Luciano Moggi, a former top manager of Juventus, still appears to be the ringleader in Italian football despite having been banned for five years in a sports trial.
He now faces charges of criminal conspiracy, sports fraud, threats and unfair competition in a trial, involving 36 other people, that began before a state court on December 15.
Prosecutors who have tapped his calls since the autumn of 2006 believe that "Moggi has continued to influence certain areas of football, keeping his interests active through club managers and market agents."
Transcripts published by daily la Repubblica show that Moggi's network has remained active and still includes officials of the Italian football federation (FIGC).
"Dear Luciano, I am now alone in the fight, but I don't give up and I don't forget friends," William Punghellini, president of the Serie D league, allegedly wrote Moggi via text message.
In other calls, the two bad-mouthed federation officials, but Punghellini also told Moggi about being interrogated by prosecutors in Naples, which could be considered a crime as Moggi himself is being investigated in the southern city.
Although now unable, as he did in the past, to lock a referee inside a changing room for having damaged Juventus, Moggi was tapped calling the young Juve manager Alessio Secco and networking with Siena and Livorno, whose president Aldo Spinelli told him he would like to have him on his staff.
Moggi also appears to have good connections with police officials and is often called "boss" by some of those involved with him in the 2006 scandal.
He has always maintained to be the victim of "strong powers," through a column in the daily Libero and on radio and television shows.
Some commentators lament the infringement of Moggi's privacy, noting that he is still a free man and can talk with anyone. Others prefer to stress the enduring lack of ethics within football.
Little interest for moral principles was displayed this week by Milan president Silvio Berlusconi when he said that the scandal, which was dubbed Moggi-ville, was "just a fabrication," which caused his club to lose a few scudetti over the years.
Berlusconi seemed to forget that sports judges found one of his staffers, Leonardo Meani, guilty of sports unloyalty and sentenced the Devils to an eight-point penalty for the 2006-07 season.
As sports judges prepare the case for another sports trial, FIGC president Giancarlo Abete promised "a quick action and a heavy hand on the guilty."
Football lovers feel it would be a good way to start 2008.
DPA