The Underworld Podcast - How Diego Maradona Fueled the Rise of Naples’ Camorra

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

When Argentine soccer wizard Diego Armando Maradona swapped Barcelona for lowly Napoli in 1984, it shocked the sporting world — and sent Naples’ deadly Camorra into overdrive. Corrupt from the very start, the move would send the world’s greatest player into a tailspin of drugs, sex and crime, even while his onfield performances won Napoli its first league in over six decades. But as Maradona Mania gripped the Italian city, the star’s underworld friends realized how big a cash cow he was — and flooded Naples with drugs, smuggled cigarettes, guns and shady property deals. And it was right when Maradona was at his peak — an Italian league, and World Cup winner — that things really began to fall apart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money. Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings. There's a money side to every story. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. The jurors sat in a dark room, hands resting on a Ouija board. They weren't guessing.

They were asking the victim who killed them. Sounds unbelievable, right? But it happened. And that's just one of thousands of stories waiting for you on Morning Cup of murder. Hi, I'm Karina B. B. B. Mr. Dher. And every single day on Morning Cup of Murder, I bring you a real chilling true crime story connected to that exact day in history. From Killer Cannibal Brothers, to the Boy Scout who was obsessed with the occult and the strange story of the bloody hammer in the frozen cabin. These aren't the cases you've heard a hundred times. They're the ones that make

you stop and think, how have I never heard this before? With over 2,500 episodes and a brand new story each and every single day, morning cup of murder becomes part of your routine fast. If you like your coffee hot but your bones chilled, then sit back and start your day with a morning cup of murder. Go listen to Morning Cup of Murder wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay safe. It's 3.30 a.m. on Jan 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 Mansoni by the irony. 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 Maradonna. You can call him at Vincenzo's, he tells her. Of course he's up. Maradonna is always up, always at Vincenzo's, especially on a Sunday night after a match. He might even be going until Wednesday. She hangs up. Eight minutes later, the phone rings again. A different voice. She knows who.

Do you know who they are? She asked 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, Maradonna replies. He's gruff, despondent. I was up at Italo's this morning. She knows who Italo is too.

Everybody does. His Naples, so-called Minister of Garbage, rang a billion dollar a year trash-collecting empire. Illegal, of course. Italo's a member of the Commorough. the feared underworld who rule Naples surrounding Campania region. And he doesn't just collect, he delivers too, cool girls and cocaine, to venues like the Ironi, a cramped boutique hotel in the city centre.

And there are a 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 Mesogiano. the man for whom they'll go into battle. The man who won his nation's second world cup and delivered Napoli the 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 irony. Will around 4 a.m. be okay? She asked 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 boyfriend of Buenos Aires slums with feet of gold. Diego.

But Diego, the innocent, lovable wonderkind, he left Naples long ago. All that's left is Maradonna, the brand, the brat, the millionaire prima donna, hanging on to greatness by a thread or a thin white line. with this short, sad conversation, he sealed his fate forever. Because it's not just the Madam or Christina 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 with two journalists who have travelled the world, tell stories about the good, bad and ugly global organized crime. I am Sean Williams in Wellington, New Zealand, and I'm joined, as always, by my trusted Amigo, my Sancho Panza, my maid, Marion, Danny Gold in New York City. There's a Robin Hood reference within five minutes. It's got to be a reference. You are a strange bird, Williams. 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, 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, but it came at a huge cost to the clubs, the fans, the city, Naples Underworld, the Commoda, 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 Luddins' book Once Upon a Time in Naples. I mean, can you tell that I really enjoyed doing this one? Yeah, I mean, I can, but how many organized crime stories are there involving football that one can actually do. I mean, I guess we're going to, we're going to find out together. We are. Let's hold hands. Shout out to my boys in leads though. Big, big winning leads. Congrats to them, dude. Oh, I didn't expect that one. And you might have, eagle-eyed of you, may have already seen that I'm wearing a Venetia 20-22 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 reping the people that Maradonna was against, but who cares? It's all Italian football. and it's all fun. Anyway, I'm going to split this one into two parts, actually. Today, we're going to tell the story of Maradonna 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 megatrials. Maradona's unlikely come back in his late, unlikely cameo as manager of Kulia Khan's,

Dorados de Sinaloa. I mean, I wonder if you can tell why that matchup was doomed. Wait, hold on. He managed the team. Diego Maradona, the guy's most famous guy who loved cocaine ever, managed the team in Sinaloa.

Yes. Yeah. There is actually a Netflix show about it called Maradona in Mexico, which is, it's okay. But, yeah, it's pretty... Like nonfiction or... No, nonfiction, 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 Commoda 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 to sign up to our Patreon if you haven't already. Bonus interviews, roundup shows, notes, reading lists, ad-free shows.

Yeah, am I missing anything? Danny, I didn't ask how you doing either. That's very rude to me. You know, email us at the Underworldpodcast at gmail.com, and you can buy the t-shirts and other nice things at underworldpod.com. You click on the merch button there. What else? Me? You know, nothing good.

Nothing good at all. 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, I'm not going to give a tuppany F about football or Napoli or Madadonna, 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 specifically

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 at all, but back in 1983. And I'm not talking about the crazy political world we're living in now. I don't even get that. Yeah, yeah, I don't know either. Sometimes the stuff that I'm coming out with it, just. I mean, you can't hit them all, you know?

I'm playing five, maybe even 60 chess here, guys. Anyway, attacker Diego, Armando Mardona, a kid from a Buenos Aires slum. He is lighting up the football world at this time. He's 22 years old. He's been at Spanish Giants Barcelona for two seasons, having arrived from hometown legends Bocca Juniors from a world record, 7.3 million bucks in 1982. He's already the biggest start 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 cry babies and VAR. It is cut up turfs and defenders built like dockers. Few more than Andoni Goykoacea, I remember saying that right, of Bill Bell, who on September 24, 1983, dishes out a horror tackle which leaves Maradona with two screws in his ankle. Goykoacia, aka the butcher of Bill Bell, actually keeps the boot from that night in a glass case. This, is football in the early 80s. 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, like, you go after their guy. Yeah, actually, in Italy, they kind of did back in the day. There were a few players like Franco Bareseo are famous for it. But, yeah, 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 crew of murdering 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 maradonna 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 tackle's 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 here reports that 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 is 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 Polittinos 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 Sanpola 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 sidiya 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 naples hardened fans the ultras they're not afraid to let their president who is another construction magnate this time named carrado felino know precisely what they think fires a

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 Paola with a simple message written on a banner. Felino Fafankulo. I'll leave you to translate that one. Even more worrying is when a gang of assailants on Vesper scooters, because Italy hurls a homemade explosive into the garden of Felano's villa. At the same time, then another one goes off at the San Paolo's ticket office. See New York, it's just three guys named Tony, big Tony, little Tony, and regular Tony. They go in an accurate legend and they drive by John Mara'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. I like that actually. That sounds great.

It can work. We'll see what happens this season. Yeah, not good as far as I understand. But, yeah, Napoli and Naples are a club and city despised by huge sways of Italians as dirty, crime. ridden and corrupt. And in Falano, a man rumoured to have made his millions with the consent of the Camorra, they're not entirely wrong. On November 23rd, 1980, a huge earthquake had struck the region of the Elpina, 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 graph back then. Writes John Lutton quote, no sooner had the rehousing products begun, then the lead engineering 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 ramshackled dwellings they were forced to live in. Now, Irapina 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 Commoda, like the Andrangetta in nearby Calabria, is an uneasy of, 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 Camora henchman or Guapo, who would often be a kid with nothing but a point to prove and a gun in his hand. Did we, I think we did do an episode on the Camara, the origin of the Camaro, no? it might have been like way back in like nine i was going to say 1920 it feels that long 2020 um yeah yeah we have done this right let us know if we've done an episode on the camo we definitely have there's no way we'd let the camora not be the focus of an episode have you have um saviano's book i have yeah that's so good man oh my god among these clans few are feared

and respected more than the julianos a family from the slums of foricello a labyrinthine corner of Naples Spanish quarter. Their reign begins with Peel, 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. 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. Yeah, I haven't read it, but I really want to do that. It came up a lot of times researching this as well. Yeah, it's an incredible book. Young Vittorio has to toughen up quick in this environment, and he survives as a Sconizzo, I think that's how you say, or a street kid, and he hears crazy tales from Focela'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, age 19, and lands himself behind the bars. For the cops, it's a good chance to get another young gangster off the streets, but it's short-sighted, a false economy, because there's no place better to teach a young man the true ways of the Comorra than a stint in Naples' filthy, overcrowded prisons. Among his release a few months later, Vittorio expands his criminal enterprise from stolen cigarettes, a Camoristi staple, into prostitution, gambling, and protection rackets. Forcella, smack bang in the centre 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 Giuliano's make an outwardly non-descript three-story house called the Vito or the Vicho della Pache,

I think that's how you say the C's Italian, their nerve centre. Inside, the building is palatial, and neighbours 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 Totonero. This is a state-run pause, the only legal form of football gambling, in Italy, allowed only because punters are able to make palais 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. Okay, so 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 featured 13 game parlays and they do this because everything is so corrupt they figure no one can fix 13 games that is exactly correct

yeah and then does anyone ever win a 13 game part that's incredible and then the camora actually find a way to fix it anyway well we'll find out in part of this show but uh i mean i mean tell the this is like without a doubt the best the best thing i've ever heard i mean i'm about to make I'm going to make a 13-person home-run bat parlay right now while you keep talking. I'm so inspired. I guess if any sport, you're going to be able to do that is probably baseball or cricket, I guess.

Dude, the home-run parlay is the way to go. Anyway, sorry, continue. Oh, man, yeah, go Schwabur and go Aaron Church. At first, I didn't think it was real. I woke up to this blinding light, and I was transported to another place. Pluto TV. Then I heard a voice. Come with me if you want to live.

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Here's the best part, super affordable, super easy, and it can help drive more calls to your business, more trust. So if you're ready to sound like the business people want to call, head over to ringboost.com and use promo code underworld for an exclusive discount. That's ringboost.com, promo code underworld, ring boost because voice matters. Yeah, Don Vitoreo. 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 it's not unheard of for Giuliano Guapi to unload crates of Uzi submachine guns, grenades, or AK-47s off the docks too. He continues the clan's association with Napoli, and like pretty much all Camodesty, he's a fan of the team too.

So, when club president Fileno starts mentioning Madadonna'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 dashing it, I don't know. What comes next, though, is pretty crazy. And a big, fat sign of criminal things to come. Fileno 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. Philano 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 Falano already despised, it's shit or bust. So he goes public again, and he asked Neapolitans to bankroll the move. It's either that, he says, or Maradonna will go to fierce rivals Juventus of Turin, the current league title holders. Now, most of it at least powerhouse football clubs are based in the economically strong north. Juventus, Torino, Internationale, Milan, Genoa, San Dorea, Verona, sometimes Venetia, as you can see here, and they regularly unfail banners decrying Neapolitan's as unwashed or peasants. You know, Sean, in Napoli,

a lot of people are not so happy for Columbus because he was from Genoa. north of Italy always have the money and the power. They punished the South since hundreds of years. Even today, they put up their nose at us like we peasants. I ate to the north. Yes. Come on. Was that, nothing? Was that a reference to We Know What? Yeah, of course, dude. I slip one in the last episode too. You're not noticing anything anymore. Oh, man. It's been a while. I've watched too many shows. You need a rewatch, dude. You need a rewatch because this is disappointing me. Yeah, I'm very sorry. I'm so sorry. Yeah.

Please apologize to our listeners. 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. Well, another declares the Napoli Ultras, the country's quote, Africans. 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 fallen 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, a Vesuvius,

which still smoulders, very much active on the city's edge. There is a saying in Naples, which sums up this devil-made care attitude, a toast. To Vesuvio, fuck it. One day, he'll get us all. That kind of rules, man. Southern Italy. Southern Italians, man. They got some good toast, some good life models, you know?

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 Millwall, who I hate. What's more, they see themselves in this screw attitude in Maradona, a kid from the slum district of Via Fiorito, one of seven kids to a stay-at-home mom and a laborer dead,

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, Neapolitan's turn out their pockets. There are cues of people outside Bank of Naples offices across the city, monitored, of course, by eagle-eyed Camorra Guapi. And by the summer of 1984, the charity, or mass extortion, it works. On June 30 that year,

a Bulfelano's luxury yacht mored off the island of Capri, Diego Madadonna 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 Madadona. 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 Saita Spila, Maradonna's madcap agent. This is a strange match, but a really close one. Maradona, the rough and tumbled kid from the slums, dark-skinned, who was called a Sudaka, a racist term for an indigenous Argentine. Now an elegant superstar, wanted by the world. And Saita Spiller, 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 in play, age 14. They've been friends ever since. Maradona spending many a night

a horace's fancy home to escape his family's probation, talking to the wee hours about success, fame, and women. Which is useful, given that Diego is the Maradonna family breadwinner from his late teens, trusting Jorge with their financial security. When Maradona signed to Barcelona, then Napoli, Saita Spiller gets his percentage. He's rich too, but with Diego, things are never quite so simple. Writes Ludd and quote, For a while, Maradonna would be handed a crown and given king's status,

his every wish granted. Waltz in 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 string. To give you idea how wild this transfer is, it's like, I don't know, Kiliin Bappay 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, Maradonna to Napoli, isn't even the craziest transfer of the early 80s. That title belongs to Danish striker Alan Simerson, who in 1982, having just become the European footballer of the year, i.e. the best player in the world, goes from Barcelona to my own club, Chalin Athletic, and actually it's directly to do with Maradonna. So it's totally relevant to this episode, I'll 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 Catalonia, 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 Bernschuster and Maradonna. He's insulted.

and tired, of course, of the Spanish media. So he moves to Lowly Charlton, broken in England's second division. And actually, after a season, they can't afford his wages, and he moves to his home club, Vela. So I guess, you know, I did pledge not to go too deep into football stuff,

but Charlton mentioned, so I don't care. Yeah, cool, dude. Thanks for getting our entire American fan base to just turn this off. Great job. Yeah, yeah, anyway. Anyway, back to soccer, guys. It's 1984.

Maradonna's just signed for Napoli, and soon after Falano is holding a trium. mindful 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 Falano explodes in anger.

How dare the reporter asks such a question he affirms, and he signals for security to escort the young man off the premises. Maradonna 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. I asked for a Ferrari and I got a Fiat. Everything was downgraded.

The next season, Napoli play well. Not great, but well, finishing a respectable eighth with Maradona scoring 14 goals and compatriot Daniel Bertone bagging 11. They even manage a nil-nil-draer Juventus, while at Surprise-sired Helas Verona win their first and only league title. Maradonna, 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-Sancero Stadium, unfurler banner telling the star to, quote, suck on a banana, which, well, yeah, they're racist, I told you there 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 Falano 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 Carnmine, 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 the English accent. a handsome member of the Giuliano clan. One night early on, Maradonna 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, Maradonna moves into an apartment in the clifftop district of polysippo, alongside corrupt politicians and leaders of the very same Camorra clans who are cosy and up to him and plying him with blow. Casino Foricella might be the clan's headquarters, but its influence is everywhere. And Carmine, nicknamed Ilione, the Lion, is a born striver,

ruthless and darkly manipulative. Here's Ludden again, quote, 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 lord him with kind words, reverence, and the respect reserved only for a king. It was time to throw a party, show the new boy who really ruled Naples. Now, Hodhey, Saita Spiller gets pissed off with the Giuliano's hawking all this knock-off Maradonna merch around town.

And he goes about Naples making a series of legal threats. And the Giuliano's 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 Hodah's best interest because he is also getting higher on Diego's supply. not just the football riches. One spring day in 1985, Maradonna 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. Horace calls it to get a couple hours sleep, but that is not Maradonna's style. By the time they're called to meet the pontiff at the Vatican, Maradonna 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 odd ball agent. After being ushered into the Pope's private resident by the Swiss guard and shaking dozens of bishop's 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. Sitesespiela 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 rap and does a line right there. It's got to be what? The only 10th person that he 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, Maradonna's second with the club, and the Argentine is once again near the top of the gold scorers table,

the Capo Canonieri. Capo Canonieri, God, I'm sorry, Italians. This side, a long-time Italian striker, Bruno Giordano. The fruits of Corrado's feloners and the considerable efforts of Naples' underworld are beginning to ripen. Some of the ultras are even whispering about a time. title bid the following year. But before that, there is a small matter of a FIFA World Cup in Mexico, and Argentina, led not only by Maradona, but stars like Daniel Pasaraja, Jorge Borchaga, and

Jorge Vardano 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 not. 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, quote, 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 a lot of things to do here, And there is not enough time to attend to the extravagancies of FIFA and its members. I didn't know that happened and it's absolutely insane. Can you imagine how livid the Colombians must have been? I'm surprised they didn't 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.

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. Yeah, Qatar did it. Thousands of people died building it in Qatar, they still pulled it off. Yeah, well done Nepal for building the Qatar World Cup.

And 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 his all. Remember, this is when Argentina and Britain are at war over the Falklands Islands, or is Las Malabinas, which personal opinion, Argentina has literally no claim over and it's 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. Yeah, you know, I tell you not to get political here, but nobody cares about the fall.

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? Yeah, my partner is slightly concerned about my opinion on the Falklands. Anyway. Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank. Own it all.

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England are of course then drawn to play Argentina in a quarterfinal round. Ron Greenwood, the England manager, has 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 13, 1988, 1986, in front of 115,000 fans at Mexico City's Estadio Esteka,

which if anyone wants to go with me to a game, next summer, hit me up, please. Maradonna and his compatriots beat a deterrent. in West German side 3-2 and lift the World Cup for the second time in their history. Maradonna 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, what he's sight to spiller is getting calls

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, Maradonna reports for training and he rocks up to Corrado Filano's office. He sparks a cigar and starts demanding huge money transfers so the site can win the league. Or else, he'll leave. Philano is starting to really hate this kid, but there is nothing he can do.

Outwardly, he sings Maradonna's praises if he just rebuilt all of Erpini single-handedly. He also hires former Napoli player Otavia Bianchi and 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 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 foricella maradona then makes a big move He fires Jorge's eye to spiela via phone when his friend is in Buenos Aires.

Jorge, he says, has pocketed endorsement cash for himself, taking food out of the Maradonna 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 bravieric performance of bitterness, anger, and tears that matched anything he ever produced on the pitch.

For in Maradonna's eyes, Jorge Saita Spiller has committed the ultimate sin and betrayed his trust. There could only be one punishment. He was out. Now, at this point, Maradonna 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 mob 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 Udinezzi, 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, Maradonna's incredible career rise, peak, and then begin on its slow, agonizing dissent 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, madame, stolen trophies, multi-million dollar drug shipments, hires, lows that 1991 phone call and an unlikely final chapter in Kuliacan, the drug capital of Mexico. So stay tuned and please, oh please, do not Instagram your crimes.

Nicely done. Always patreon.com slash general podcast. Please listen. And stay tuned to see if Sean gets a ban from Argentina before he even moves there. USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day like superheroes and superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usa.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply. Where's your playlist taking you? Down the highway, to the mountains, or just into daydream mode while you're stuck in traffic.

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