(Jamma) For AssoTutela, the world of horse racing has no rest, despite being a thriving and resourceful sector it is continually oppressed by scandals. Last but not least, the ruling of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Potenza for the years 2006-2007 according to which 26 races would be fixed throughout Italy and 17 people accused of manipulating the winnings of bets using the infamous weapon of doping. The horses were allegedly administered drugs and illicit substances.
The president of AssoTutela Michel Emi Maritato, who fights every day to combat abuses and illegalities against the weakest, said in a statement: “The situation is tragic. The shadow of mafia-type associations is destroying the horse racing world, putting it in a serious crisis and causing the loss of work for the 50.000 families of the sector operators and sending the horses that have become useless to slaughter”. With the closure of the San Siro racecourse on 31 December, there could be 5000 horses destined for the slaughterhouse.
There are thousands of animals that end up in the criminal hands of the Zoomafia every year for clandestine horse racing and clandestine slaughter.
In 2011, as many as 47 horses that ran in official competitions in Campania tested positive for some prohibited substance and again in 2011, the Carabinieri of the Naples Investigative Unit seized assets deemed to be attributable to illegal activities, including in tourism and in the horse racing sector. According to the Report of the Parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission published in 2011: “When illegal gambling became legal, criminal organizations simply “transferred” their activities. Indeed, gambling has become one of the sectors of greatest interest to large criminal organizations”.
The most obvious phenomenon of fixed races in Italy concerns the Aversa racecourse historically polluted by the Camorra. Since 1992, the year in which the racecourse was closed for the first time, there have occasionally been episodes of tricks, intimidation and beatings, which have even led the drivers of Aversa to go on strike. "And yet - continues Maritato - the world of horse racing it should be better protected considering the considerable income it produces for the state coffers. Instead constant pressure has been made with laws and decrees that have stifled horse racing in favor of slots, video lotteries, bingo and other games of chance. The reforms that could support the sector are in the drawers of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agricultural Policies but are not being implemented".
President Maritato concludes by asking for “A true collaboration of the State in order to extinguish the mafias that pollute a very important sector for the Italian economy. If you are really interested in producing profits and wealth to revive our country, you need to look in the right direction".
