How Diego Maradona Fueled the Rise of Naples’ Camorra

Summary

The Underworld Podcast

Episode: How Diego Maradona Fueled the Rise of Naples’ Camorra

Hosts: Sean Williams & Danny Gold
Date: May 20, 2025

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Overview

This episode dives into the explosive, entwined history of football legend Diego Maradona’s time at Napoli and how his arrival fueled the ascent of the Neapolitan Camorra, one of the world’s most formidable organized crime networks. Williams and Gold unravel the wild true-crime saga behind Maradona’s sensational 1984 transfer, the seismic cultural impact on Naples, and the deepening ties between club, city, and criminal underground. Seasoned with sharp asides and memorable anecdotes, the show explores how Maradona’s dazzling rise lifted Napoli, but also drew him—and the city—further into the underworld’s shadow.

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Detailed Breakdown

1. Setting the Scene: Naples, 1991 & Maradona's Dark Descent

[00:56-05:11]

• The hosts dramatize a tense, late-night phone call involving Maradona, a brothel madam, and figures from the Neapolitan underworld.
• The vignette establishes Maradona’s entanglement with sex workers, cocaine, and notorious Camorra fixers like “Italo,” the so-called “Minister of Garbage.”
• Police surveillance soon unravels these secret links, setting the stage for the episode’s investigation into how Maradona became both hero and tragic pawn in the criminal ecosystem.
• Quote: “All that’s left is Maradona, the brand, the brat, the millionaire prima donna hanging on to greatness by a thread or a thin white line.” (Sean Williams, 04:09)

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2. Maradona’s Move to Napoli: Context & Consequences

[05:14-10:50]

• Host Sean Williams, an admitted football obsessive, lays out the stakes: Maradona’s 1984 transfer from Barcelona to struggling Napoli, “possibly the most famous football transfer in history—corrupt from the very start.”
• Napoli is a “club and a city despised by huge swathes of Italians as dirty, crime ridden and corrupt” (14:03), riven by poverty and ruled from the shadows by Camorra clans.
• The Camorra’s rapid expansion in Naples is traced back to the 1980 Irpinia earthquake: over $6 billion in government aid stolen, construction rackets, and political payoffs.
• Quote: “No sooner had the re-housing projects begun than the lead engineer in charge was shot for refusing to accept a payoff. All the while, the homeless were left with no option but to pay the Camorra protection money for the ramshackle dwellings they were forced to live in.” (Sean Williams, 14:01, quoting John Ludden)

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3. Napoli’s Rotten Revival: Club, Camorra, and the Deal of the Century

[12:55-21:17]

• The club’s president, Corrado Ferlaino, is rumored to have “made his millions with the consent of the Camorra”; his clumsy public pursuit of Maradona forces a city-wide fundraising campaign, with ordinary Neapolitans (and Camorra enforcers) demanded to bankroll the transfer.
• The Camorra, especially the Giuliano clan led by Luigi Giuliano, see Maradona as a goldmine for both wealth and legitimacy, “looking like little L with a dash in it. I don’t know” (Sean Williams, 23:03).
• Maradona’s arrival is triumphant but fraught: supporters see him as a symbol of southern resistance against northern Italian disdain and racism.
• Quote: “Naples does not have a mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment or sanitation. But none of this now matters because we have Maradona.” (Local newspaper, cited by Sean Williams, 26:08)

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4. Camorra Power Plays, Street Lore, and Football’s Criminal Economy

[16:55-25:05]

• A quick history of the Camorra: a loose alliance (over five dozen clans) compared to the more centralized Sicilian Mafia. Their methods include racketeering, guns, drugs (heroin, marijuana, cocaine), and infiltration of state contracts.
• The young and ruthless Giuliano brothers use clan headquarters in Forcella both as a criminal nerve center and as a recruitment hub directly from Napoli’s fanatical ultras.
• Camorra’s intimate links with pro football are exemplified by their attempts to rig Italy’s only legal football gambling pools—the infamous Toto Nero (“state run pools that feature 13 game parlays”—the logic being that no one can fix 13 games) (20:07-20:13).
• Memorable Moment: “Does anyone ever win a 13 part? ... The Camorra actually find a way to fix it anyway.” (Williams & Gold, 20:16-20:27)

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5. Maradona in Naples: A Hero’s Coronation, a Criminal’s Embrace

[26:21-36:55]

• Maradona’s lifestyle is fueled by the Camorra—lavish parties, sex workers, and “boatloads of cocaine” (30:33). He’s protected (and controlled) by figures like Carmine Giuliano, “Il Leone” (“the Lion”).
• His agent, Jorge Cyterszpiler, tries (and fails) to stop the Giulianos from profiting off bootleg Maradona merchandise: “It’s in your best interest ... to keep quiet.” Cyterszpiler complies—and even indulges in the bender-fueled world of his client.
• The club’s fortunes rise and city pride soars, but personal and professional boundaries blur: Maradona’s out-of-control behavior climaxes with a surreal sequence where he does a line of cocaine in the Pope’s personal bathroom moments before being presented to John Paul II (34:10–35:36).
• Quote: “For a while, Maradona would be handed a crown and given king status, his every wish granted, waltzing with the dark angels of the Neapolitan night without ever knowing that all along he was dancing in the devil’s shade, little more than a puppet dangling on a gangster’s string.” (Williams, quoting Ludden, 29:19)

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6. Maradona on Top: 1986 World Cup, Nationalism, and Crime

[36:56-41:34]

• Argentina’s World Cup glory in Mexico (moved from Colombia due to Escobar’s drug war) catapults Maradona into global mega-celebrity.
• The political symbolism is raw: Maradona leads Argentina to victory amidst ongoing Falklands tensions; his infamous “Hand of God” goal against England embodies both national pride and sly defiance.
• Memorable Moment: “Ron Greenwood, the England manager, is asked how he plans to stop Maradona. First he says, you pull out a handgun, which is a pretty good quote.” (Sean Williams, 41:51)

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7. Cliffhanger: The Inevitable Fall

[41:51-46:33]

• Maradona, now the most famous and wealthy footballer on earth, begins his slow descent: sacking his longtime agent, trusting ever more manipulative handlers, and entangling himself further with the Camorra.
• Police start to intercept phone calls suggesting match-fixing. Investigations swirl as Maradona heads into the most scandal-stained years of his life.
• Quote: “Perhaps drunk on power or perhaps under the influence of his criminal friends in the Forcella, Maradona then makes a big move. He fires Jorge's side to spiller via phone when his friend is in Buenos Aires.” (Williams, 44:34)
• The episode closes on a cliffhanger—hinting at deeper sex scandals, drugs, murder, and Maradona’s improbable late-career role in Sinaloa, Mexico.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “All that’s left is Maradona, the brand, the brat, the millionaire prima donna hanging on to greatness by a thin white line.” (Williams, 04:09)
• “Naples does not have a mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment or sanitation. But none of this now matters because we have Maradona.” (Newspaper, cited by Williams, 26:08)
• “For in Maradona’s eyes, Jorge Cyterszpiler committed the ultimate sin and betrayed his trust. There could only be one punishment. He was out.” (Williams, quoting Ludden, 45:20)
• “Ron Greenwood, the England manager, is asked how he plans to stop Maradona. First he says, you pull out a handgun.” (Williams, 41:51)
• On North-South divide in Italy: “Neapolitans know northern Italians hate them and they don’t care. ... ‘Sewer of Italy,’ reads one favorite banner while another declares the Napoli ultras ‘the country’s Africans.’ ... They are pretty racist. And this goes way back, by the way.” (Williams, 25:22)
• “It all looked like something out of The Untouchables, Al Capone, he later says. So we’re there eating and Carmine said to me, any problem you have is also my problem.” (Williams, quoting Maradona, 31:12)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:56] – Cold open: Night call, Maradona’s underworld ties revealed
• [05:14] – Framing the theme: Maradona’s legendary (and tainted) move to Napoli
• [12:55] – The Camorra’s mafia model & Naples’ crime-ridden context
• [16:55] – Giuliano clan, ultras recruitment, and criminal football pools
• [23:03] – Maradona transfer saga, public shakedown, and street fundraising
• [26:21] – Arrival in Naples, Maradona’s lifestyle, and Camorra’s embrace
• [34:10] – Pope John Paul II, cocaine, and “divine” misadventure
• [36:56] – World Cup 1986, nationalism, and narco-politics
• [41:51] – Quarterfinal vs England; Maradona’s cheating and brilliance
• [44:34] – The schism with Cyterszpiler, new agent, and brewing scandals
• [46:33] – Cliffhanger: Upcoming fall, drugs, murder, and Sinaloa

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Tone & Style

• The episode blends meticulous research, street-level anecdotes, and sardonic wit, keeping listeners engaged regardless of their football knowledge.
• Williams’ football fandom and Gold’s New York bravado provide levity amid intense, often searing depictions of mafia crime and social decay.

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Summary

This episode offers a vivid, critical, and at times darkly comic exploration of how Diego Maradona’s mythic rise both revitalized Naples and deepened its notorious links to organized crime. Maradona becomes a local god—but is haunted by the toxic largesse and manipulation of the Camorra. From earthquake profiteering to titanic football matches, the story serves as an electrifying window into the global intersections of sport, crime, and celebrity excess. The tale closes with Maradona on the cusp of his steep, scandalous fall—leaving listeners hanging for the next explosive installment.

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If you missed the episode but have an appetite for wild football lore, mafia intrigue, and the thin line between heroism and infamy—this summary has you covered.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

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[B]

Foreign 30am On January 7, 1991, in a small gas heated home in Naples ancient Spanish quarter, a phone rings. A 46 year old woman wakes and picks up the receiver. A man's voice, calm, collected, at the end of the line. Diego gave me this number, he says, for two women. She doesn't wait a beat. A simple response. Yes, good women, mind you. He butts in. We want to meet in the Via Manzoni, by the Areoni, a piano bar, a regular haunt. Not a problem. Is Diego there? She asks. You want to speak to him? She does. I want to speak, she says to Maradona. You can call him at Vincenzo's, he tells her. Of course he's up. Maradona is always up, always at Vincenzo's, especially on a Sunday night after a match. He might even be going till Wednesday. She hangs up. Eight minutes later the phone rings again, A different voice. She knows who. Do you know who they are? She asks. The world's most famous footballer, Perhaps at this point the most famous sportsman in the world. They're the ones from yesterday. I get it. Yes, maradona replies. He's gruff, despondent. I was up at Italo's this morning. She knows who Italo is too. Everybody does. He's Naples so called Minister of Garbage, running a billion dollar a year trash collecting empire. Illegal, of course. Italo's a member of the Camorra, the feared underworld who rule Naples surrounding Campania region. And he doesn't just collect, he delivers too. Call girls and cocaine to venues like the Aeroni, a cramped boutique hotel in the city center. And there are few better customers than the King of Naples himself, the man whose name is roared by tens of thousands of Neapolitans on Sundays and the occasional Mezzogiono, the man for whom they'll go into battle, the man who won his nation's second World cup and delivered Napoli their first ever league title after more than 60 years. Pronto, says the woman. Listen, I'll give you the address, he tells her again, jittery. Now he's at the aerone. Will around 4am Be okay? She asks him. Okay, he says. It's 20 minutes. It'll have to do. But wait, she says. Before you go, I want you to say hello to my little boy. A child grabs the phone. His name is Cristino. He wants to salute his hero, the boy from the Buenos Aires slums with feet of gold, Diego. But Diego, the innocent, lovable wunderkind, he left Naples long ago. All that's left is Maradona, the brand, the brat, the millionaire prima donna hanging on to greatness by a thread or a thin white line. And with this short, sad conversation, he sealed his fate forever. Because it's not just the madam or Christino on the call, controlled telephone number 394, as the cops will later call it. This is part of one of the most spectacular things Italy and the sporting world has ever seen. Welcome to the Underworld Podcast. Hello and welcome to the weekly podcast and ill advised video experience where two journalists who have traveled the world tell stories about the good, good, bad and ugly of global organized crime. I am Sean Williams in Wellington, New Zealand, and I'm joined as always by my trusted amigo, my Sancho Panzer, my maid Marion, Danny Gold in New York City. There's a Robin Hood reference within five minutes. Gotta be a reference.

[E]

You are a strange bird, Williams.

[B]

Yes, I know, I know. I am very clever and intellectual, as you can see from the small pile of books on the desk behind me. And given I'm moving to Argentina in under a year from now, I decided to research a show about its most famous son. That is of course, of course King Diego Armando Maradona, who passed away in 2020, age just 60, which if you know how he lived, is actually a pretty decent run, as the cold open suggests. Today's episode is going to dive into Maradona's move from SSC Napoli in 1984, possibly the most famous football transfer in history. Corrupt from the very start. And how the Argentine legend gave the club the greatest era in its history. The but it came at a huge cost to the clubs, the fans, the city, Naples, underworld The Camorra and Maradona himself. It's a wild story. If you've seen the 2019 movie Diego Maradona, you'll know a bit of it. But there is tons more besides. Not least in John Ludden's book, Once Upon a Time in Naples. I mean, can you tell that I really enjoyed doing this one?

[E]

Yeah, I mean, I can, but how many organized crime stories are there involving football that one can, can actually do? I mean, I guess we're going to, we're going to find out together, but we are.

[B]

Let's hold hands, shout out to my boys.

[E]

And Leeds though, Big, big winning leads. Congrats to them, dude.

[B]

Wow, I didn't expect that one. And you might have eagle eyed of you may have already seen that I'm wearing a Venezia 2022 shirt which is one of the most, just the prettiest kit that's been brought out in a while. But yeah, anyway, I guess I'm actually repping the people that Maradona was against. But who cares? It's all Italian football, It's all fun. Anyway, I'm going to one into two parts actually. Today we're going to tell the story of Maradona and the mob all the way up to the 1986 World cup when he truly becomes a global superstar. And then part two is going to detail his fall from grace. A scandalous pregnancy, a prostitution ring, Scarface level, mountains of blow, the 1991 sting murders, mafia Metric Mega trials, Maradona's unlikely comeback in his late, unlikely cameo as manager of Culiacan's Dorados de Sinaloa. I mean, I wonder if you can tell why that matchup was doomed.

[E]

Wait, hold on.

[B]

He.

[E]

He managed the team? Diego Maradona, the like most famous guy who loved cocaine ever, managed the team in Sinaloa?

[B]

Yes. Yeah, there is actually a Netflix show about it called Maradona in Mexico which is. It's okay.

[E]

But yeah, it's like non fiction or.

[B]

No, not fiction. It follows him. It's like crazy. This guy, his life kind of spans the old and the new worlds of football. It's really weird actually seeing so much stuff about him. But yeah, we are going to explore some of the current connections in that show too. Between the Komora and Napoli and Italian gangsters with pro football. As you might have thought already, there is a lot of that and it is all just like out there, balls to the wall, incredible. But before we get into all of that, a quick shout out to sign up to our Patreon if you haven't already. Bonus interviews, roundup show notes, reading lists, ad free shows. Yeah, am I missing anything? Danny? I didn't ask how you doing either. That's very rude of me.

[E]

You know, email us attheworld podcastmail.com and you can buy the T shirts and other nice [e-mail] youm click on the merch button there. What else? Me? You know, nothing. Nothing good. Nothing good.

[B]

Nothing good. Okay, well, I'll give you a rest for this one. By the way, before you start, I know a lot of people listening or sadly watching this show are not going to give a tuppenny F about football or Napoli or Matadonna. And I can assure you guys there is plenty here for you. Besides that, as much as I'd like to wang on for hours about tactics and the history of specific league titles or any of that stuff, we promise you high crime and I am going to deliver you just that. Not least this shirt. But as you may have guessed, this story doesn't start in 1991, all but back in 1983. And I'm not talking about the crazy political world we're living in now.

[E]

What I don't even get, I don't even get that.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, I don't know either. Sometimes the stuff that I'm coming out with, it just.

[E]

I mean, you can't, you can't. You can't hit them all, you know.

[B]

I'm playing five, maybe even 6D chess here, guys. Anyway, attacker Diego Armando Maradona, a kid from a Bueno side, is slum. He is lighting up the football world at this time. He is 22 years old. He's been at Spanish giants Barcelona for two seasons, having arrived from hometown legends Boca Juniors from a world record 7.3 million bucks in 1982. He's already the biggest star on the planet and rumors are swirling that he's living large in the Catalan capital. Fast cars, all nighters, women left and right, sometimes even cocaine, which is beginning to flood Western Europe at this point. And on the pitch, because he's so much better than everyone else, he's getting the absolute snot kicked out of him. I mean, this is not an era of dives and crybabies and var. It is cut up turfs and defenders built like Dockers, few more than Andoni Goycoachea. I hope I'm saying that, right? Of Bilbao, who on September 24, 1983, dishes out a horror tackle which leaves Maradona with two screws in his ankle. Goy Koachea, aka the Butcher of Bilbao, actually keeps the boot from that night in a glass case. This is football in the early 80s.

[E]

So is it not like hockey? Like, do they not have enforcers on a team who, you know, are there to protect the star, just like, you know, there to like, you go after their guy?

[B]

Yeah, actually in Italy they kind of did back in the day. There are a few players like Franco Barezi who are famous for it, but yeah, that, that is Italy. I didn't really know that Spain was this rough back then, but yeah, a guy keeping the boot that nearly ended the career. Madonna in his house is pretty rough stuff and I don't know if that's something to be proud of, but playing pro football is. Anyway. Maradona has the press at his door each day in Spain. His hectic private life is being spilled all over the tabloids and his career, of course, has almost been ended from tackles best left in a museum or a glass cabinet. He is fed up with Spain and it seems as if Barcelona is getting pretty fed up with him too. Club president Josep Nunez, a construction honcho, is beginning to hear reports his star forward is indulging in cocaine fueled orgies with cool girls in a hotel suite. Folks nickname Dodge City. Right at a time when drugs are becoming a big problem in Spain. In fact, there's a big public service campaign against narcotics underway at exactly that moment, headed up by, yes, you guessed it, Diego Armando Maradona. This is too much for Nunez. He and manager Terry Venables put the word out Maradona is for sale. And who steps up? Italian club Napoli. Now, of course, there's a cultural element to this. Almost two thirds of Argentines are Italian and a large number of politenos, or folks from Buenos Aires, have their roots rather in Campania and Societa Sportiva Calcio, or ssc Napoli. They're a big team. Their stadium, the Sao Paulo, holds almost 90,000 spectators and they're the only top tier side in a city of around a million people. But at this point, they are bad. They've never won Serie A, the National League, and they've only won two Cups since their foundation in 1926. In the 1983-84 season, they finished 11th of 16 sides, just a point above relegation. And Napoli's hardened fans, the ultras, they're not afraid to let their president, who is another construction magnate, this time named Corrado Foleno, know precisely what they think. Fires are lit on the terraces, fights break out between ultras and cops tear Gas fills the stands at a game against Roma. A small plane flies over the San Paolo with a simple message written on a banner. Felano fafanculo. I'll leave you to translate that one. Even more worrying is when a gang of assailants on Vespa scooters because Italy hurls a homemade explosive into the garden of Fellano's villa at the same time that another one goes off at the San Paulo's ticket office.

[E]

See, in New York it's just three guys named Tony, Big Tony, Little Tony and Regular Tony. They go in an Acura legend and they drive by John Maher's house and they throw empty bottles of Corona at his head and they yell about how he has to give Tommy DeVito another chance.

[B]

I like that actually. That sounds great.

[E]

It can work. We'll see what happens this season.

[B]

Yeah, not good as far as I understand, but yeah. Napoli and Naples are a club and city despised by huge swathes of Italians as dirty, crime ridden and corrupt. And in Foligno, a man rumored to have made his millions with the consent of the Camorra. They're not entirely wrong. On November 23, 1980, a huge earthquake had struck the region of Vierpina, just outside Naples, killing more than 2,400 people and leaving a quarter of a million people homeless. Many of the buildings that collapsed had themselves been built on profiteering shoestrings by Camorra backed firms. But in the rubble, the group spots a chance to make even more money. This time off the backs of those left destitute. Camoristi steal an estimated 6.4 billion of the $40 billion the Italian government allocates to the rebuild. While another 20 billion is lost to contracting millionaires and 4 billion is spent on political bribes. Only around a quarter of the full amount is spent on victims needs. Which tells you a lot about the level of graft back then, writes John Ludden, quote, no sooner had the re housing products begun than the lead engineer in charge was shot for refusing to accept a payoff. All the while the homeless were left with no option but to pay the Camorra protection money for the ramshackle dwellings they were forced to live in. Now, Irpinna is a really a pivotal moment for the Camorra. The group goes back to the 17th century. We've done some other stuff on that, but it's bread and butter. Post war is black market cigarettes. By this point they've long since ventured into drugs procured from sellers in the Balkans, Corsica, Sicily, North Africa and even sometimes further afield. And now they're into construction, state contracts, gun running and smuggling of all stripes. And they're an unpredictable, violent outfit. Unlike the Mafia, which is controlled by a few leading families, the the Camorra, like the Ndrangheta in nearby Calabria, is an uneasy alliance of over five dozen clans who tend to fall in line with whomever is willing to pull the most triggers or strike fear into the hearts of the most citizens. Shopkeepers, bus drivers and politicians are fearful of few things more than the visit of a hot headed Camorra henchman or guapo, who would often be a kid with nothing but a point to prove and a gun in his hand.

[E]

Did we, I think we did do an episode on the Camorra, the origins of the Kimora.

[B]

No, it might have been like way back in like nine. I was gonna say 1920. It feels that long. 20, 20.

[E]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

We have done this, right? Let us know if we've done an episode on the Camorra.

[E]

We definitely have. There's no way we'd let the Kimura not be the focus of an episode.

[B]

Have you read Saviana's book? I have, yeah. That's so good, man. Oh my God. Among these clans, few are feared and respected more than the Giulianos, a family from the slums of Forcella, a labyrinthine corner of Naples Spanish quarter. Their reign begins with Pio Vittorio Giuliano, born 1926, who grows up in the rubble of post war Naples, a place of poverty, joblessness and chaos that the Allies have bombed around 200 times.

[E]

I think I've definitely mentioned it before, but the book Naples 44, which is about Occupy Naples in 1944, is, you know, it's like 110 pages, but it's incredible. It will like paint a world for you. It's fantastic. Definitely read that.

[B]

Yeah, I haven't read it, but I really want to do that. It came up a lot of times researching this as well.

[E]

Yeah, it's an. It's an incredible book.

[B]

Young Vittorio has to toughen up quick in this environment and he survives as a sconitzo, I think that's how you say it, or street kid. And he hears crazy tales from Forcella's guapi. Pretty soon, Vittorio has gathered a small group of his own urchins and they're making a living stealing contraband from ships docked at Naples, huge port. They get good at this, in fact, until Vittorio insults a policeman aged 19 and lands himself behind the bars for the cops. It's a good chance to get another young gangster off the Streets and. But it's short sighted, a false economy. Because there's no place better to teach a young man the true ways of the Camorra than a stint in Naples. Filthy overcrowded prisons among his release a few months later, Vittorio expands his criminal enterprise from stolen cigarettes, a Camodesti staple into prostitution, gambling and protection rackets. Forcella smack bang in the center of Naples. Tourist friendly heart has been known as the Casbah since wartime such as it's been a place for the city's flourishing black market. And the Giulianos make an outwardly nondescript three story house called the Vitco or the Vitcio della Pace. I think that's how you say the C is in Italian. Their nerve center inside the building is palatial and neighbors take to calling it the Casino Forcella. They recruit directly from the Napoli ultras, whether to collect PISA from local businesses, unload gear from the docks or even kill rival clan members. And they get deep into the corrupt world of Toto Nero. This is a state run pause. The only legal form of football gambling in Italy allowed only because punters are able to make parlays on the entire weekend's fixtures, all 13 of them to avoid the potential for single match fixing. But of course that doesn't stop enterprising crooks trying to fix the league, not least in Naples. And we're going to get into that a way lot more in part two of this show.

[E]

Okay, so let me, let me repeat this back to you and you tell me if I have this accurate. The only thing you can bet on there is state run pools that feature 13 game parlays.

[B]

Yes.

[E]

And they do this because everything is so corrupt they figure no one can fix 13 games.

[B]

That is exactly, exactly correct. Yeah.

[E]

Does anyone ever win a 13 part? That's incredible. And then the kimora actually find a way to fix it anyway.

[B]

Well, we'll find out in part two of this show. But I mean, I mean tldr, this.

[E]

Is like without a doubt the best, the best thing I've ever heard. I mean I'm about to make. I'm gonna make a 13 person home run bat parlay right now while you keep talking. I'm so inspired.

[B]

Well, I guess if any sport you're gonna be able to do that, it's probably baseball or cricket, I guess.

[E]

But home run parlay is the way to go anyway. Sorry, continue.

[B]

Oh man. Yeah. Go Schwaba. And go. Aaron Judge.

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[E]

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[B]

Yeah, Don Vittorio, he has 11 kids, because of course, he does. And he cedes control of his empire to his eldest son, luigi, in the 1970s. Luigi then branches the clan into narcotics, mostly heroin, marijuana and cocaine. And. And it's not unheard of for Giuliano Guapi to unload crates of Uzi submachine guns, grenades, or AK47s off the docks, too. He continues the clan's association with Napoli. And like pretty much all Camoristi he's a fan of the team too. So when club president Foleyno starts mentioning Maradona's name in the press, Luigi and all of Naples underworld see dollar signs or lira signs, whatever. They look like little L with a dash in it. I don't know. What comes next though, is pretty crazy and a big fat sign of criminal things to come. Folano makes the rookie mistake of coming out in public and telling Napoli fans he's about to sign the world's best player. So naturally, Barcelona just hiked the asking fee. They've got him over a barrel. Folano can't afford the $10.5 million the Catalans are demanding by a country mile. Then the world record. Naples is one of Europe's poorest cities with sky high unemployment. But for Foleyno, already despised, it's shit or bust. So he goes public again and he asks Neapolitans to bankroll the move. It's either that, he says, or Maradona will go to fierce rivals Juventus of Turin, the current league title holders. Now most of Italy's powerhouse football clubs are based in the economically strong north. Juventus, Torino, Internazionale, Milan, Genoa, Sampdoria, Verona, sometimes Venezia, as you can see here. And they regularly unfurled banners decrying Neapolitans as unwashed or peasants.

[E]

You know, Sean, in Napoli a lot of people are not so happy for Columbus because he was from Genoa. The north of Italy always have the money and the power. They punish the south since hundreds of years. Even today they put up their nose at us like we peasants. I ate. To the north.

[B]

Yes.

[E]

And.

[B]

Come on, was that nothing? Was that a reference to we know what?

[E]

Yeah, of course, dude. Yeah, I slipped one in last episode too. You're not noticing anything anymore.

[B]

Oh, man, it's been a while. I've watched too many shows.

[E]

You need to rewatch, dude. You need a. You need a rewatch because this is disappointing me.

[B]

Yeah, I'm at least you kind of very sorry. I'm so sorry.

[E]

Yeah, apologize to our listeners.

[B]

Yeah, well, they'll get it, whatever. I'm British, they can just shit on me some more for being from England anyway. Sewer of Italy reads one favorite banner while another declares the Napoli ultras. The country's quote. Africans. That's. That's their way of saying they're bad. By the way, they are pretty racist. And this goes way back, by the way. Naples rallied against fascism in the 30s and was enough of a fawn in Mussolini's side that during allied Bombing campaigns. He demanded that the city's air raid sirens be played at random times so residents wouldn't know when the bombs were actually falling and therefore they were lambs to the slaughter. And this is the city of Pompeii, of Vesuvius, which still smoulders very much active on the city's edge. There is a saying in Naples which sums up this devil may care attitude. A toast to Vesuvio. Fuck it. One day he'll get us all.

[E]

That's kind of, kind of rules, man. Southern Italy, southern Italians, man, they. They got some good toast, some good, good life mottos, you know?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I just take me back to Sicily, man, anytime. It's the best place on earth. Anyway. Neapolitans know northern Italians hate them and they don't care. That is a reference to Milwaukee, who I hate. What's more, they see themselves in this screw attitude in Maradona. A kid from the slum district of Via Ferrito, one of seven kids to a stay at home mum and a labourer dad for whom there was little else but football, which he called his, quote, salvation. So if it's a choice between Napoli or Juventus getting Maradona, Neapolitans turn out their pockets. There are queues of people outside bank of Naples offices across the city, monitored of course by eagle eyed Camora Guapi. And by the summer of 1984, the charity or mass extortion. It works. On June 30 that year, aboard Fellano's luxury yacht moored off the island of Capri, Diego Maradona puts pen to paper on the most lucrative contract in football history. He wants, quote, peace, he says, but above all, respect. A local newspaper declares soon after, quote, naples does not have a mayor, houses, schools, buses, employment or sanitation. But none of this now matters because we have Maradona. The whole thing is a shakedown from day one. And below the headlines, there's another guy making his fortune from all of this. Jorge Seitaspile, Maradona's madcap agent. This is a strange match, but a really close one. Maradona, the rough and tumble kid from the slums, the dark skinned who was called a sudaka, a racist term for an indigenous Argentine. Now an elegant superstar wanted by the world and cituspila. I think I'm saying that right. A podgy middle class Jewish kid from uptown Buenos Aires, walks with a limp from childhood polio and prone to long bouts of depression. He's known Diego since watching him play, age 14. They've been friends ever since Maradona spending many a night at Jorge's fancy home to escape his family's privation, talking to the wee hours about success, fame and women. Which is useful given that Diego is the Maradona family breadwinner from his late teens, trusting Jorge with their financial security. When Maradona signs for Barcelona, then Napoli Saitespila gets his percentage. He's rich too. But with Diego, things are never quite so simple, writes Ludden. Quote For a while, Maradona would be handed a crown and given king status, his every wish granted, waltzing with the dark angels of the Neapolitan night without ever knowing that all along he was dancing in the devil's shade, little more than a puppet dangling on a gangster's string. To give you an idea how wild this transfer is, it's like, I don't know, Kylian Mbappe signing for Toulouse or Harry Kane going to Norwich. I mean, look, guys, I'm old, I don't follow football like I used to. But indulgent Sidebar Maradona to Napoli isn't even the craziest transfer of the early 80s. That title belongs to Danish striker Alan Simonsson, who in 1982, having just become the European Footballer of the Year, that is the best player in the world goes from Barcelona to my own club, Choan Athletic. And actually it's directly to do with Maradona, so it's totally relevant to this episode on Promise, and if you don't like listening to it, just skip forward a couple of things on that little Spotify button. But when the Argentine goes to Catalunya, it means Simonson will be only one of two foreign stars the club are allowed to field at any one time. So Simonson, a legend at his very peak, is forced to duke it out with German burnt Schuster and Maradona. He's insulted and tired, of course, of the Spanish media, so he moves to lowly Charlton, broke and in England's second division and actually after a season they can't afford his wages and he moves to his home club, Valor. So I guess, you know, I did pledge not to go too deep in the football stuff, but Charlton mentioned, so I don't care.

[E]

Yeah, cool, dude. Thanks for getting our entire American fan base to just turn this off. Great job.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Anyway. Anyway, back to soccer, guys. It's 1984, Maradona's just signed for Napoli, and soon after Foleno is holding a triumphal press conference parading about his new star. But it doesn't go smoothly. One of the reporters stands up to ask a question. I would like to know if Maradona knows what the Camorra is, he says, and if he knows that the Camorra's money is everywhere here, even in football. A brief silence, then Foley explodes in anger. How dare the reporter ask such a question? He fumes, and he signals for security to escort the young man off the premises. Maradona just smiles blithely through the presser. Then he gets to work. I didn't know Naples, I didn't know Italy, he says later. But there wasn't another team that would buy me. I asked for a house and I got an apartment, asked for a Ferrari and I got a Fiat. Everything was downgraded the next season. Napoli played well. Not great, but well, finishing a respectable eighth with Maradona scoring 14 goals and compatriot Daniel Bertone bagging 11. They even manage a 00 drawer Juventus, while surprise side Helles Verona win their first and only league title. Maradona, though, he's on a princely sum and he's already the love of the Napoli ultras. The right people hate him too. Fans at Milan San Siro stadium unfurl a banner telling the star to, quote, suck on a banana, which, well, yeah, they're racist. I told you that already. Privately, however, the 25 year old star has just carried on where he left off at Dodge City in Barcelona. Only this time his debauchery is playing out in Naples Hotel Royale, where he's convinced Foleno to put him up for the year. It's hardly a dump. Hundreds of women pass through the doors of the player's suite, as do boatloads of liquor and cocaine, supplied, of course, by the Camorra. One of those is Carmine Giuliano, or Carmine, but I'm going to call him Carmine because, yeah, I feel like it's one of those words that you just have to say in English accent. A handsome member of the Giuliano clan. One night early on, Maradona goes for dinner with them. It all looked like something out of the Untouchables. Al Capone, he later says. So we're there eating and Carmine said to me, any problem you have is also my problem. And he said he would protect us in Naples. For me, it was all new, like being in a movie. Later on, Maradona moves into an apartment in the clifftop district of Polisipol, alongside corrupt politicians and leaders of the very same Camorra clans who are cozying up to him and plying him with blow. Casino Forcella might be the clan's headquarters, but its influence is everywhere. And Carmine, nicknamed Il Leone the Lion, is a bourne striver, ruthless and darkly manipulative. Here's Luddon again, with Neapolitans keen to be parted from their cash for anything with the player's name emblazoned upon it, the gangs cleaned up. For as blessed Diego Maradona was with his talents, the Camorra were equally gifted in what they did. Keen also to lure Maradona into their inner circle, the brothers Giuliano devised a plan. It was one deemed simple but effective. They would laud him with kind words, reverence and a respect reserved only for a king. It was time to throw a party, show the new boy who really ruled Naples. Now Jorge Cider Spiller gets pissed off with the Giuliano's hawking all this knockoff Maradona merch around town. And he goes about Naples making a series of legal threats. And the Giulianos have a couple guapi reach out to the agent. It's in your best interest, they say gently, to keep quiet. And you know what happens next, Danny? Yeah, he keeps quiet. And it probably is in Jorge's best interest because he is also getting higher on Diego's supply. And not just the football riches. One spring day in 1985, Maradona gets an invitation alongside his family to meet Pope John Paul ii, himself a keen footballer. Even with an audience with Catholicism, ultimate big dog. It won't put Diego and Jorge off a bender. And off they go around the clubs of Rome, neck in wine, visiting sex workers and consuming an unholy amount of marching powder. Jorge calls it to get a couple hours sleep. But that is not Maradona's style. By the time they're called to meet the Pontiff at the Vatican, Maradona is pranging out and on the edge of a breakdown, Maradona's mum and dad show up for the big day, and they are horrified at the state of their son and his oddball agent. After being ushered into the Pope's private residence by the Swiss Guard and shaking dozens of bishops hands, Diego and Jorge are sitting with his personal assistant. Diego's got the sweats and he's terrified the Pope will figure him out. Just one more line, he tells Jorge, who of course has some blow in his suit jacket pocket. Citaspile is justifiably nervous they're going to get rumbled, but he hands the gear over to his old friend and persuades the assistant to let them use the Pope's personal bathroom. Then Diego Pulls out the wrap and does a line right there. It's got to be, what, the only 10th person to do drugs on that toilet. And then he heads back in and greets Pope John Paul ii, who knows how friendly and happy the footballer is. Napoli finished third in the 1985-86 season, Maradona's second with the club. And the Argentine is once again near the top of the goal scorers table. The Capo Canonieri. Capo Cannonieri. God, I'm sorry. Italians. This side. A long time Italian striker Bruno Giordano. The fruits of Corrado's Foligno's labours and the considerable efforts of Naples underworld are beginning to ripen. Some of the ultras are even whispering about a title bid the following year. But before that, there is a small matter of a FIFA World Cup. Mexico and Argentina, led not only by Maradona, but stars like Daniel Passarella, Jorge Borachaga and Jorge Valdano are among the favorites to win. This is crazy, but even Mexico's hosting of the tournament is decided partly by the drug cartels tearing through South America at the time. See, FIFA had actually awarded the cup to Colombia, but by 1982, stadiums remain unfinished and Colombia has no money to throw at its World cup plans. Plus, the narco war being waged by Pablo Escobar against the Colombian state has authorities worried whether they can keep visiting fans safe at all. So later that year, Colombian president Belisario Betancourt goes on state TV to say, I announced to my compatriots that the 1986 World Football Championship will not be held in Colombia. We have a lot of things to do here and there is not enough time to attend to the extravagancies of FIFA and its members.

[E]

I didn't know that happened. And it's absolutely insane. Like, can you imagine how livid the Colombians must have been? I'm surprised they didn't like, hunt down Escobar and lynch him with, like, canceling the World cup in Colombia because of all the nonsense that he was bringing. It's insane.

[B]

Yeah, it's fully mad. It's actually the only country to pull out of hosting duties after having been awarded it. Shout out to Qatar. Well done, guys. You really got that.

[E]

Yeah, Qatar did, like, thousands of people died building it in Qatar. They still pulled it off.

[B]

Yeah, well done, Nepal for building the Qatar World Cup. And so. So Mexico at this point, which had just hosted the tournament like 16 years previous in 1970, it takes over instead. And that is how bad it is getting on the continent at this time. Nonetheless, 1986 is one of the most fondly remembered World Cups and Maradona is of course at the heart of it all. Remember this is when Argentina and Britain are at war over the Falkland Islands or Las Islas Milvinas, which personal opinion Argentina has literally no claim over. And it was never a part of Argentina. Neither was it inhabited before the Brits rocked up. But unlike the Scottish guy who came on a guided tour of River Plate on my honeymoon in 2012, I wouldn't personally get drunk and scream they're called the Falklands at the top of my voice, surrounded by flare waving Argentine ultras.

[E]

Yeah, you know, I tell you not to get political here, but nobody cares about the Falklands except for the country that you're moving to. So I don't know, maybe think about your strategy there for a minute, you know.

[B]

Yeah, my partner is slightly concerned about my opinion on the Falklands.

[A]

Anyway, what if I told you that most of the modern day self help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer and international best selling author. In each episode we cover research backed strategies like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change and the five mental strength building exercises you can do from your couch. I also speak to world class experts like Dr. Nicole Caine who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause. With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self doubt, conquer challenges and become stronger than ever with therapist approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with therapist Amy Morin wherever you get your podcasts.

[G]

This is Andrew from the Scary Mysteries Podcast where every single week we dive into insane and creepy true crime compilations. On Mondays and on Wednesdays we have our twisted News episodes where we get you up to speed on the most terrifying and strange news stories currently happening.

[B]

All around the world.

[G]

We're covering the topics you want to hear. Missing persons killers, UFOs and more. Best of all, we don't waste your time with any fluff or fillers, just straight to the true crime details. So go check out the Scary Mysteries Podcast and I'll see you there.

[A]

The information that I am providing today is coming from higher dimensional consciousness Things.

[F]

Got so weird during 2020. And it wasn't just the QAnon conspiracy theorists. This New Age channel told us Donald.

[A]

Trump is a massive and powerful light worker, a lightworker.

[F]

And then what about this Oprah endorsed best selling feminist health icon talking about.

[E]

Heavy metals that are in vaccines that.

[A]

Make our bodies literally into an antenna with 5G.

[F]

As we continued studying what we now call conspirituality, it only got more intense.

[B]

This is.

[E]

This is the cult of Baphomet.

[B]

This is Molokite worshiping stuff.

[E]

It gets very gory in the basement.

[F]

And it culminated with that shaman dude showing up at the capital Insurrection. But it didn't stop, stop there. Every week on Conspirituality podcast, we track the overlaps between New Age spirituality and far right conspiracy cults.

[B]

England are, of course, then drawn to play Argentina in the quarterfinal round. Ron Greenwood, the England manager, is asked how he plans to stop Maradona. First he says, you pull out a handgun, which is a pretty good quote. The rest is history. Of course, Maradona scores two in that game. One a cheat, the other genius. He scores two more in the semi against Belgium, and on June 30, 1986, in front of 115, 000 fans at Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, which if anyone wants to go into a game next summer, hit me up, please. Maradona and his compatriots beat a determined West German side 3, 2. And lift the World cup for the second time in their history. Maradona doesn't score in the final, but he does walk away with the Golden Ball, the award for the tournament's best player. Remember that title for next week's show. It's going to be very, very important. He's already the world's most famous footballer, but this catapults him into a new stratosphere or the stratosphere. There's only one stratosphere. The stratosphere. Anyway, Jorge Sider Spiller is getting calls for endorsements left and right. Maradona is amassing a hangar's worth of luxury sports cars. And his partying is going into overdrive, fueled all the way by his rising underworld pal, Carmine Giuliano. Maradona is right at the very top. He's the best player on earth, the richest and Napoli are tipped with him as a leader to win that winter's league, the first in their history. At the beginning of the season, Maradona reports for training and he rocks up to Corrado Foleno's office. He sparks a Cigar and starts demanding huge money transfers so the side can win the league or else he'll leave. Foleno is starting to really hate this kid, but there is nothing he can do. Outwardly he sings Maradona's praises as if he just rebuilt all of Erpini single handedly. He also hires former Napoli player Ottavio Bianchi, a notoriously tough nosed guy, as coach. And he buys a bunch of top talent, including Verona's title winning goalkeeper. A couple of these guys though have been tainted or even banned for their previous roles in a massive Totonero scandal at the start of the decade. I mean, cops on the pitch, pandemonium. Like I said, more of that in the next part. Perhaps drunk on power or perhaps under the influence of his criminal friends in the Forcella, Maradona then makes a big move. He fires Jorge's side to spiller via phone when his friend is in Buenos Aires. Jorge, he says, has pocketed endorsement cash for himself. Taking food out of the Maradona family's mouths, Jorge hops on the next plane to Naples and prostrates himself in front of the star, writes Ludden. Quote. In a furious encounter, the player refused to listen to his manager's pleas of innocence. Acting the part of betrayed friend, the King of Naples produced a bravoic performance of bitterness, anger and tears that matched anything he ever produced on the pitch. For in Maradona's eyes, Jorge Zeitaspile committed the ultimate sin and betrayed his trust. There could only be one punishment. He was out. Now, at this point, Maradona could probably do with a bit of a calming influence, somebody good enough in people's skills that they can prize him away from the mobile and the drugs and keep him on the straight and narrow. But that is not how Maradona works. In comes a man far more charismatic and rapacious as Torre, a flashy 38 year old from Argentina. And he'll waste no time turning Maradona into the kind of star football has never seen before. At the same time, cops in Turin are listening on a tap phone call between club officials in Napoli and Udinese, another top side, and it sounds a lot like they're plotting to fix a huge match. It won't take long for the agent and the investigation to run their course. And with them, Maradona's incredible career rise, peak and then begin on its slow, agonizing descent towards infamy, shame and scandal. And that, folks, is what we in the storytelling business call a cliffhanger. Next episode, we have got that scandalous pregnancy, madam, stolen trophies, multimillion dollar drug shipments, highs, lows, that 1991 phone call, and an unlikely final chapter in Culiacan, the drug capital of Mexico. So stay tuned and please, oh please do not instagram your crimes.

[E]

Nicely done. Always. Patreon.com General podcast please listen and stay tuned to see if Sean gets banned Argentina before he even moves there.

[B]

Sam.

[H]

This is the story of the 1. As head of maintenance at a concert hall, he knows the show must always go on. That's why he works behind the scenes, ensuring every light is working, the H Vac is humming, and his facility shines with Grainger's supplies and solutions for every challenge he faces. Plus 24. 7 customer support. His venue never misses a beat. Call quitgranger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.