Cosa Nostra’s Malta bypass to the lucrative world of online gambling
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Angelo Repoli and Sergio Moltisanti provided usernames and passwords to Maltese-registered gaming websites as part of a multi-million-euro illegal undertaking. They were arrested last week in Palermo and placed under house arrest.
Repoli and Moltisanti have Maltese companies registered under their names. They used them to acquire online gaming licences in Malta between 2016 and 2018. The betting companies have long been shut down and the Malta Gaming Authority had withdrawn the licence to Moli's LB Group back in 2018 when the first arrests were made. Last week, Italian police and prosecutors arrested seven people, a couple with links to mafia organisation Cosa Nostra.
Gangs operated several internet cafes and news agents across Sicily, particularly in Palermo, from where they provided illicit access to various gaming sites operated by Repoli and Moltisanti.
Cosa Nostra's Malta operation generated €14 million per month. The ring leaders were Salvatore Cinà, Rosario Calascibetta and Giacomo Dolce. They set up a network of agents that provided access to gamblers.
Gamblers had no direct relationship with the website operators, so they could only create personal accounts through the respective agents. Some of the betting sites listed in the official documents are Betqueen365.com, Italbet365, Betday24.net, Globalbet360. com and Colmabet.
Benedicto Bacchi was imprisoned for 18 years for running a network of 700 gambling outlets based in Malta. He was arrested in 2018 during the first operation codenamed Game Over. Bacchi's gaming licences in Maltese were terminated three years ago.
