Serie A footballers caught up in blackmail scam

ROME, Mar 14 (Reuters) An Italian paparazzi photographer has been arrested on suspicion of blackmailing Serie A footballers with compromising photographs.

Fabrizio Corona was arrested by magistrates in the southern city of Potenza on allegations that he took photographs of Italian celebrities, including footballers, then threatened to sell the photographs to the press unless they gave him money.

Today La Gazzetta dello Sport devoted a full page to what it said were transcripts of interrogations between the investigators and four footballers, three of them well-known internationals, in which the players described their dealings with Corona.

The investigation threatens dig up more dirt on a sport that is still reeling from last year's match-fixing scandal and the death of a policeman during rioting at a Serie A match last month.

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