The sports betting affair, in which Italian footballers Nicolò Zaniolo, Nicolò Fagioli and Sandro Tonali were suspected and then sanctioned, brought the name of entrepreneur Fabrizio Corona back to the forefront of the media scene. Although his name is quite familiar in the transalpine press, he has not crossed the other side of Mont Blanc. In France, the surname of Fabrizio Corona still remains little known – not to say unknown. And yet it was he who revealed to the media the involvement of these three players in the investigation into sports betting, but this is not the only reason why his name appears in the media columns: he recently came out from prison after having been in and out of the dungeon several times for around ten years. In addition to his work and the legal events that involved him, Corona was a very popular entertainment personality for many years. He built an image made up of tattoos, muscles, luxury cars, evenings in trendy clubs, bold statements and excesses inspired by underworld imagery. Even in prison, he says, he managed to get a plastic surgeon to come in and give him some injections and use oil and foil to tan more quickly.
Born in Catania, Sicily, on March 29, 1974, Fabrizio Corona is the son of the famous Italian journalist Vittorio Corona, known for his long and prodigious career in newspapers, magazines and on television and the nephew of the journalist and television presenter Puccio Corona. Growing up in Milan in Lombardy, Corona also tried to become a journalist with some experience alongside his father on television and writing in weekly magazines like Chi. At the end of the 90s, the sultry Italian man was put in contact with Lele Mora, a powerful agent and television producer, who would teach him all the ins and outs of the world of entertainment and the Italian jetset. It was in 2001 that he decided to cut ties with the prosperous Italian agent to found his own photo agency. He thus began to coordinate the work of around ten paparazzi by collecting compromising photos of famous people and selling them to television programs and gossip magazines. It was from this moment that Fabrizio Corona gradually shifted towards his first legal cases.
An eccentric man worried by the law
Before the numerous legal events that led him to prison in 2013, Fabrizio Corona was an entrepreneur in the world of gossip, nicknamed “The King of the Paparazzi” by newspapers, and an extremely popular and controversial entertainment personality. Some remember him for his work with Lele Mora, others for the scandal around Lapo Elkann, still others for his relationships with Nina Morić and Belén Rodríguez. But the list could go on with throwing his underwear out the window of his house in Milan, speeding, hiding in Portugal, money hidden in the walls and a protest video of him with a bloody face becoming particularly famous. In 2007, he found himself involved in the broad investigation known as “Vallettopoli”, in which he was accused, among other things, of various extortion attempts with blackmail with compromising photos, drug trafficking and exploitation of prostitution . During this first legal phase he spent two months in prison, during which he published a book of photographs entitled My Prison and shot some music video clips.
The most publicized case, however, concerns Lapo Elkann, son of Margherita Agnelli and member of the family that owns Fiat and Juventus, who was then under thirty years old. One night in 2005, Elkann was urgently hospitalized because of an overdose: the person who called the ambulance was a transsexual woman whose identity was unknown and around whom a morbid curiosity suddenly appeared in Italy. On this occasion, Corona managed to speak with this woman and obtain a short video interview and some photos that he tried to sell to Fiat, emphasizing the interest that the large Italian company would have had in not causing a scandal national. Over the years, Fabrizio Corona was diagnosed with a significant personality disorder and pathological narcissism. In the interview given to the show Belve on the Raihe claimed to take more than a hundred tablets per day, including supplements, psychotropic drugs and sleeping pills: “I am like Archangel Gabriel. I don’t think there is a nicer, smarter, better prepared person than me.”.
View this post on Instagram
Other matters in Calcio
The name of Fabrizio Corona has already caused ink to flow in the world of football, long before the 10-month suspension of Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali. Among the often-discussed extortion cases was the one involving former AC Milan and FC Barcelona defender Francesco Coco, of whom he claimed to have photos at a party with gay men and in intimate attitudes with a trans woman, which nevertheless turned out to be false. But also the legendary Brazilian striker Adriano, photographed during a party which Fabrizio Corona claimed included prostitutes and cocaine. At the trial, the former Inter Milan striker claimed that these accusations were not true, but that he gave in to Corona’s blackmail because the photographer made him believe that he could manipulate the photos to make appear cocaine. The longest sentence – and considered by many to be excessively harsh in Italy – was a five-year prison sentence for aggravated extortion against former French Juventus striker David Trezeguet. Fabrizio Corona had asked the French international for thousands of euros not to publish a photo report where Trezegol was seen with a woman who was not his. In 2013, after the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation upheld his conviction, the Italian paparazzo fled to Portugal where he was on the run for a few days before surrendering and being brought back to Italy.
For other extortions or attempted extortions, Fabrizio Corona was acquitted in some cases and permanently sentenced to short sentences in other cases. Over the years, sentences for crimes such as using counterfeit bills, bribing a prison guard to bring a camera to his cell, the fraudulent bankruptcy of his photo agency Corona’s and tax evasion were added to the penalties for cases of extortion. During this period he also tried, unsuccessfully, to ask for pardon from the then Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano, a request which received the support of several important figures in journalism and television such as Adriano Celentano, Fiorello , Alfonso Signorini and Marco Travaglio. To defend himself from numerous criticisms, Fabrizio Corona declared that his sulphurous personality was compromised by three traumatic events in his life: a blow to the head he received while jumping into an empty swimming pool, the smoke from a joint which, according to him, was “badly cut” and contained amphetamine, and a blow to the head which caused him to lose his memory for a few days.
