Scandal: Maradona and Cóppola, partners of the mafia in a cocaine shipment?

A story that Italian justice could not fully close once again stirs up the past of Diego Maradona and his former representative Guillermo Cóppola. According to judicial documents and witness statements, both would be linked to an alleged drug shipment from Argentina to Naples, at the height of the football star’s career.

Alejandra Bertero, a young woman hired by Cóppola as a messenger for DIARMA —Maradona’s company— said that in 1990, Guillote himself asked her to personally carry a package of newspapers and magazines from Buenos Aires. The maneuver included a VIP pass: an employee placed her at Ezeiza and instructed her to carry the bundle in her hand. Coincidence or not, the Argentine national team was traveling that day, and Carlos Bilardo, the coach, received orders to line up Bertero alongside the delegation to avoid customs checks.

The woman passed like another player through the side door of the Fiumicino customs, without any inspection. She then handed the package to her boyfriend, Pietro Pugliese, who gave it to Cóppola in Naples in exchange for a check for 25 million lire, cashed on July 11, 1990, at the Banca della Provincia di Napoli.

But the story turned dark when, in October of that year, Pugliese called Maradona’s house and recorded the conversation: “I’m worried because the police are closing in on me. Could it be that they are looking for me because of that package you had me bring from Buenos Aires?” Days later, Cóppola fled Italy without saying goodbye to Maradona, excusing himself by saying that “Diego no longer leads the life of an athlete.”

Years later, before Judge Carlos Liporaci, Cóppola let slip a phrase that gave him away: “No one said why Diego and I cut ties in 1990. Much of what happened now in this place and the drug issue is the reason why I distanced myself from Diego.”

Pugliese, for his part, assured the justice system that Cóppola and Maradona participated in drug trafficking, and that they made his girlfriend transport a package with two kilos of cocaine, making her believe it was newspapers. The Italian stated that both knew about the contents because they supervised the final delivery, and that the payment was made through DIARMA.

The recordings of conversations provided by Pugliese’s lawyer confirmed Cóppola’s involvement in the bank transaction and Maradona’s personal invitation to Pugliese to meet at his home. Both Maradona and Cóppola admitted to being present when the package arrived, but denied that it contained cocaine. However, they could never disprove their relationship with Pugliese.

Cóppola’s ties to the Camorra clan of Forcella, led by Carmine and Nunziello Giuliano, were more than strange. Guillote himself confirmed: “If I had contact with the Camorra? Yes… it’s possible.” The newspaper Il Mattino had published a photo of Maradona alongside two clan leaders.

To make matters worse, Pugliese confessed that, after a robbery at the Bank of the Province of Italy where Maradona’s jewels were stolen, “Guillermo Cóppola gave me a list of the stolen jewels and I personally went to the Camorra clan… Thanks to that effort, 5 highly valuable watches were recovered.”

Maradona’s ties to the mafia were also exposed at a private party during the celebration of the 1987 championship. Journalist Bruno Passarella, from El Gráfico, described: “Maradona was in a house in Nola, a mansion like a bunker, with remote control doors, closed-circuit TV, and a chained mastiff. There was Moët et Chandon in silver goblets, a screen showing his goals, and guests with enormous rings. It was new money, quickly and easily laundered.” Passarella refused to reveal the identity of the host.

The case, extracted from the book “Poli Armentano, un crimen imperfecto,” leaves more questions than answers. How far did Maradona’s relationship with the Camorra go? Italian justice investigated him, but there were never any convictions. Time, and the death of the Ten, buried the file.

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