The ambulance speeded down the highway into the darkness of the night. The sound of the siren was still ringing in my ears. The agonizing groan from Luke as the bullet struck him, the tears rolling down Clay’s eyes, the smell of sulphur from the deadly weapon, the bald man in the tuxedo and the large mob that had gathered to watch the incident………………………all these events filled up my mind. I just did not know what to do. For the first time in my life, I was completely clueless. This was the time when I needed someone to support me. God must have been hearing my prayers. Out of the crowd stepped out a well built man who pulled me up on my feet. I looked into his face to realize that the perfect person who could help me handle the situation had arrived……………It was John……………My dearest friend.
As I slowly gained my thoughts and was trying to decide my next step, the police arrived. Officer Jones stepped out of the car and came straight to me. He had been the investigating officer for the bike accident that had killed Mike about eight months back. So, he knew me very well. We went with him to the police station. I reported the entire incident without missing a single detail. I described every single incident that had occurred prior to the shootout including the training session when I found out that my players had been sold. Based on the descriptions of the bald man that I provided, the investigators pulled off a probable sketch of the criminal. At this point Clay opened his voice for the first time.
The man was Lucio Giordinelli, a drug lord and a very powerful mobster of the city. He was funding the move of my players from Eleven Bullets to Rangers. Luke and Clay were resisting the move. So, Lucio had come to meet them at the Blue Haven to force them to accept their transfer. The rest of the incident had occurred in front of my eyes when they had refused. The whole situation was getting clear now. This was an example of illegal affairs going on in the world of football. The mafia had started ruling the world of football too. I had heard about the football mafia earlier but had never seen them in action in this country. I felt their power and presence on that day.
Illegal affairs have been part of football for more than a decade and the mobsters involved insist on their claim of the transfers. Illegally acquired funds are invested into young and prospective players from smaller communities. The players are bought for petty amounts and are brought to a bigger club. A young player is given a few thousand Euros, which is more than enough to secure both him and his family. The money given is usually originally gained through drug trafficking. On signing a contract with a professional agent, the contents of which say the player is obliged to return the money on the completion of a contract with a foreign side, along with an additional share, which is generally one fifth of the contract in question.
Upon the arrival at the new club a young player must as soon as possible grow in class so that managers and scouts of affluent European clubs could spot them as potential signings. That pushes both the coach and the club executives to give the player plenty of time on the pitch and in the media, so that the player can eventually be sold and the dirty money invested be recouped in next to no time and under favorable terms. The most favorable terms and conditions don’t mean the finest environment for a player to bloom, but the biggest kind of money that can be bargained for. Footballers just play small roles in the affair and don’t get to choose whether they’d like to continue their careers in France, England or Ukraine. It’s the mafia bosses who do that for them.
Luke and Clay were the most impressive players of Eleven Bullets. Lucio would move them to Rangers as they had reached the premier league. As both would play in the premier league, top clubs from round the world would start showing interest in them. When a good offer was ready, Lucio would hand the players to the big teams from the other countries. The players would not gain anything from this; however Lucio would have trebled the amount of money he was investing in Rangers to get these players transferred.
As the whole situation was clear, Officer Jones assured that he would investigate the entire incident thoroughly and render justice. On his assurance we left the police station and went to the city hospital where Luke had been taken. We still did not know what his physical condition was as we had last seen him more than an hour earlier.
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