Case of D’Onofrio, the referees’ section of Cinisello Balsamo has been commissioned

The referees’ section of Cinisello Balsamo, in which the former chief prosecutor of the Hague Rosario D’Onofrio was a member, was arrested for drug trafficking on 12 November on the basis of an investigation by the Milan DDA. Yesterday it emerged that its president, Giuseppe Esposito, in recent months would have been made aware, by a member of the section, of “news and circumstances” about D’Onofrio himself, who already in March 2020 – therefore in full lockdown — he had been arrested by the Guardia di Finanza at the Lainate tollbooth because “found in military uniform (…) he was circulating in Lombardy to make deliveries of drugs”. He had 40 kilos of marijuana with him. In the drug trafficking environment, D’Onofrio was known as “Rambo” and would have played a decisive role in the logistics of drug imports, introducing more than six tons of marijuana and hashish into Lombardy. Despite this, D’Onofrio himself was appointed Chief Prosecutor of The Hague in March 2021, essentially a kind of prosecutor, despite being under house arrest. A decidedly prestigious role and one of great responsibility, given that it was up to him to investigate possible irregularities committed by the referees: in a year and a half he had opened 110 files, a frenetic activity that had not gone unnoticed. D’Onofrio had entered the Disciplinary Commission in 2013, with Marcello Nicchi as president.

Yesterday, therefore, for the first time it became known that at least someone, within the refereeing world, had an overview of D’Onofrio’s situation. Among other things, the president of the Cinisello section was also responsible for its ethics, one more reason why he should have spoken. On Sunday the emergency committee in The Hague will dismiss Giuseppe Esposito, who would have been aware of “news and circumstances” but would not have forwarded them to his superiors, including the national president, Alfredo Trentalange. It was Trentalange himself who decided yesterday for the commissioning of the section, informing the FIGC. Meanwhile, the federal prosecutor’s office is studying the papers of the criminal investigation to understand if there are elements for sports justice, but at the moment there would be no extremes to do so.