Monza defender Armando Izzo has been found guilty of associating with the Neapolitan Mafia and sporting fraud over a betting scandal from his time at Avellino, but he will appeal.
The 31-year-old centre-back was at the time playing for Avellino in the 2013-14 Serie B season when irregular betting patterns were spotted around one of their games.
Izzo has always maintained his innocence in the investigation that has been going since 2016.
The prosecutor in Naples suggested a sentence of four years and 10 months for Izzo in December 2022 and today news agency Ansa reports the verdict came down with a sentence of five years.
As ever with the Italian justice system, this is only the first stage of the process and someone is not considered guilty until the fourth and final level of the appeals process has been completed.
This means he will not be serving any prison time until that moment, and most likely not even then.
Izzo was brought into the investigation because his cousin is Umberto Accurso, the chief of the Vinella Grassi clan of Secondigliano.
Monza released a statement expressing its solidarity and support with Izzo, “convinced he is extraneous to the criminal organisation. The player’s lawyers are disappointed by the sentence and are waiting to read the reasoning, after which they will appeal.”