The appeals process against what had been defined as “King” of online bettingan entrepreneur from Palermo who, following investigations by the DDA and the Guardia di Finanza, ended up in prison along with others four people for mafia association, money laundering and fraudulent transfer of assets with aggravating allegation of mafia aid.
The acquittal has come for VF, the “king” of online betting “because the fact doesn’t exist”. According to the defense, the man’s entrepreneurial rise was the result of his skills and not of his relationships with Mafia exponents, who were contacts without influence. For all other defendants, however, the Palermo Court of Appeal, in the second division, upheld the judgments of the first instance.
Subsequently, the entrepreneur was released from prison and the shares in the companies were returned to him: it is 50% of the capital of the company Kioskito srl and MediCommercein addition to 100% of gaming management group. 
This operation – reports Il Giornale di Sicilia – is the result of an investigation by the DDA and the Financial Police, which shed light on the interests of the clans in the region gambling and betting industry Sport, a thriving business thanks to the complicity of some entrepreneurs responsible for money laundering on behalf of the mafia. A million dollar scheme that ended up in the hands of Cosa Nostra representatives.
According to the indictment, the organization acquired more and more licenses and concessions for the collection of bets, to the point of creating an economic empire of companies that managed to manage the gaming revenues over time around 100 million euros. They formally appeared on behalf of compliant candidates, but in fact they were led by four suspects.
FPM was sentenced to 11 years, 10 years for SR whose probation was reduced to three years and the villa in Favignana was returned, 4 years for GDM and 4 years and 6 months CT cdn/AGIMEG
