The former Juve striker Padovano acquitted after 17 years: “I suffered everyone’s prejudice”
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The Turin appeals court acquitted the former footballer of drug trafficking charges. Because of the investigation, Padovano spent three months in prison and nine under house arrest, while his father died. Al Foglio recounts his ordeal: “They wrote that I had given drugs to Vialli. But do you realize?”
“It’s a really very strong emotion. My family and I stopped crying a little while ago, because it was news we’ve been waiting for for a long time. After 17 years we finally saw the light again. And I assure you that 17 years, knowing you’re innocent, is a long time”. It is with these words that, interviewed by Il Foglio, Michele Padovano, former footballer for Juventus and the Italian national team, comments on the sentence with which he was acquitted by the Court of Appeal of Turin from the accusation of association aimed at drug trafficking.
The former striker symbol of Juventus champion of Europe in 1996, with a past also in Reggiana and Genoa, was arrested in 2006 accused of having lent money to a friend of his, believed to be the head of an international drug trafficking group. At first instance Padovano was sentenced to 8 years and 8 months in prison, reduced to 6 years and 8 months on appeal. In January 2021 the Cassation annulled the sentences, ordering a new appeal judgment, arrived yesterday 17 years after the arrest: acquittal.
“I was arrested on May 10, 2006 – says Padovano, assisted in the trial by the lawyers Michele Galasso and Giacomo Francini -. An arrest in the act, with three police cars, nine people, handcuffs on their wrists. At that juncture I sincerely thought I was on ‘Seriously’. Then as the minutes went by I realized it wasn’t a joke. First they took me to the barracks, then to the Cuneo prison, where I stayed in solitary confinement for ten days. Then from there they transferred me to the Bergamo prison, a special department. I stayed there another two and a half months, for a total of three months in prison”. Then there were the house arrests. “Later there were nine months of house arrest and another three months of obligation to sign at the Carabinieri barracks”.
The involvement in Padovano’s affair was based on a loan made to a childhood friend, later involved in the anti-drug operation: “I’ve never denied my friendship with this person and I certainly don’t deny it now – explains Padovano – I made him a loan in a very calm way, because I was motivated: he needed money to buy horses. At the trial we demonstrated that the purchase of the horses took place. But both in court and on appeal we were not believed. It took us 17 years.”
In the meantime, the story had serious repercussions on the life of the former footballer. “On a social level, I perceived everyone’s prejudice, but I have always been very firm in my attitudes and aware of the fact that I was innocent. I was lucky enough to have my family close to me, first and foremost my wife and son, who have always believed in me. I have increasingly approached the true and sincere values of life. I no longer want superficial and light relationships. Unfortunately I lost my father, who fell ill with cancer on that occasion and died a year and a half later. Surely the ‘hit’ of having a son who is treated like a drug trafficker hasn’t helped him”.
Then there are the damages caused by the investigation on a professional level. “My career was destroyed – says Padovano –. At the time I had many properties, a job that allowed me to be on the launch pad for an important career as a manager. But When something like this happens to you, everyone turns their back on you. I don’t blame anyone, even if I would have behaved differently towards a former colleague of mine. That’s how it went, starting today I have to take back what was taken from me with such force ”.
At the time one of the main Italian newspapers reported the news of the investigation with this headline: “Former Juventus player in prison for hashish trafficking. ‘Cocaine sold to Vialli’”. An article which, in the light of the recent death of his teammate in the Juventus club, today affects the depths of Padua: “But do you realize? Crazy… I feel so much bitterness, because it was a lie from all points of view, as it later emerged also at the procedural level. I had nothing to do with it, let alone Vialli. He was also one of the very few to always stay close to me during this legal affair. I have wonderful memories of Gianluca and there isn’t a day in which I don’t dedicate a thought to him”.
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