Italian online gambling boss sentenced

Nicola ‘Rocco’ Femia, an Italian entrepreneur allegedly linked to organised crime, has been found guilty in a Bologna court and sentenced to almost 27 years in jail following a three-year judicial process arising from his involvement in illegal online gambling operations in the Emilia-Romagna region.

The original tax and judicial police action resulted in the arrest of almost thirty individuals – including several police officials – back in 2013 (see previous reports) after an expose was published by regional newspaper Gazzetta di Modena.

Charges filed included the operation of 1,500 ‘rigged’ land slots in Italy, and lucrative online gambling offered illegally on the premises to Italian punters via websites like 888Suite.com operating from Romania and the UK.

Femia’s UK-based partner, Massimiliano Rizzo, was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison for conspiracy to organise fraudulent online gambling, and members of Femia’s immediate family (his son Nicola Rocco and his daughter, Guendalina) were convicted of operating an online gambling enterprise valued at the equivalent of $65 million, allegedly linked to the Ndrangheta mafia.

The son was handed a 15 year prison sentence, and the daughter almost 11 years in jail.

Femia was also sued successfully for almost $53,000 by an investigative journalist at Gazzetta di Modena whom he had threatened with violence.