Mafioso’s son registered at Zammit’s gaming firm’s address

Court documents obtained by MaltaToday show that Malta was serving as a money-laundering base for the remote gaming network ran by the ‘Ndrangheta, in an alliance that also featured the Camorra of Naples, and the Sicilian Mafia.

According to Reggio Calabria’s anti-mafia unit, which authored a 700-page dossier for Operation ‘Gambling’ and warrants for some 128 persons of interest, Pendergardens resident Mario Gennaro “guaranteed the controlled diffusion of various illicit [gambling] sites, the result of a criminal pact with entrepreneurs [Renato] Grasso and [Antonio] Padovani, respectively representing the Camorra and the Sicilian Mafia.”

Italian crime ‘alliance’ had Malta base

But further investigation has also revealed that the son of ‘slot machine king’ Antonio Padovani – Liuigi Fabio Padovani, 40 – has been located at the same address where a gaming consultancy firm partly owned by former police inspector Daniel Zammit, is registered at.

Company records show that Luigi Fabio Padovani has an identity card number that has him living at the Compass Point apartment complex in Swieqi, where Tyche Consultancy is registered.

The former police inspector, once detailed with the Economic Crimes Unit, set up the firm with his brother Roderick and Italian national Francesco Airò, who is also registered at the company’s Swieqi address, in May 2015.

Luigi Fabio Padovani is unconnected to Operation Gambling – which this week saw the arrest of Mario Gennaro and other Malta-based associates of the 'Ndrangheta – and there is no evidence to suggest Padovani's address at Tyche Consultancy links the company with organised criminality.

But the connection also lends even more credence to Operation Gambling’s insistence that Malta’s financial services and remote gaming industry allowed the Camorra-Ndrangheta-Mafia pact to launder their criminal proceeds.

Reggio Calabria’s prosecutor Federico Cafiero de Raho explains in his dossier that in 2006, Grasso and Padovani ran the gaming brand Sportandgames Srl and G.A.R.I. Srl – both companies in which Luigi Fabio Padovani held shares.

A previous operation by the Naples anti-mafia unit, Operation Hermes, had revealed that in 2006, Antonio Padovani and Renato Grassi ran the Sportandgames brand, and the companies Betting 2000 and A.P. Games. Representing the Mafia and the Camorra respectively, they used the brands to clinch gaming concessions from the State regulator. “Grasso’s own ties to the ‘Ndrangheta allowed the Sportandgames brand to be used in the Calabria region,” the investigators said, claiming that Gennaro's closest aides in Malta had also been in communication with Grassi and Padovani.

The investigators claim that it is clear that Mario Gennaro was the ‘Ndrangheta’s representative “with whom Grasso and Padovani came to terms to guarantee the illicit and criminal sponsorship of their [gambling] shops in Calabria.”

Padovani was later arrested for Mafia association, and in 2011, had his €40 million asset wealth seized – together with his son’s Ferrari F355 Berlinetta.

Now, according to investigators, Gennaro was running the ‘Ndrangheta’s end in the Grasso-Padovani pact. “There are precise elements allowing us the sure identification of Gennaro as being involved in promoting the businesses [formerly] ran by the Grasso-Padovani duo.”

Awaiting extradition

Earlier this week, Mario Gennaro was arrested for his role as mastermind behind the web of illegal online betting and gambling in Italy on behalf of the ‘Ndrangheta.

Six Italian nationals – Gennaro, Margherita Giudetti, 34, Francesco Ripepi, 38, Alessandro Ciaffi, 40, Rocco Ripepi, 36 and Fortunato Stracuzzi, 37 – connected to the Betuniq brand who were living in Malta, were arrested under a European Arrest Warrant.

Gennaro ran the Betuniq brand in Malta, controlling 1,500 gaming and betting agencies spread all over the Italian territory.

The Malta Gaming Authority suspended with immediate effect the licenses of Uniq Group Limited (Betuniq) and Betsolution4U Limited.

Gennaro was described as ‘Ndrangheta’s “new man” (homo novus). Italian police had been following Gennaro’s movements closely, especially his frequent trips to Malta, where he participated in poker tournaments with notorious people from Calabria well known for their affection for casinos and sports betting.

Anti-mafia magistrates concluded that Gennaro’s frequent trips to Malta and his participation in poker tournaments confirmed that the mafia’s money was being transferred to Malta.

Other Malta-registered companies included Uniq Group, Uniq Shopping, Tebaral Holding and Teberal Trading, Betsolution4U ltd, and Fast Run Limited. All form part of the international Betuniq brand.

Uniq Group is owned by Start Games Limited, whose shareholders are the fiduciary company GVM Holdings, owned by the law firm of former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi. GVM offers its fiduciary services to dozens of gaming companies, and it appears as the nominal shareholder in the companies Uniq Group, Uniq Shopping, and Enetsport Service.

Enetsport is then owned by Start Games, Solution for Bet Limited, OGC Company Limited, and MGame Holding Limited – which companies in turn also own BestSolution 4U.