Brazilian soccer stars Ronaldinho and Anderson were caught on a police wiretap talking about attending a party with a fugitive drug dealer who was found hiding in Anderson’s apartment, police said on Tuesday.
Suspected trafficker Richard Alex da Silva Martins, known as “Gigi,” was captured in Anderson’s apartment in Porto Alegre, also Ronaldinho’s hometown in southern Brazil, amid a mass police raid late on Monday.
Officials emphasized that neither Ronaldinho, who plays for AC Milan, nor Anderson, with Manchester United, are suspected of having any links to the suspect’s criminal activities and were not under any suspicion of having committed a crime.
PHOTO: AFP
Neither player was in Brazil at the time of the arrests, authorities said.
A friend of Anderson’s was looking after his apartment and probably allowed Martins to stay there after he escaped from prison in June, public prosecutor Ricardo Herbstrith said.
Authorities said they tapped telephones and captured a conversation between Ronaldinho and Anderson in which the two talked about attending a samba party with Martins and another suspected drug dealer that was arrested on Monday, Jorge Andre da Silva Fontoura, known as “Nelly.”
No details were provided about when the conversation took place or where they planned to party with Martins — who police allege is one of the bigger drug dealers in Porto Alegre. At no point in the conversation was drugs mentioned.
“They were only friends with the trafficker — we’re not even sure they knew he was a criminal,” a spokesman for the public ministry in Rio Grande do Sul state told reporters on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak about the case.
It wasn’t clear if drugs were being sold out of Anderson’s apartment, authorities said.
The year-long investigation to break up a drug trafficking ring in Porto Alegre resulted in the capture of 28 suspects late on Monday and early on Tuesday, police said.
Anderson’s agent, Paulo Tonietto, admitted the player’s ties to “Gigi” and “Nelly,” but said the midfielder committed no crime.
“Anderson can be friends with whoever he wants, but he is not involved in crime. He is a serious professional and he will give explanations about what happened at the appropriate time,” Tonietto said.
It was not immediately possible to locate Ronaldinho or his agent.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS