ISTANBUL, Oct 26 (AFP) - The Turkish Football Federation on Tuesday announced an investigation into alleged links between organized crime and football after a newspaper report claimed that a top mafia family influenced several first division games last season.
The daily Milliyet reported that the allegations emerged from transcripts of telephone conversations tapped by police in their investigation into the affairs of suspected mafia boss Sedat Peker.
Peker, 34, was arrested last week after a major police operation in which he and dozens of alleged henchmen were detained and charged with a wide range of crimes, including corruption and influence peddling involving top civil servants.
Milliyet reproduced excerpts of the transcripts, commenting: "The impression is that they (the Peker family) had a major influence on the matches of teams in the relegation zone" of the Turkish first division, known as the Super League.
The best known team the paper cited was Besiktas, along with Samsunspor, Rizespor, Akcaabat Sebatspor and Diyarbakirspor.
On several occasions, Milliyet wrote, Sedat Peker and his brothers spoke on the telephone with various team officials, naming players and the results they expected.
The results met their expectations, the daily said, often to vocal protests at the surprise results by spectators who cried corruption.
Some transcripts published in the newspaper also show the Pekers tried to influence the choice of referees for certain key matches.
A Federation statement carried by the Anatolia news agency said the probe would target not only last season`s relegation zone teams cited by the paper -- they are all still in the Super League -- but also illegal football pools.
10/26/2004 13:07 GMT - AFP