luciano Moggi.
[indistinct talking]
[Gabriele in English]
Luciano Moggi was seen
as this very clever wheeler-dealer
director of football.
- [camera clicks]
- He grew from out of nothing, really.
He comes from this poor, rural hamlet.
He desperately wants to be in football,
but has to pay the bills,
so he gets a job with the railway
which allows him to watch games.
He becomes an exceptional scout
who had a real eye for talent.
[in Italian] I'm not bragging,
but even when I worked on the railways,
I was a leader. My dad taught me
the value of hard work.
[camera clicks]
[Mina in English] He built himself
working for various different clubs
before reaching
what was considered the top,
being a sporting director
of Juventus Football Club.
He brings in these tremendous players:
Zinedine Zidane, Pavel Nedvěd,
- "Gigi" Buffon.
- [crowd roars]
So, with all the glamour and the money
coming in to the Italian game,
Moggi very much
was the architect behind the scenes.
[man in Italian] What don't you like
about football?
- Losing.
- [man laughs]
[dog barks]
[Pino] We set up
a listening room in central Rome.
[Attilio] It was a small team.
Reliable, very close.
The investigation needed to be top secret.
Any leak would completely risk
compromising it.
[static crackling]
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] I'm coming back
to Turin tomorrow.
I've got a gift for you.
[man 1] You shouldn't have!
- [Moggi] Don't bust my balls.
- [man 1] Okay, if you insist.
[Pino] Out of all the people
we were wiretapping,
Luciano Moggi was the one
we heard speaking the most.
[static crackling]
He talked day and night.
[man 2] Greatest Luciano, how are you?
[Moggi] I'm fine, thanks.
[man 2] I see you on the news.
I see you on TV. Don't get in trouble.
[Attilio] The officer in charge
of listening said,
"Look, Commander, I can't keep up
because there are so many calls!"
[phone ringing]
[indistinct chattering]
[crowd cheering]
[Gabriele in English] In the summer
of 2004, Juventus had a problem.
The previous season,
it ended up as a bit of a disaster.
- A.C. Milan had won the Serie A title.
- [chanting]
They were Juventus' biggest rivals.
[Mina] Milan were owned
by Silvio Berlusconi.
He was the Prime Minister of Italy,
at the time.
So, there was this great rivalry,
because it was Berlusconi
versus the Agnellis.
[tires screeching]
[commentator 1 in Italian]
Moggi almost got run over!
[commentator 2 laughs]
[commentator 2] Someone wants
to take him out.
- [comm 1] There's Umberto Agnelli.
- [comm 2 laughs]
[Gabriele in English]
The screws were turned on Moggi.
He needed to do something bold
to regain the upper hand.
He signed Zlatan Ibrahimović,
one of the great young talents in Europe.
And Moggi really managed
the greatest coup of all,
by getting the best manager
at the time, Fabio Capello.
[in Italian] All the other teams
should be scared.
[chuckles] It's difficult to win
all the time, but we're going to try.
[Gabriele in English] The Serie A season
begins with victories.
- Zlatan Ibrahimović was in his debut.
- [crowd cheering]
And then Juventus go to Sampdoria.
[commentator]
Should be a great night, this.
[Gabriele] Potentially tricky away game.
[commentator]
Listen to these Sampdoria fans.
[crowd cheering]
[whistle blows]
And this is Mauro Germán Camoranesi.
Strong deep by Camoranesi.
[Gabriele] Early in the first half
there's a penalty awarded to Juventus.
[commentator] I think he must've given
a penalty here, Dondarini.
It's a yellow card for Falcone
for complaining.
From my point of view,
it's a referee mistake.
From the replays,
it appears that if a foul is committed,
it's committed by a Juve player.
[commentator] The Sampdoria players
are absolutely furious.
[crowd roaring]
[crowd cheering]
[Mina] Sampdoria collapsed after that.
[commentator] Great cut by Ibrahimović,
instant impact.
Hit by Trezeguet!
[crowd cheering]
[Mina] It's a three-nil victory
for Juventus.
[commentator] Flachi's furious,
but this is all down to the referee.
The losing team always feels hard done by.
It's the nature of football.
But Juventus had won, three-nil,
and the referee was just doing his job.
A referee has a lot of power over a game.
Football is,
by its very nature, a low-scoring sport.
And so, individual decisions have
an out-sized influence.
[Mina] Juventus had this reputation
of always getting favorable decisions,
and this had been something
that was spoken about,
it was a conspiracy theory.
[in Italian] I'll just say this:
Juventus does everything by the book.
In Italy, everyone hates winners.
Juventus has never cheated.
Maybe others do.
Nobody in Italy could have imagined
that such a big investigation
into football was taking place.
[Pino] But to start with,
there wasn't anything incriminating.
We needed concrete proof
that the referees were being pressured.
[Gabriele in English] By November,
everything was going smoothly
for Juventus.
[Mina] They won eight
of their nine matches,
and they were looking like
the team to beat.
Milan was in second place.
[Gabriele] Juventus are fine.
They have an away match against Reggina.
[crowd chanting]
A small club. Most people forecast
an easy win for Juventus.
[commentator in Italian]
The match is starting.
How many will Juve score tonight?
- [whistle blows]
- Reggina attacking. Ball played in.
[Gabriele in English]Early on
in the match, Reggina take the lead.
[commentator in Italian] Incredible goal!
[Mina in English] But Zlatan Ibrahimović
immediately equalized.
[commentator in Italian]
Goal! Juventus has equalized.
[Gabriele in English] But then,
long-range free kick from Zamboni.
[commentator in Italian] Zamboni scores!
[Gabriele in English] Juventus are angry.
Right? This is not supposed to happen.
[commentator in Italian] Ibrahimović
[Mina in English] Ibrahimović gets
the ball into the back of the net.
[commentator in Italian]
Wait! There's been a foul.
[Mina in English]
But it's ruled out because of a foul.
[commentator in Italian]
Only two minutes left. Juve's attacking.
Goal!
[Mina in English]
They finally get the goal.
[in English] But then,
there's this very dramatic moment
[commentator in Italian]
Reggina are furious.
[Gabriele in English]where you see
the referee, Gianluca Paparesta,
going over to speak to
the assistant referee, Aniello Di Mauro.
[commentator in Italian]
It all comes down to this moment.
Paparesta rules out the goal.
It's offside!
[crowd roaring]
[Paparesta] When you see something
and you're certain,
you must decide immediately.
I didn't stop to think
it was the last minute of a match
in which Juventus was losing,
otherwise you become biased.
You must referee.
[Gabriele in English]
It was the correct call.
However, it's also
a very marginal decision.
[commentator in Italian]
Incredible end to the game!
[Paparesta] The tension was obvious.
Luciano Moggi came
into the changing room to complain.
He said it was shameful,
absurd to rule out those goals.
[Pino] As soon as
the Reggina-Juventus match was over,
Moggi made lots of calls.
He was furious.
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] Look, two goals disallowed.
A penalty, scandalous!
[man] Yes, I saw. It's a scandal.
[Attilio]We listened to itlive.
[Moggi] I locked the referee
in the dressing room
- and took the keys with me to the airport.
- [man] Yeah, no way!
We looked at each other,
"What the hell, shit." [chuckles]
"Play it again, let me hear it again."
[tape rewinds]
[Moggi] It's true. I locked him in
and took the key away.
Now they'll have to kick the door down.
[Pino] A football club director
can get as mad as they like.
What they can't do
is to approach a referee
and threaten him or insult him,
because this is strictly forbidden.
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] For me,
Paparesta is a piece of shit.
He has to be stopped.
Both the assistants, too.
I thought, he'd let off steam
and that would be the end of it.
But it didn't end there.
[crowd cheering]
[man] "Ladies and gentlemen,
the Biscardi trial."
Biscardi, oley, oley ♪
Let's celebrate ♪
Biscardi, oley, oley ♪
Let's prosecute ♪
[Gabriele in English] Aldo Biscardi
created a TV program
called Il Processo, The Trial.
It was a very influential
television program.
[in Italian] Thank you, good evening.
[Pino] Moggi was aware that controlling
public opinion was crucial.
Aldo Biscardi was a close friend.
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] I want Paparesta suspended
and his linesman.
They were shit in this match.
Now they must be punished.
[Biscardi] Yes,
why not take back his license?
- [crowd cheering and applauding]
- The Trial. Thank you.
[Attilio] So, on Monday night we tuned in.
Thank you. Thank you.
[Pino] We wanted to see
whether Biscardi would follow
the directions from Luciano Moggi.
Yet again, a refereeing scandal.
The referees are making mistakes.
It must be stopped!
It made me very angry.
My career was at stake.
- Paparesta's license should be taken away.
- Or suspended.
Then take away his license!
[crowd cheering and applauding]
Until all this happened,
I was happy to referee.
I liked it. I traveled the world.
I couldn't wait for my son to grow up
so that I could bring him with me.
[Gabriele in English]
Gianluca Paparesta was suspended
by the Italian Referees' Association
for two games.
When he came back,
he refereed a lower division game.
MOGGI SAYS,
"THAT REFEREE SHOULD BE REPLACED"
[Gabriele] I think a lot of referees
saw that and were like,
"All right, he's been sent a message."
[in Italian] It saddens me
that I was punished
by the Referees' Association.
[Pino] And his linesman, Aniello Di Mauro,
had an even worse fate.
We intercepted a call to him
from the Head of the Referees' Assocation,
Paolo Bergamo.
[phone line ringing]
[Paolo] Listen,
this was a refereeing mistake.
As you know, Paparesta went to Serie B.
There will always be repercussions.
[Aniello] No, Paolo, I'm sorry.
You have to believe me.
The only thing I was thinking about
was that it was offside.
I swear on my children!
You have to believe me.
You're humiliating me!
I feel deep compassion for him.
He did his job, he raised the flag.
- [crowd cheering]
- [horn honking]
Their power was so strong, so unchecked,
that they even humiliated people,
even making them cry.
When referees weren't on their side,
like Paparesta, the direction was:
"Butcher them."
[car honks]
[Attilio] This is exactly
what we were trying to prove.
The Referees' Association
was being influenced by Moggi.
[thunder rumbling]
[crow caws]
[Corrado] I work in the Sport section
of la Repubblica.
[door beeps]
My boss thought I was
a bit of a pain in the ass,
because I loved to shed light
on things that were hidden.
I dealt with the dark side of football.
I thought that Luciano Moggi
was very interesting.
He was extremely powerful.
I read everything
that had been written about him.
Everywhere Moggi had been,
there were scandals.
[reporter] Supplying prostitutes.
This is the accusation leveled against
the ex-director of Torino FC,
Luciano Moggi.
The women were asked
to keep the referees happy
before three games.
Moggi completely denies this.
[Corrado] He'd never been found guilty
of anything.
He's a man who was always one step ahead.
[indistinct chattering]
I started looking for sources,
but Juventus
is the most important team in Italy.
To attack them, you must be
absolutely certain of the facts.
If you miss a shot at Luciano Moggi,
you won't get a second chance.
[in English] After Reggina, Juventus were
winning most of their matches.
[Gabriele] But Milan had cut Juve's lead
to four points.
[crowd cheering]
[Pino in Italian]
Around then we ran into a problem.
It had the potential
to derail the whole investigation.
We heard Luciano Moggi
talking with Paolo Bergamo.
[phone line ringing]
[Bergamo] I've had some issues.
I want to talk about it
on the other phone.
[Moggi] Okay.
But Moggi's phone call didn't happen.
We didn't have that conversation recorded,
even though
all Moggi's mobile phones were bugged.
Both mobile and landlines.
It drives you crazy.
Where the hell were they talking?
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] I'm on the wrong phone,
wait a second.
[man] I'll send you a text
on the other phone.
They must have a system
for talking to each other secretly.
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] Get two SIM cards.
[man] I got them.
[Moggi] Two anonymous SIM cards.
We realized that this group
had their most secret calls
using secret burner phones.
We'd only ever seen this before
with organized crime gangs.
Maybe they'd been tipped off
about the investigation.
Juventus was about to play
a very important match against Milan,
but we didn't hear any phone calls
about that match.
We were left in total darkness.
Total darkness.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] This championship is already
a two-horse race for the title
between Juventus and Milan.
[Gabriele in English]
Juventus are top of the league,
but their lead is just four points.
If Milan won the match, then it would
blow the title race wide open.
[commentator in Italian]
These are two strong, determined teams.
Milan and Juventus, the moment of truth.
[in English] There weren't many chances,
it was a close game,
but there were two big decisions
that go against Milan.
[crowd roars]
[commentator 1]
That's a pull from Zebina.
[commentator 2] Certainly was, yeah,
and I think, uh,
if the referee had spotted that,
we could well be looking at a penalty.
Now, that should have been a penalty
straight away, to Milan, but it wasn't.
[Gabriele] Late on, Kaká is fouled,
but stays on his feet,
has the ball, is clear on goal.
[whistle blows]
- [comm 1] The whistle's gone
- [comm 2] A poor decision.
[comm 1] It's held them up, hasn't it?
There was a clear advantage for Milan.
They were absolutely furious,
because it was just bad refereeing.
[crowd roaring]
[commentator 2] So frustrating, that.
Especially with chances at a premium,
a real opportunity for Kaká.
[Mina] It ended nil-nil, but Milan
should have won that match.
Juventus went into the new year
at the top of the table.
[in Italian]
Wait a second, he's on the phone.
- [seagulls squawk]
- [church bell tolling]
[Pino] We were halfway through the season,
but we still didn't have enough evidence
against Moggi,
because they were using burner phones.
So, we got the team started
on video surveillance
to film the people he met.
[grunts]
[man] He's coming on foot?
At the top of the road?
[Pino] Moggi was meeting members
of the football federation,
financiers and journalists.
We were shocked to find out that he was
driven around by police officers.
This gave us an idea of the extent
of Luciano Moggi's power.
Then, out of the blue,
we catch Moggi on wiretap
speaking to referee administrator,
Paolo Bergamo.
[phone line ringing]
- [Moggi] Hello?
- [Bergamo] I'm on the house number.
[Pino] Moggi slips up
and uses a burner phone
to speak on a wire-tapped number.
Thank God even the smartest people
make mistakes.
[Moggi] I'll tell you what I've written.
Okay, I've done Juventus, Udinese,
Reginna, Milan.
[Bergamo] Yes.
Bergamo is in charge of the draw
for selecting referees.
[Moggi] And these are the referees
I've put in this grid.
I've got Bertini, Rodomonti and Racalbuto.
This grid works for me.
[Gabriele in English] In Italy, they would
have a draw to assign the referee
and they'd take all the matches,
they split them into tiers,
and then they have a draw.
The system is designed to make sure
that it's extremely difficult for a club
to influence what referee
gets assigned to their match.
It takes place
on a Friday morning in Rome.
ITALIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION
[in Italian] Bergamo and Moggi spoke
on Tuesday saying,
"This referee here, that one there.
No, change it around."
"Bertini is fine for me,"
that is for Moggi.
So, we really wanted to find out
what would happen.
[tense music playing]
[laughing] On Friday,
we were completely shocked.
Rodomonti.
We went to check.
To our surprise, it was that list.
[Pino] The same list
that Moggi had given a few days earlier.
Bertini.
Either Luciano Moggi was one of the most
extraordinary clairvoyants in history,
uh, or something else was going on.
[Attilio] We thought that
the referee selection
was entirely arranged by Moggi
and the referee administrator.
It was disturbing.
For us, this was one of
the most important pieces of evidence
to prove that we were dealing
with an organized crime group.
[church bell tolling]
Moggi's secret system wasn't a myth.
It was absolutely real.
[ominous music playing]
[Gabriele in English] 2005 starts
with Juventus actually losing some ground.
[Mina] That meant
that they lost their position
at the top of the table to Milan.
This made for a very exciting title race.
[Gabriele] Everybody believes
it's going down to the wire.
[phone line ringing]
- [Pierluigi in Italian] Hi.
- [Moggi] Gigi.
What fucking referee
are you sending us?
[Pino] Once we realized that Luciano Moggi
was manipulating
the selection of referees,
a whole different world
opened up before us.
We realized it was even more complex
than we thought.
Their work was so sophisticated
it didn't leave anything to chance.
Moggi was trying to influence games
that had nothing to do with Juventus.
We didn't understand why.
[crowd chanting]
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] For the Fiorentina vs
Bologna game,
I need the yellow cards to do their work.
[whistle blows]
Luciano Moggi clearly says,
"Go ahead with the yellow cards."
[in English] When you accumulate
a certain number of yellow cards,
you get an automatic one or two match ban.
The referee is Massimo De Santis,
and he ends up booking
three Bologna players,
but crucially,
three of those players were, at the time,
one yellow card away from a suspension.
The next match is against Juventus.
[crowd roaring]
[phone line ringing]
[man in Italian]
De Santis has done the perfect crime.
All three Bologna players suspended.
[Moggi] Yes, thank goodness.
[Pino] When Juventus played Bologna,
who had three key players suspended,
Bologna lost.
[crowd cheering]
It was a very sophisticated system.
Deadly.
By now, we had a clear idea
of the three pillars of Moggi's system:
Choosing referees he wants
punishing referees who were against him
and getting referees to suspend players
from teams about to play Juventus.
Thanks to the Moggi system,
at the end of the championship,
Juventus are close to winning the League.
[Mina in English] It was the end
of the season, and Juventus and Milan
were neck and neck.
So, it all came down
to this big match in Milan.
[commentator 1 in Italian] We haven't seen
a battle like this for years.
With the two teams neck and neck,
this game is basically a final.
[in English] Whoever won that match
would effectively win the title.
[commentator 2 in Italian]
This is going out to 167 countries.
[commentator 1] It's gonna be
a great match. Pure football.
May the best team win.
[Gabriele in English] There was
tremendous hype going into it,
tremendous tension.
[commentator 1 in Italian]
Whoever wins this will be champions.
[horn honking]
[Attilio] Collina was chosen as referee.
He was a top referee. He was impartial.
We knew that Luciano Moggi
didn't want Collina.
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] Good evening.
[Pierluigi] Evening, Luciano. I hear
you're pissed off about the referees.
[Moggi] No, the pitch is our only friend.
If we win, we win.
[Pino] The battle of the giants
couldn't be influenced by Moggi.
The owner of Milan was Berlusconi.
With his media power and economic might,
no other referee would have
taken on the responsibility.
Because the match was so big.
[whistle blows]
[Gabriele in English] Del Piero delivers
a pinpoint cross,
and David Trezeguet was there to meet it.
[commentator 1 in Italian]
David Trezeguet! One-nil!
[commentator 2]
What a cross from Del Piero!
[in English] The rest of the match Milan
strained forward, trying to get an edge.
[commentator 1 in Italian] Inzaghi!
[crowd roars]
There's Buffon. Inzaghi hits the post!
[crowd cheering]
[whistle blows]
The match is over! Juventus won,
and probably the championship, too.
They're three points ahead of Milan now.
[in English] Winning that match meant
winning the title.
[commentator 2 in Italian]
Del Piero lifts the trophy.
They're champions of Italy
for the 28th time.
[Gabriele in English] Moggi's vindicated.
He, once again, was dominating Serie A.
[horns honking]
[Vincenzo in Italian] It was amazing.
It was like having a baby. [laughs]
I came back home with tears in my eyes.
[Pino] Everyone was celebrating,
but only we knew that it was a deception.
It was a great fraud.
[Attilio] As a fan,
I thought it was a dirty result.
It's fake. It's like doping.
What sort of achievement is that?
[Pino] We had collected
about 171,000 phone calls.
It was an enormous task
to go through them all.
At that point, we had enough evidence
to take them to court.
Everything had to remain
completely confidential
until we were ready
to issue arrest warrants.
[Corrado]
It's 6:00 p.m., I'm in the newsroom.
I get a phone call from a close friend.
He says, "Corrado, I have some documents."
The documents came from the police.
They arrived from a confidential source.
[laughs] Okay. See you later.
We discovered it was about Luciano Moggi
and the last Serie A football seasons.
We were all a bit shocked,
because we realized
we had a massive story.
The charges included organized crime,
which was unheard of in sports.
It's normally only for Mafia cases.
The office was electrified,
but we were a bit worried.
It was very late.
To re-do the whole newspaper,
at that time, is a big deal.
The first edition, in those years,
closed at 11:00 p.m.
So, we had three or four hours to read,
maybe an hour to write.
But we work better under pressure,
and amazingly, we made it happen.
[typing]
Italian football exploded.
[dramatic music playing]
MASSIVE SCANDAL!
[man 1] Breaking news. Leaked wiretaps
name famous Italian football executives.
The disaster at Juventus
is all over the front pages.
"Juve in chaos."
Good evening from Rai Sport.
The storm engulfing Italian Football
is growing.
[man 2 in English] Luciano Moggi is
the central figure
in Italy's match-fixing scandal.
Police believe their phone taps
have revealed a system of corruption
at the highest level.
[Gabriele] The scandal was seismic.
Originally, they called it Moggopoli,
after Moggi.
Then it became Calciopoli,
effectively the equivalent
of "Footballgate."
[in Italian]
It was the biggest ever football scandal.
[man 3] Moggi is also accused
of kidnapping.
They are accused of locking the referee,
Paparesta, in the changing rooms.
MOGGI ACCUSED OF KIDNAPPING
That someone could go as far as
kidnapping a referee was unbelievable.
It sounded like a Mexican Narcos story.
[man 2 in English]
Aldo Biscardi has stepped down
after decades presenting one
of Italy's longest-running TV shows.
[man 4 in Italian]
The so-called "Moggi system"
is summarized in 2,400 pages,
and there are also 10,000 wiretaps
and video surveillance.
- [indistinct chattering]
- [cameras clicking]
I wasn't angry, I was furious.
[Pino] It caused huge, irreparable damage
to our investigation.
We'd never had a leak before.
Never.
All of our work was at risk,
and for the first time,
Luciano Moggi knew we were onto him.
[ominous music playing]
[dragging]
- [man] Here we are.
- Here we are.
[man] With that cigar,
you look like a boss.
- And
- A phony one.
[man] Why did they call you Lucky Luciano?
They didn't call meLucky Luciano,
they called me Lucky.
But luck doesn't just happen.
You have to look for it.
The first ten days
of the scandal were awful
because TV, radio, newspapers,
all repeating, "Scandal in football"
all the time.
I've never taken advantage of anyone.
To be accused of being a thief,
it hurt me.
I grew up in poverty.
My dad worked as a lumberjack.
I've always had something inside
that pushed me
and told me, "Go. Go on."
And so I pursued my dream,
my passion for football.
Football is a pure sport
in which the best players win.
If we won seven championships,
I think that's a big achievement.
All the players I signed,
from Zidane to Pavel Nedved,
to Cannavaro, they were the right ones.
[cell phone vibrates]
- Oh.
- [man talks indistinctly]
We didn't need anyone's help
to win games.
We won with our own strength.
When you're at the top of the tree,
everyone at the bottom
is trying to shoot you down.
[seagulls squawk]
[Pino] The leak forced us
to take action immediately.
We had to do it all in a crazy rush.
So, we subpoenaed the suspects.
Most importantly, Luciano Moggi.
Juventus is in the spotlight again.
Today, Moggi will be interrogated.
He's just arrived in Rome.
He's on his way
to the police headquarters.
[Pino] I was stressed.
It was as if time and space had stopped
because Italy was desperate to know
what would happen next.
[tense music playing]
Finally, I met Luciano Moggi in person,
up close, for the first time.
The expression on his face was tense.
I struggled to look them in the eyes.
I wanted to find out
what they would accuse me of
since I hadn't done anything wrong.
I didn't know
what they could charge me with.
[Pino] May 15th, 2006
Before we start asking questions,
is there anything you'd like to say?
[Moggi] I've been attacked by everyone.
I've been made a scapegoat.
I can't accept this.
I have always obeyed the law.
I was certain I was innocent.
He asked us,
"Have I done something wrong?"
"Is this illegal?"
I did talk to the referee administrators.
But so did everyone else.
Of course we try
to look out for ourselves,
because this is something
all football clubs do.
"This is football."
So, we clashed with him,
because we kept saying,
"Look, this is illegal."
And I never asked to win a match.
Look, this is actually a crime.
We are talking about organized crime.
[Moggi] Oh my!
[Pino] So, Paparesta locked
in the changing room
[Moggi crying] Dear Lord
[Pino] Mr. Moggi, I want to tell you
- We have always
- [Moggi] I have always been a good person,
and now I feel like
I've turned into a Mafia Don!
[crying]
In that moment, he realizes
that the castle is crumbling.
Do you realize your career is over?
- [indistinct chattering]
- [cameras clicking]
Please, don't ask me any questions
because I don't have the desire
or the strength.
My soul has been killed.
Tomorrow, I will resign
as Sporting Director of Juventus.
From this evening, the world of soccer
is no longer my world.
- [indistinct chattering]
- [cameras clicking]
[crowd yelling]
There have been shocking developments
in the scandal.
The authorities are investigating
nine clubs.
Three might be relegated.
[in English]
The scandal grew week on week,
and the Italian Federation
moved very quickly.
[in Italian] Juventus FC are relegated.
The Serie A titles are revoked.
[man in English] A.C. Milan remain
in Serie A,
but will have 15 points deducted.
[Gabriele] All of a sudden,
you have Milan given a big points penalty.
You have Lazio
with a big points penalty,
and Juventus relegated, uh,
from the top flight,
stripping them of two titles
that they'd won.
[man] Tonight, the verdict was greeted
in Turin with anger and defiance.
[crowd chanting]
[Gabriele] There was an exodus
of top players leaving to go abroad.
[man] Juventus stand to lose
some of their star players
in what could be the sale of the century.
[in Italian] All football fans are victims
of this sickness in football.
This has destroyed football.
As a fan, and as a person
who works in the world of football,
it's terrifying.
Don't you think it's a metaphor
for Italy today?
No, absolutely not.
This is something that's restricted
to a small part of football.
[Pino] Moggi's resignation
was the end of an era.
But for us, only one thing was important:
taking him to court
and proving he was guilty.
[Moggi] I felt pretty broken.
I was even ashamed to walk on the street.
It was as if a house had fallen on me.
This team was my masterpiece.
In that moment, I thought of many things.
It's important to say,
it included committing suicide,
because I was really
But religion taught me
that life is made of many moments,
beautiful and bad.
And you have to fight through
the bad ones.
In my darkest moment,
I felt an inner strength
which said, "You must fight."
"Show the world
that everything being said is untrue."
[piano music playing]
[man] Now the Calciopoli scandal:
Juventus' former Sporting Director
is on trial.
We'll start the hearings now.
[Moggi] I believe in justice.
I believe in a fair world,
but when I read that motto,
"The Law is Equal for All,"
I had my doubts.
Because even if this was a scandal,
all of football should have been on trial,
not just a small part of it.
Not just me.
I'm here to say I'm being portrayed
as the head of a system
which I've never been part of.
[Pino] We had hundreds of thousands
of wiretaps,
but we needed witnesses.
I just wanted to understand why
officials who made decisions
against Juventus didn't referee anymore.
Did you ever receive threats
from Luciano Moggi?
He said, "Be careful, you piece of shit,
or you'll end up in a bad way."
- [male lawyer] Objection!
- Lawyers, please calm down!
They told me I was a disgrace,
that they were appalled by my refereeing.
Moggi's statements are quite dramatic.
He says, "I locked the referee
in the changing room and took the keys."
I don't think the door was locked.
This never happened.
[chuckles]
[Moggi] I made a joke.
Ididn't actually do it.
Moggi jokingly said he'd locked him
in the changing room.
He was accused of kidnapping!
Kidnapping!
This whole trial has been done like this.
Some bullshit is said on the phone,
pardon my language,
and an accusation is based on this?
[Attilio] The media coverage was
on Moggi's side,
making out he was the victim
and we were the crazy ones.
If they want a war,
we'll give them a war.
[crowd chanting]
Luciano Moggi! Luciano Moggi!
[Moggi] Yeah,
the fans definitely supported me,
but not only Juventus fans,
because people with common sense
realized that there was no truth
to what they were saying.
[upbeat music playing]
Moggi is innocent!
THANKS FOR EXISTING
That Luciano Moggi
was completely different
from the person I had met face-to-face.
He was confident and had control
over everything around him.
This is not a trial.
This is a ruthless witch hunt.
It was not true that the Moggi system
controlled football.
It was the way football worked, generally.
The other football teams spoke
to the referees and the designators.
This was completely left out
by the public prosecutors.
We've got about 2,000 wiretaps
of other Sporting Directors
calling the Referees' Association.
Only the part about Juventus came out.
It's not in the report
because it wasn't relevant
to our investigation.
[man 1] Moggi's defense argued
there was no conspiracy,
so, either everyone is guilty,
or everyone is innocent.
[man 2] Moggi was the ideal scapegoat
for the world of football,
a world that wanted to clean up its image
by sacrificing Luciano Moggi.
[exhales]
[Pino] I was constantlyworried
that our case had been damaged.
It was a tough time.
[man] The big day has arrived.
They will be announcing the verdict
in the Calciopoli trial.
For Luciano Moggi,
the moment of truth has arrived.
[Pino] Nothing like this
had ever been done before,
so nobody could predict the verdict.
[ominous music playing]
[woman]In accordance with article 29
of the criminal code,
Luciano Moggi is found guilty.
Luciano Moggi, this court sentences you
to five years and four months in prison.
[Moggi] I was so pleased.
The verdict silenced all the critics.
COURT OF LAW
[Moggi] The truth won.
Bibi. Hey, hey.
[babbling]
You've been released.
[woman laughs]
You're not locked up anymore.
- You're free now. Yes.
- [laughs]
I proved that I was innocent.
If no matches were fixed,
if the referees were all acquitted,
was football really broken?
[Gabriele in English] Of all the referees
and officials caught up in the scandal,
Massimo De Santis was the only one
whose conviction was upheld.
Everybody else who was convicted
was either acquitted on appeal,
or, because so much time had elapsed,
the statute of limitations kicked in
and their convictions were written off.
[Moggi in Italian]
Those who led the Calciopoli trial
will have to face a different judge
with no chance for appeal.
Jesus Christ. He's the Supreme Judge.
[cell phone vibrates]
Hello.
Listen, I'll tell you something.
You could try the ex-Juventus player.
Okay. Bye.
Who knows what Moggi is doing now?
Life goes on.
[piano music playing]
When I watch a match now,
I'm never sure
they're totally clean.
This case has totally changed
my perspective on football
and revealed its dark side.
[opera music playing]
[man in Italian] I became
a public prosecutor
because I believe in justice and truth.
This is a very tough city.
Every neighborhood in Naples
is controlled by the Camorra,
a group like the Mafia.
For a long time, I had a security team
to prevent my murder.
In 2003, Camorra informants told us
that there was something corrupt
at the very highest levels
of Italian football.
[fence rattling]
Everybody knows Italy lives for football.
But we never imagined
that this investigation
would lead to one of the biggest ever
scandals in Italy.
[crowd cheering]
[whistle blows]
The storm engulfing Italian Football
is growing.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] Goal! Incredible!
[man 1] These shocking wiretaps
are like an earthquake.
[man 2 in English] Managers and officials
could end up in jail.
[crowd cheering]
[man 3 in Italian] The world of football
is poisoned.
- [cameras clicking]
- [chanting]
[man 4] Juventus, champions of Italy.
[man 5 in English] This is seismic.
The biggest scandal
in the history of Italian football.
[theme music playing]
[crowd cheering]
[Pino in Italian] That summer,
witnesses told us
about a group we'd never heard of before
The Roman Posse.
The Roman Posse was a mysterious
and secret group of powerful referees
who were influencing football matches
at the highest level,
that is the Serie A league.
[ominous music playing]
Power is fascinating.
Power captivates and corrupts.
Referees have enormous power.
If that power is used illegally,
it can shape the outcome of a game,
or even an entire season.
Our witnesses told us
that the Roman Posse
was somehow connected to
the most important club in Italy,
Juventus.
[crowd cheering]
[chanting]
[man in English] Juventus are
the most successful club in Italy.
And have been, historically,
going all the way back to the 1950s.
[crowd cheering]
In 2004, Juventus had
27 Serie A titles to their name,
which is pretty incredible,
because that's almost as many
as the next two teams combined.
[crowd cheering]
[in Italian] The passion, the love
like the love for your wife.
I was born in a black and white shirt.
[woman in English] Juventus are owned
by the Agnelli family.
They are like the Kennedys.
This is a family that contributed
five percent of the annual GDP of Italy.
[Gabriele] They own Fiat,
they own Ferrari,
they have a media empire.
The Agnelli family is the closest thing
that we have in Italy to a royal family.
It's hugely, hugely powerful.
[ominous music playing]
[water dripping]
[Pino in Italian] I knew the investigation
would be really difficult
because football is a very important part
of this country's economy.
It was an investigation into power.
You can't do this type
of investigation alone.
The first thing I did
was call Rome's Military police.
[church bell tolling]
[man] I got a call
from Public Prosecutor Narducci,
and I told him straight away
this is really serious.
We got on straight away.
[laughs]
We smoked a lot together.
Uh, I was a cigar smoker,
and he smoked cigarettes.
[Pino] Our goal was to find out everything
about the Roman Posse.
Who was part of it? What were they up to?
We needed to reach
the heart of the system.
[Attilio] It was going to be difficult
to find evidence of crimes.
We didn't have anyone
on the inside, an informer.
[Attilio] So, we got a warrant
to tap their phones.
We needed to wiretap the two people
in charge of the Referees' Association.
Paolo Bergamo and Pierluigi Pairetto.
[Attilio] We also wiretapped
the sporting director of Juventus
who had enormous power.
His name was Luciano Moggi.
[indistinct talking]
[Gabriele in English]
Luciano Moggi was seen
as this very clever wheeler-dealer
director of football.
- [camera clicks]
- He grew from out of nothing, really.
He comes from this poor, rural hamlet.
He desperately wants to be in football,
but has to pay the bills,
so he gets a job with the railway
which allows him to watch games.
He becomes an exceptional scout
who had a real eye for talent.
[in Italian] I'm not bragging,
but even when I worked on the railways,
I was a leader. My dad taught me
the value of hard work.
[camera clicks]
[Mina in English] He built himself
working for various different clubs
before reaching
what was considered the top,
being a sporting director
of Juventus Football Club.
He brings in these tremendous players:
Zinedine Zidane, Pavel Nedvěd,
- "Gigi" Buffon.
- [crowd roars]
So, with all the glamour and the money
coming in to the Italian game,
Moggi very much
was the architect behind the scenes.
[man in Italian] What don't you like
about football?
- Losing.
- [man laughs]
[dog barks]
[Pino] We set up
a listening room in central Rome.
[Attilio] It was a small team.
Reliable, very close.
The investigation needed to be top secret.
Any leak would completely risk
compromising it.
[static crackling]
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] I'm coming back
to Turin tomorrow.
I've got a gift for you.
[man 1] You shouldn't have!
- [Moggi] Don't bust my balls.
- [man 1] Okay, if you insist.
[Pino] Out of all the people
we were wiretapping,
Luciano Moggi was the one
we heard speaking the most.
[static crackling]
He talked day and night.
[man 2] Greatest Luciano, how are you?
[Moggi] I'm fine, thanks.
[man 2] I see you on the news.
I see you on TV. Don't get in trouble.
[Attilio] The officer in charge
of listening said,
"Look, Commander, I can't keep up
because there are so many calls!"
[phone ringing]
[indistinct chattering]
[crowd cheering]
[Gabriele in English] In the summer
of 2004, Juventus had a problem.
The previous season,
it ended up as a bit of a disaster.
- A.C. Milan had won the Serie A title.
- [chanting]
They were Juventus' biggest rivals.
[Mina] Milan were owned
by Silvio Berlusconi.
He was the Prime Minister of Italy,
at the time.
So, there was this great rivalry,
because it was Berlusconi
versus the Agnellis.
[tires screeching]
[commentator 1 in Italian]
Moggi almost got run over!
[commentator 2 laughs]
[commentator 2] Someone wants
to take him out.
- [comm 1] There's Umberto Agnelli.
- [comm 2 laughs]
[Gabriele in English]
The screws were turned on Moggi.
He needed to do something bold
to regain the upper hand.
He signed Zlatan Ibrahimović,
one of the great young talents in Europe.
And Moggi really managed
the greatest coup of all,
by getting the best manager
at the time, Fabio Capello.
[in Italian] All the other teams
should be scared.
[chuckles] It's difficult to win
all the time, but we're going to try.
[Gabriele in English] The Serie A season
begins with victories.
- Zlatan Ibrahimović was in his debut.
- [crowd cheering]
And then Juventus go to Sampdoria.
[commentator]
Should be a great night, this.
[Gabriele] Potentially tricky away game.
[commentator]
Listen to these Sampdoria fans.
[crowd cheering]
[whistle blows]
And this is Mauro Germán Camoranesi.
Strong deep by Camoranesi.
[Gabriele] Early in the first half
there's a penalty awarded to Juventus.
[commentator] I think he must've given
a penalty here, Dondarini.
It's a yellow card for Falcone
for complaining.
From my point of view,
it's a referee mistake.
From the replays,
it appears that if a foul is committed,
it's committed by a Juve player.
[commentator] The Sampdoria players
are absolutely furious.
[crowd roaring]
[crowd cheering]
[Mina] Sampdoria collapsed after that.
[commentator] Great cut by Ibrahimović,
instant impact.
Hit by Trezeguet!
[crowd cheering]
[Mina] It's a three-nil victory
for Juventus.
[commentator] Flachi's furious,
but this is all down to the referee.
The losing team always feels hard done by.
It's the nature of football.
But Juventus had won, three-nil,
and the referee was just doing his job.
A referee has a lot of power over a game.
Football is,
by its very nature, a low-scoring sport.
And so, individual decisions have
an out-sized influence.
[Mina] Juventus had this reputation
of always getting favorable decisions,
and this had been something
that was spoken about,
it was a conspiracy theory.
[in Italian] I'll just say this:
Juventus does everything by the book.
In Italy, everyone hates winners.
Juventus has never cheated.
Maybe others do.
Nobody in Italy could have imagined
that such a big investigation
into football was taking place.
[Pino] But to start with,
there wasn't anything incriminating.
We needed concrete proof
that the referees were being pressured.
[Gabriele in English] By November,
everything was going smoothly
for Juventus.
[Mina] They won eight
of their nine matches,
and they were looking like
the team to beat.
Milan was in second place.
[Gabriele] Juventus are fine.
They have an away match against Reggina.
[crowd chanting]
A small club. Most people forecast
an easy win for Juventus.
[commentator in Italian]
The match is starting.
How many will Juve score tonight?
- [whistle blows]
- Reggina attacking. Ball played in.
[Gabriele in English]Early on
in the match, Reggina take the lead.
[commentator in Italian] Incredible goal!
[Mina in English] But Zlatan Ibrahimović
immediately equalized.
[commentator in Italian]
Goal! Juventus has equalized.
[Gabriele in English] But then,
long-range free kick from Zamboni.
[commentator in Italian] Zamboni scores!
[Gabriele in English] Juventus are angry.
Right? This is not supposed to happen.
[commentator in Italian] Ibrahimović
[Mina in English] Ibrahimović gets
the ball into the back of the net.
[commentator in Italian]
Wait! There's been a foul.
[Mina in English]
But it's ruled out because of a foul.
[commentator in Italian]
Only two minutes left. Juve's attacking.
Goal!
[Mina in English]
They finally get the goal.
[in English] But then,
there's this very dramatic moment
[commentator in Italian]
Reggina are furious.
[Gabriele in English]where you see
the referee, Gianluca Paparesta,
going over to speak to
the assistant referee, Aniello Di Mauro.
[commentator in Italian]
It all comes down to this moment.
Paparesta rules out the goal.
It's offside!
[crowd roaring]
[Paparesta] When you see something
and you're certain,
you must decide immediately.
I didn't stop to think
it was the last minute of a match
in which Juventus was losing,
otherwise you become biased.
You must referee.
[Gabriele in English]
It was the correct call.
However, it's also
a very marginal decision.
[commentator in Italian]
Incredible end to the game!
[Paparesta] The tension was obvious.
Luciano Moggi came
into the changing room to complain.
He said it was shameful,
absurd to rule out those goals.
[Pino] As soon as
the Reggina-Juventus match was over,
Moggi made lots of calls.
He was furious.
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] Look, two goals disallowed.
A penalty, scandalous!
[man] Yes, I saw. It's a scandal.
[Attilio]We listened to itlive.
[Moggi] I locked the referee
in the dressing room
- and took the keys with me to the airport.
- [man] Yeah, no way!
We looked at each other,
"What the hell, shit." [chuckles]
"Play it again, let me hear it again."
[tape rewinds]
[Moggi] It's true. I locked him in
and took the key away.
Now they'll have to kick the door down.
[Pino] A football club director
can get as mad as they like.
What they can't do
is to approach a referee
and threaten him or insult him,
because this is strictly forbidden.
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] For me,
Paparesta is a piece of shit.
He has to be stopped.
Both the assistants, too.
I thought, he'd let off steam
and that would be the end of it.
But it didn't end there.
[crowd cheering]
[man] "Ladies and gentlemen,
the Biscardi trial."
Biscardi, oley, oley ♪
Let's celebrate ♪
Biscardi, oley, oley ♪
Let's prosecute ♪
[Gabriele in English] Aldo Biscardi
created a TV program
called Il Processo, The Trial.
It was a very influential
television program.
[in Italian] Thank you, good evening.
[Pino] Moggi was aware that controlling
public opinion was crucial.
Aldo Biscardi was a close friend.
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] I want Paparesta suspended
and his linesman.
They were shit in this match.
Now they must be punished.
[Biscardi] Yes,
why not take back his license?
- [crowd cheering and applauding]
- The Trial. Thank you.
[Attilio] So, on Monday night we tuned in.
Thank you. Thank you.
[Pino] We wanted to see
whether Biscardi would follow
the directions from Luciano Moggi.
Yet again, a refereeing scandal.
The referees are making mistakes.
It must be stopped!
It made me very angry.
My career was at stake.
- Paparesta's license should be taken away.
- Or suspended.
Then take away his license!
[crowd cheering and applauding]
Until all this happened,
I was happy to referee.
I liked it. I traveled the world.
I couldn't wait for my son to grow up
so that I could bring him with me.
[Gabriele in English]
Gianluca Paparesta was suspended
by the Italian Referees' Association
for two games.
When he came back,
he refereed a lower division game.
MOGGI SAYS,
"THAT REFEREE SHOULD BE REPLACED"
[Gabriele] I think a lot of referees
saw that and were like,
"All right, he's been sent a message."
[in Italian] It saddens me
that I was punished
by the Referees' Association.
[Pino] And his linesman, Aniello Di Mauro,
had an even worse fate.
We intercepted a call to him
from the Head of the Referees' Assocation,
Paolo Bergamo.
[phone line ringing]
[Paolo] Listen,
this was a refereeing mistake.
As you know, Paparesta went to Serie B.
There will always be repercussions.
[Aniello] No, Paolo, I'm sorry.
You have to believe me.
The only thing I was thinking about
was that it was offside.
I swear on my children!
You have to believe me.
You're humiliating me!
I feel deep compassion for him.
He did his job, he raised the flag.
- [crowd cheering]
- [horn honking]
Their power was so strong, so unchecked,
that they even humiliated people,
even making them cry.
When referees weren't on their side,
like Paparesta, the direction was:
"Butcher them."
[car honks]
[Attilio] This is exactly
what we were trying to prove.
The Referees' Association
was being influenced by Moggi.
[thunder rumbling]
[crow caws]
[Corrado] I work in the Sport section
of la Repubblica.
[door beeps]
My boss thought I was
a bit of a pain in the ass,
because I loved to shed light
on things that were hidden.
I dealt with the dark side of football.
I thought that Luciano Moggi
was very interesting.
He was extremely powerful.
I read everything
that had been written about him.
Everywhere Moggi had been,
there were scandals.
[reporter] Supplying prostitutes.
This is the accusation leveled against
the ex-director of Torino FC,
Luciano Moggi.
The women were asked
to keep the referees happy
before three games.
Moggi completely denies this.
[Corrado] He'd never been found guilty
of anything.
He's a man who was always one step ahead.
[indistinct chattering]
I started looking for sources,
but Juventus
is the most important team in Italy.
To attack them, you must be
absolutely certain of the facts.
If you miss a shot at Luciano Moggi,
you won't get a second chance.
[in English] After Reggina, Juventus were
winning most of their matches.
[Gabriele] But Milan had cut Juve's lead
to four points.
[crowd cheering]
[Pino in Italian]
Around then we ran into a problem.
It had the potential
to derail the whole investigation.
We heard Luciano Moggi
talking with Paolo Bergamo.
[phone line ringing]
[Bergamo] I've had some issues.
I want to talk about it
on the other phone.
[Moggi] Okay.
But Moggi's phone call didn't happen.
We didn't have that conversation recorded,
even though
all Moggi's mobile phones were bugged.
Both mobile and landlines.
It drives you crazy.
Where the hell were they talking?
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] I'm on the wrong phone,
wait a second.
[man] I'll send you a text
on the other phone.
They must have a system
for talking to each other secretly.
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] Get two SIM cards.
[man] I got them.
[Moggi] Two anonymous SIM cards.
We realized that this group
had their most secret calls
using secret burner phones.
We'd only ever seen this before
with organized crime gangs.
Maybe they'd been tipped off
about the investigation.
Juventus was about to play
a very important match against Milan,
but we didn't hear any phone calls
about that match.
We were left in total darkness.
Total darkness.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] This championship is already
a two-horse race for the title
between Juventus and Milan.
[Gabriele in English]
Juventus are top of the league,
but their lead is just four points.
If Milan won the match, then it would
blow the title race wide open.
[commentator in Italian]
These are two strong, determined teams.
Milan and Juventus, the moment of truth.
[in English] There weren't many chances,
it was a close game,
but there were two big decisions
that go against Milan.
[crowd roars]
[commentator 1]
That's a pull from Zebina.
[commentator 2] Certainly was, yeah,
and I think, uh,
if the referee had spotted that,
we could well be looking at a penalty.
Now, that should have been a penalty
straight away, to Milan, but it wasn't.
[Gabriele] Late on, Kaká is fouled,
but stays on his feet,
has the ball, is clear on goal.
[whistle blows]
- [comm 1] The whistle's gone
- [comm 2] A poor decision.
[comm 1] It's held them up, hasn't it?
There was a clear advantage for Milan.
They were absolutely furious,
because it was just bad refereeing.
[crowd roaring]
[commentator 2] So frustrating, that.
Especially with chances at a premium,
a real opportunity for Kaká.
[Mina] It ended nil-nil, but Milan
should have won that match.
Juventus went into the new year
at the top of the table.
[in Italian]
Wait a second, he's on the phone.
- [seagulls squawk]
- [church bell tolling]
[Pino] We were halfway through the season,
but we still didn't have enough evidence
against Moggi,
because they were using burner phones.
So, we got the team started
on video surveillance
to film the people he met.
[grunts]
[man] He's coming on foot?
At the top of the road?
[Pino] Moggi was meeting members
of the football federation,
financiers and journalists.
We were shocked to find out that he was
driven around by police officers.
This gave us an idea of the extent
of Luciano Moggi's power.
Then, out of the blue,
we catch Moggi on wiretap
speaking to referee administrator,
Paolo Bergamo.
[phone line ringing]
- [Moggi] Hello?
- [Bergamo] I'm on the house number.
[Pino] Moggi slips up
and uses a burner phone
to speak on a wire-tapped number.
Thank God even the smartest people
make mistakes.
[Moggi] I'll tell you what I've written.
Okay, I've done Juventus, Udinese,
Reginna, Milan.
[Bergamo] Yes.
Bergamo is in charge of the draw
for selecting referees.
[Moggi] And these are the referees
I've put in this grid.
I've got Bertini, Rodomonti and Racalbuto.
This grid works for me.
[Gabriele in English] In Italy, they would
have a draw to assign the referee
and they'd take all the matches,
they split them into tiers,
and then they have a draw.
The system is designed to make sure
that it's extremely difficult for a club
to influence what referee
gets assigned to their match.
It takes place
on a Friday morning in Rome.
ITALIAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION
[in Italian] Bergamo and Moggi spoke
on Tuesday saying,
"This referee here, that one there.
No, change it around."
"Bertini is fine for me,"
that is for Moggi.
So, we really wanted to find out
what would happen.
[tense music playing]
[laughing] On Friday,
we were completely shocked.
Rodomonti.
We went to check.
To our surprise, it was that list.
[Pino] The same list
that Moggi had given a few days earlier.
Bertini.
Either Luciano Moggi was one of the most
extraordinary clairvoyants in history,
uh, or something else was going on.
[Attilio] We thought that
the referee selection
was entirely arranged by Moggi
and the referee administrator.
It was disturbing.
For us, this was one of
the most important pieces of evidence
to prove that we were dealing
with an organized crime group.
[church bell tolling]
Moggi's secret system wasn't a myth.
It was absolutely real.
[ominous music playing]
[Gabriele in English] 2005 starts
with Juventus actually losing some ground.
[Mina] That meant
that they lost their position
at the top of the table to Milan.
This made for a very exciting title race.
[Gabriele] Everybody believes
it's going down to the wire.
[phone line ringing]
- [Pierluigi in Italian] Hi.
- [Moggi] Gigi.
What fucking referee
are you sending us?
[Pino] Once we realized that Luciano Moggi
was manipulating
the selection of referees,
a whole different world
opened up before us.
We realized it was even more complex
than we thought.
Their work was so sophisticated
it didn't leave anything to chance.
Moggi was trying to influence games
that had nothing to do with Juventus.
We didn't understand why.
[crowd chanting]
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] For the Fiorentina vs
Bologna game,
I need the yellow cards to do their work.
[whistle blows]
Luciano Moggi clearly says,
"Go ahead with the yellow cards."
[in English] When you accumulate
a certain number of yellow cards,
you get an automatic one or two match ban.
The referee is Massimo De Santis,
and he ends up booking
three Bologna players,
but crucially,
three of those players were, at the time,
one yellow card away from a suspension.
The next match is against Juventus.
[crowd roaring]
[phone line ringing]
[man in Italian]
De Santis has done the perfect crime.
All three Bologna players suspended.
[Moggi] Yes, thank goodness.
[Pino] When Juventus played Bologna,
who had three key players suspended,
Bologna lost.
[crowd cheering]
It was a very sophisticated system.
Deadly.
By now, we had a clear idea
of the three pillars of Moggi's system:
Choosing referees he wants
punishing referees who were against him
and getting referees to suspend players
from teams about to play Juventus.
Thanks to the Moggi system,
at the end of the championship,
Juventus are close to winning the League.
[Mina in English] It was the end
of the season, and Juventus and Milan
were neck and neck.
So, it all came down
to this big match in Milan.
[commentator 1 in Italian] We haven't seen
a battle like this for years.
With the two teams neck and neck,
this game is basically a final.
[in English] Whoever won that match
would effectively win the title.
[commentator 2 in Italian]
This is going out to 167 countries.
[commentator 1] It's gonna be
a great match. Pure football.
May the best team win.
[Gabriele in English] There was
tremendous hype going into it,
tremendous tension.
[commentator 1 in Italian]
Whoever wins this will be champions.
[horn honking]
[Attilio] Collina was chosen as referee.
He was a top referee. He was impartial.
We knew that Luciano Moggi
didn't want Collina.
[phone line ringing]
[Moggi] Good evening.
[Pierluigi] Evening, Luciano. I hear
you're pissed off about the referees.
[Moggi] No, the pitch is our only friend.
If we win, we win.
[Pino] The battle of the giants
couldn't be influenced by Moggi.
The owner of Milan was Berlusconi.
With his media power and economic might,
no other referee would have
taken on the responsibility.
Because the match was so big.
[whistle blows]
[Gabriele in English] Del Piero delivers
a pinpoint cross,
and David Trezeguet was there to meet it.
[commentator 1 in Italian]
David Trezeguet! One-nil!
[commentator 2]
What a cross from Del Piero!
[in English] The rest of the match Milan
strained forward, trying to get an edge.
[commentator 1 in Italian] Inzaghi!
[crowd roars]
There's Buffon. Inzaghi hits the post!
[crowd cheering]
[whistle blows]
The match is over! Juventus won,
and probably the championship, too.
They're three points ahead of Milan now.
[in English] Winning that match meant
winning the title.
[commentator 2 in Italian]
Del Piero lifts the trophy.
They're champions of Italy
for the 28th time.
[Gabriele in English] Moggi's vindicated.
He, once again, was dominating Serie A.
[horns honking]
[Vincenzo in Italian] It was amazing.
It was like having a baby. [laughs]
I came back home with tears in my eyes.
[Pino] Everyone was celebrating,
but only we knew that it was a deception.
It was a great fraud.
[Attilio] As a fan,
I thought it was a dirty result.
It's fake. It's like doping.
What sort of achievement is that?
[Pino] We had collected
about 171,000 phone calls.
It was an enormous task
to go through them all.
At that point, we had enough evidence
to take them to court.
Everything had to remain
completely confidential
until we were ready
to issue arrest warrants.
[Corrado]
It's 6:00 p.m., I'm in the newsroom.
I get a phone call from a close friend.
He says, "Corrado, I have some documents."
The documents came from the police.
They arrived from a confidential source.
[laughs] Okay. See you later.
We discovered it was about Luciano Moggi
and the last Serie A football seasons.
We were all a bit shocked,
because we realized
we had a massive story.
The charges included organized crime,
which was unheard of in sports.
It's normally only for Mafia cases.
The office was electrified,
but we were a bit worried.
It was very late.
To re-do the whole newspaper,
at that time, is a big deal.
The first edition, in those years,
closed at 11:00 p.m.
So, we had three or four hours to read,
maybe an hour to write.
But we work better under pressure,
and amazingly, we made it happen.
[typing]
Italian football exploded.
[dramatic music playing]
MASSIVE SCANDAL!
[man 1] Breaking news. Leaked wiretaps
name famous Italian football executives.
The disaster at Juventus
is all over the front pages.
"Juve in chaos."
Good evening from Rai Sport.
The storm engulfing Italian Football
is growing.
[man 2 in English] Luciano Moggi is
the central figure
in Italy's match-fixing scandal.
Police believe their phone taps
have revealed a system of corruption
at the highest level.
[Gabriele] The scandal was seismic.
Originally, they called it Moggopoli,
after Moggi.
Then it became Calciopoli,
effectively the equivalent
of "Footballgate."
[in Italian]
It was the biggest ever football scandal.
[man 3] Moggi is also accused
of kidnapping.
They are accused of locking the referee,
Paparesta, in the changing rooms.
MOGGI ACCUSED OF KIDNAPPING
That someone could go as far as
kidnapping a referee was unbelievable.
It sounded like a Mexican Narcos story.
[man 2 in English]
Aldo Biscardi has stepped down
after decades presenting one
of Italy's longest-running TV shows.
[man 4 in Italian]
The so-called "Moggi system"
is summarized in 2,400 pages,
and there are also 10,000 wiretaps
and video surveillance.
- [indistinct chattering]
- [cameras clicking]
I wasn't angry, I was furious.
[Pino] It caused huge, irreparable damage
to our investigation.
We'd never had a leak before.
Never.
All of our work was at risk,
and for the first time,
Luciano Moggi knew we were onto him.
[ominous music playing]
[dragging]
- [man] Here we are.
- Here we are.
[man] With that cigar,
you look like a boss.
- And
- A phony one.
[man] Why did they call you Lucky Luciano?
They didn't call meLucky Luciano,
they called me Lucky.
But luck doesn't just happen.
You have to look for it.
The first ten days
of the scandal were awful
because TV, radio, newspapers,
all repeating, "Scandal in football"
all the time.
I've never taken advantage of anyone.
To be accused of being a thief,
it hurt me.
I grew up in poverty.
My dad worked as a lumberjack.
I've always had something inside
that pushed me
and told me, "Go. Go on."
And so I pursued my dream,
my passion for football.
Football is a pure sport
in which the best players win.
If we won seven championships,
I think that's a big achievement.
All the players I signed,
from Zidane to Pavel Nedved,
to Cannavaro, they were the right ones.
[cell phone vibrates]
- Oh.
- [man talks indistinctly]
We didn't need anyone's help
to win games.
We won with our own strength.
When you're at the top of the tree,
everyone at the bottom
is trying to shoot you down.
[seagulls squawk]
[Pino] The leak forced us
to take action immediately.
We had to do it all in a crazy rush.
So, we subpoenaed the suspects.
Most importantly, Luciano Moggi.
Juventus is in the spotlight again.
Today, Moggi will be interrogated.
He's just arrived in Rome.
He's on his way
to the police headquarters.
[Pino] I was stressed.
It was as if time and space had stopped
because Italy was desperate to know
what would happen next.
[tense music playing]
Finally, I met Luciano Moggi in person,
up close, for the first time.
The expression on his face was tense.
I struggled to look them in the eyes.
I wanted to find out
what they would accuse me of
since I hadn't done anything wrong.
I didn't know
what they could charge me with.
[Pino] May 15th, 2006
Before we start asking questions,
is there anything you'd like to say?
[Moggi] I've been attacked by everyone.
I've been made a scapegoat.
I can't accept this.
I have always obeyed the law.
I was certain I was innocent.
He asked us,
"Have I done something wrong?"
"Is this illegal?"
I did talk to the referee administrators.
But so did everyone else.
Of course we try
to look out for ourselves,
because this is something
all football clubs do.
"This is football."
So, we clashed with him,
because we kept saying,
"Look, this is illegal."
And I never asked to win a match.
Look, this is actually a crime.
We are talking about organized crime.
[Moggi] Oh my!
[Pino] So, Paparesta locked
in the changing room
[Moggi crying] Dear Lord
[Pino] Mr. Moggi, I want to tell you
- We have always
- [Moggi] I have always been a good person,
and now I feel like
I've turned into a Mafia Don!
[crying]
In that moment, he realizes
that the castle is crumbling.
Do you realize your career is over?
- [indistinct chattering]
- [cameras clicking]
Please, don't ask me any questions
because I don't have the desire
or the strength.
My soul has been killed.
Tomorrow, I will resign
as Sporting Director of Juventus.
From this evening, the world of soccer
is no longer my world.
- [indistinct chattering]
- [cameras clicking]
[crowd yelling]
There have been shocking developments
in the scandal.
The authorities are investigating
nine clubs.
Three might be relegated.
[in English]
The scandal grew week on week,
and the Italian Federation
moved very quickly.
[in Italian] Juventus FC are relegated.
The Serie A titles are revoked.
[man in English] A.C. Milan remain
in Serie A,
but will have 15 points deducted.
[Gabriele] All of a sudden,
you have Milan given a big points penalty.
You have Lazio
with a big points penalty,
and Juventus relegated, uh,
from the top flight,
stripping them of two titles
that they'd won.
[man] Tonight, the verdict was greeted
in Turin with anger and defiance.
[crowd chanting]
[Gabriele] There was an exodus
of top players leaving to go abroad.
[man] Juventus stand to lose
some of their star players
in what could be the sale of the century.
[in Italian] All football fans are victims
of this sickness in football.
This has destroyed football.
As a fan, and as a person
who works in the world of football,
it's terrifying.
Don't you think it's a metaphor
for Italy today?
No, absolutely not.
This is something that's restricted
to a small part of football.
[Pino] Moggi's resignation
was the end of an era.
But for us, only one thing was important:
taking him to court
and proving he was guilty.
[Moggi] I felt pretty broken.
I was even ashamed to walk on the street.
It was as if a house had fallen on me.
This team was my masterpiece.
In that moment, I thought of many things.
It's important to say,
it included committing suicide,
because I was really
But religion taught me
that life is made of many moments,
beautiful and bad.
And you have to fight through
the bad ones.
In my darkest moment,
I felt an inner strength
which said, "You must fight."
"Show the world
that everything being said is untrue."
[piano music playing]
[man] Now the Calciopoli scandal:
Juventus' former Sporting Director
is on trial.
We'll start the hearings now.
[Moggi] I believe in justice.
I believe in a fair world,
but when I read that motto,
"The Law is Equal for All,"
I had my doubts.
Because even if this was a scandal,
all of football should have been on trial,
not just a small part of it.
Not just me.
I'm here to say I'm being portrayed
as the head of a system
which I've never been part of.
[Pino] We had hundreds of thousands
of wiretaps,
but we needed witnesses.
I just wanted to understand why
officials who made decisions
against Juventus didn't referee anymore.
Did you ever receive threats
from Luciano Moggi?
He said, "Be careful, you piece of shit,
or you'll end up in a bad way."
- [male lawyer] Objection!
- Lawyers, please calm down!
They told me I was a disgrace,
that they were appalled by my refereeing.
Moggi's statements are quite dramatic.
He says, "I locked the referee
in the changing room and took the keys."
I don't think the door was locked.
This never happened.
[chuckles]
[Moggi] I made a joke.
Ididn't actually do it.
Moggi jokingly said he'd locked him
in the changing room.
He was accused of kidnapping!
Kidnapping!
This whole trial has been done like this.
Some bullshit is said on the phone,
pardon my language,
and an accusation is based on this?
[Attilio] The media coverage was
on Moggi's side,
making out he was the victim
and we were the crazy ones.
If they want a war,
we'll give them a war.
[crowd chanting]
Luciano Moggi! Luciano Moggi!
[Moggi] Yeah,
the fans definitely supported me,
but not only Juventus fans,
because people with common sense
realized that there was no truth
to what they were saying.
[upbeat music playing]
Moggi is innocent!
THANKS FOR EXISTING
That Luciano Moggi
was completely different
from the person I had met face-to-face.
He was confident and had control
over everything around him.
This is not a trial.
This is a ruthless witch hunt.
It was not true that the Moggi system
controlled football.
It was the way football worked, generally.
The other football teams spoke
to the referees and the designators.
This was completely left out
by the public prosecutors.
We've got about 2,000 wiretaps
of other Sporting Directors
calling the Referees' Association.
Only the part about Juventus came out.
It's not in the report
because it wasn't relevant
to our investigation.
[man 1] Moggi's defense argued
there was no conspiracy,
so, either everyone is guilty,
or everyone is innocent.
[man 2] Moggi was the ideal scapegoat
for the world of football,
a world that wanted to clean up its image
by sacrificing Luciano Moggi.
[exhales]
[Pino] I was constantlyworried
that our case had been damaged.
It was a tough time.
[man] The big day has arrived.
They will be announcing the verdict
in the Calciopoli trial.
For Luciano Moggi,
the moment of truth has arrived.
[Pino] Nothing like this
had ever been done before,
so nobody could predict the verdict.
[ominous music playing]
[woman]In accordance with article 29
of the criminal code,
Luciano Moggi is found guilty.
Luciano Moggi, this court sentences you
to five years and four months in prison.
[Moggi] I was so pleased.
The verdict silenced all the critics.
COURT OF LAW
[Moggi] The truth won.
Bibi. Hey, hey.
[babbling]
You've been released.
[woman laughs]
You're not locked up anymore.
- You're free now. Yes.
- [laughs]
I proved that I was innocent.
If no matches were fixed,
if the referees were all acquitted,
was football really broken?
[Gabriele in English] Of all the referees
and officials caught up in the scandal,
Massimo De Santis was the only one
whose conviction was upheld.
Everybody else who was convicted
was either acquitted on appeal,
or, because so much time had elapsed,
the statute of limitations kicked in
and their convictions were written off.
[Moggi in Italian]
Those who led the Calciopoli trial
will have to face a different judge
with no chance for appeal.
Jesus Christ. He's the Supreme Judge.
[cell phone vibrates]
Hello.
Listen, I'll tell you something.
You could try the ex-Juventus player.
Okay. Bye.
Who knows what Moggi is doing now?
Life goes on.
[piano music playing]
When I watch a match now,
I'm never sure
they're totally clean.
This case has totally changed
my perspective on football
and revealed its dark side.
[opera music playing]