Rafael di Zeo

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Rafael di Zeo (born February 4, 1962 ) is a nationally known football fan from Argentina and former leader of the group La 12 (The 12), the fan club of the Boca Juniors . Di Zeo and La 12 are part of the Barra Brava scene. As Barras Bravas (roughly: wild bunch) is called in Argentina the extreme fan scene, a sort of mix between the known in Europe hooligans and ultras . In addition, Di Zeo and La 12 - like many other Barras Bravas - are associated with the demi-world . The fact that Di Zeo still enjoys great popularity, especially among fans of the Boca Juniors, is due to his media staging. Because he knows how to present himself as skillfully as the Chicago gang boss Al Capone once did .

biography

There are numerous myths about Rafael di Zeo - or simply Rafa , as he is usually only called by his friends and numerous admirers.

Until about 1997 he was an employee of the city of Buenos Aires . Then, together with his brother Fernando, he took over the La 12 group, which had around 2,000 members, after the previous leader José Barrita and several other leaders had been sentenced to a long prison term for murder.

Although Di Zeo is said to have been involved in numerous criminal activities, there is little solid evidence against him. And once there is solid evidence, no serious consequences are to be expected. Only once was he imprisoned for violent crimes for 56 days and banned from the stadium for several months. When he then reappeared in the Bombonera for the first time , the national press celebrated him in a similar way to a visit from Diego Armando Maradona .

Its immense popularity is also demonstrated by the fact that there is hardly an athlete within several hundred kilometers of Buenos Aires who is asked for an autograph as often as Rafael di Zeo.

What outweighs its popularity with the common people, however, is its upward contacts. Gustavo Grabia, editor of the sports newspaper Olé , reports in an interview with the Ballester football magazine : “When Di Zeo boasts that he has all the phone numbers in power, then he is absolutely telling the truth. I've seen his agenda with my own eyes, and it doesn't matter what levels this man has access to. It is not by chance that it is so difficult to punish him. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Historia de TV: la mujer policía y el hombre araña (Spanish; article from October 4, 2003)
  2. ↑ Di Zeo volverá a la Bombonera (Spanish; article of October 29, 2011)
  3. ↑ Bureaucrats of Passion (May 9, 2008 article)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zeo, Rafael di
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rafa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentine football fan and leader of the La 12 group
DATE OF BIRTH 4th February 1962