Palermo have refuted Italian media reports that the
Serie A club may have been the victim of Mafia extortion attempts.
'Palermo categorically denies that the club, its administrators or
directors have ever received demands or pressures of an extortive
nature from anyone or, even less so, from anyone linked to
organised crime,' said a statement on the club's
website.
La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper said on Friday that a letter
written to captured Mafia boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo mentioned one
of Palermo's youth team coaches and the club's plans to build a new
stadium.
The letter was among documents seized when Lo Piccolo was arrested
at his Sicilian hideout last month, it said. 'We are only at the
planning stage (for the stadium), there is no call for tenders,'
Palermo Managing Director Rinaldo Sagramola told La Gazzetta dello
Sport.
'It is an important project and who knows if it might have stirred
the interest of the criminal world, as well as that of honest
entrepreneurs. 'Anyway this club has never received any type of
pressure, demand or contact, zero.'