A trial has opened in Buenos Aires to identify and punish those responsible for the death of Diego Armando Maradona. The first days of the hearing showed that the judges would need to determine the reason for the passing of the world football star. The details are in the Izvestia article.
Diego Maradona: Addiction, drugs and disqualification
Spanish investigative observers believe that Diego Armando tried cocaine for the first time in Barcelona in 1982, when he came to play for the club of the same name at the age of 22. In the Catalan capital, he settled in a luxury villa in one of its most fashionable areas, Pedralbes (not far from the villa of the daughter of Spanish King Juan Carlos Cristina).
In addition to his wife, parents and in-laws, his son-in-law Gabriel "El Morza" Esposito (arrested in 1996 with half a kilo of cocaine in his hands) also lived there. Among the servants was Ricardo Ayala, nicknamed the Soldier, Pelusa's chauffeur and bodyguard, who was brought from Buenos Aires. Maradona was nicknamed Pelusa and Pooh in Spain for his magnificent head of hair.
It was in this environment that Maradona began using cocaine. In the company of a Soldier and a certain Jorge Perez, another "friend", Maradona was first detained under the influence of drugs. It was in Buenos Aires in 1991, where Pelusa, who was then playing for the Italian Napoli, arrived on vacation. During a search of Diego's house, the police found stored drugs. For this violation of the law, any ordinary Argentinian could receive a "sky in a large cage" and a heavy fine. Maradona escaped with an order from Judge Amelia Berras de Vidal to "undergo rehabilitation treatment."
The International Football Federation (FIFA) has proved to be tougher in this regard. Maradona was disqualified for 15 months. The contract with Napoli had to be terminated. However, after the death of the Argentine, the Neapolitans named their stadium after Maradona.
Maradona's cocaine addiction was reinforced during his performances at Napoli and his life in this city, which for him was a mixture of stunning titles and festive excesses several days a week.
Diego Maradona and mafia boss Carmine Giuliano
One of the first people to visit Diego in Naples was mafia boss Carmine Giuliano, who promised the football star that he would not be denied anything, and became his personal drug dealer. "Any problem you have is mine too. And the problems that I can't solve simply don't exist," Giuliano, who identified himself as Maradona's godfather, said at the time.
Just a year after Maradona's arrival in Italy, his addiction to cocaine was already so serious that he apparently used it even in the dressing room of Pope John Paul II during a private audience that the pontiff arranged for the team in 1985.
Diego Maradona with his official girlfriend Claudia. The year 1982
"Diego's other addiction was women. According to his driver at the time, Pietro Pugliese, Maradona slept with more than 8,000 women in Italy; in 1986, one of them gave birth to a son and introduced him to the world on television. Among the audience was Claudia, who was considered the official girlfriend of the star, who was pregnant at the time," the sports journalists recalled.
Diego's affair with the Neapolitan fans ended in 1990 at the World Cup held in Italy. Diego scored for Argentina in the match against the hosts from the penalty spot, and this shot took Italy out of the World Cup. Ironically, the meeting took place in Naples. From that moment on, Maradona lost the protection that the press, judges and those who paid his salary had provided him until then. His addiction to the "powder" and other sins came out.
Diego Maradona is a Napoli player. The year 1989
In 1984, 85,000 people met Maradona at the airport. Seven years later, he was leaving the city at the same airport all alone...
Maradona: retirement, hospitalization
The new life has become a payback for the football player's past. In 2000, after completing his playing career, Maradona was admitted to a hospital in Uruguay with serious cardiopathology, and from there moved to Havana, where he spent several months being treated for drug addiction. He was hospitalized twice on Liberty Island. But the first time it was more of a show — he left the clinic whenever and wherever he wanted, his entourage scurried around, and of course, there was no renunciation of the "snow". In 2004, due to heart and lung failure, Diego was literally on the verge of life and death. A year later, he underwent gastric resection surgery in Cartagena, Colombia. By that time, the former athlete was 167 cm tall and weighed 121 kg.
After returning to Argentina and experiencing a serious relapse, he went back to Cuba, where this time Fidel Castro personally took full care of him. Now everything was serious: the doctors and the ministers of the Comandante personally monitored the patient, and the regime was much stricter. Everything was going great, but... Fidel made Diego a careless gift — he sent a shipment of Havana cigars.
Diego Maradona during a meeting with Fidel Castro. The year 2013
The months after the Cuban miracle were the best for the ex-football player. He managed to get back in good physical shape and began to shine with mental flexibility. But he didn't last long in this image. The old habits returned, albeit in a slightly modified form — now he was using a bottle more and more often than cocaine. His health began to deteriorate rapidly.
Around 2013, seven years before his death, the football player's environment became more sinister. This is stated in Nelson Castro's book "Diego's Health" (La salud de Diego): "The environment that will govern his life until the end has begun to take shape. Ali Garcia (Maradona's former teammate) reveals the details: "Until then, I saw him every two weeks at events, meetings or birthdays. But suddenly, the opportunities to talk to him, text him, and visit him at home disappeared. They built an impenetrable wall around him, a real firewall. It was the first time I saw him with the security staff... Before that, he went to the supermarket alone. No one touched him. But now it was like something out of a mafia movie."
Diego Maradona in 2003
Among the new confidants of the star was businessman and criminal lawyer Viktor Steinfail, defender of the Syrian arms dealer Monzer al Kassar and author of the phrase: "If Hitler had given me a million dollars, I would have defended him."
In the last months of Maradona's life, when Argentina was in quarantine due to COVID-19, all the hardships of the toxic environment in which he lived made themselves felt at the same time.
"In order for Maradona to remain calm, his entourage brought him — secretly, without informing the guards — some of his favorite dishes (pizza, French fries, snacks, chocolate—covered churros), excluded by doctors from his prescribed diet," Clarín quotes an anonymous source.
The cause of Maradona's death
As Maradona's illness became a national drama, he underwent surgery in the hospital. Fernando Villarejo, head of the intensive care unit at the Olivos Clinic, later told prosecutors: "From a clinical point of view, he was in a discharge-able condition, but he had many changes related to mental illness. He was very unstable... He was unreasonably aggressive, he was unaware of the risk... Maradona wanted to do what he wanted, and the people around him allowed him to do it. If such a patient wants to take alcohol or drugs and you allow it, you allow him to self-destruct. The relationship with him was very complicated. And the surrounding people... Everyone did what he said."
In the last days of his life, Maradona was unaware of his situation and continued to drink and smoke.
Maradona was discharged with the most detailed medical history in case this decision turns out to have fatal consequences. Castro writes: "Before his doctors signed the discharge, one of the responsible persons strengthened the cover mechanism. He called the Director of legal Affairs and told him, "This is going to end badly, we're going to have problems. Write a document in as much detail as possible stating that we do not approve of the discharge and are not responsible for everything that happens later."
Argentina national team coach Diego Maradona at the 2010 FIFA World Cup match between South Africa and Argentina
And here is the testimony of one of the nurses in court: "I was told that we, the nurses, were there in order to give medicines in a timely manner so that the patient would not self-medicate... It was time for the medication, and I told Gaby ("El Morsa" Esposito) to give Diego the medicine. Gaby replied: "I'll do it myself." What he really gave Diego, I do not know."
From the testimony of another nurse: "From the very beginning, I asked about the patient's condition, medical history and medications taken, but I did not receive an answer. There was also a lack of emergency equipment, such as a heart rate monitor, oxygen tube, defibrillator, and other necessary tools."
A third medical worker remarked that "home care for an elite patient was terrible."
Diego Maradona on the spectator stand before the start of the World Cup group stage match between Argentina and Croatia in Nizhny Novgorod. The year 2018
After the phones of the accused medical workers were tapped, messages surfaced reflecting the medical chaos of those days: "I swear, they drove me crazy today. All the nurses have been texting me. Diego kicked out one of my colleagues, and the other one got sick... Total chaos. And this is the second day. If I don't end up in a mental hospital, I'll end up in jail." "Either we lose our license and go to prison, or we become demigods, depending on whether he lives or dies."
The messages belong to neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luca and psychiatrist Agustina Kosachev, who treated the star. They are the main defendants in the trial of medical negligence in relation to the most beloved patient of the Argentine people. For several weeks, Luke and Kosachev exchanged audio messages on WhatsApp (owned by the American Meta corporation, recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation), in which they tried their best to prevent Maradona from committing suicide.
"The problem is that no one controls Charlie (Maradona's friend and psychologist). He should give the patient two pills. But Diego says, "Give me four pink pills." And he gives him four. They want the guy to get drunk, you know what I mean? Because then he calms down and sleeps for 3-4 hours, while these crazy people rest."
A search of the office of the personal doctor of former player and coach of the Argentina national football team Diego Maradona Leopoldo Luque in Buenos Aires. The year 2020
Maradona's daughters, who attended the hearing, claim that the doctors obeyed only Mathias Morlaix, Diego's lawyer, whose motives were purely financial. As it sounded in court, Pelusa's relatives tried to ensure that he spent as much time as possible under the influence of sedatives — this was the only time when he did not cause problems to the doctors, and they tried to wake him up only when he needed to appear in public: they always paid well for the star's appearance.
The refrigerators in the house were filled with food and drink to the brim: their contents would be enough to provide a party for a company of 50 people. There was vodka, whiskey, beer... And, of course, a large selection of cigars, which Maradona never refused, despite his breathing problems. The patient was getting drunk, but no one stopped him. The entourage feasted, parasitizing the idol.
Diego Maradona's lawyer Mathias Morla speaks to the press. Year 2021
"I tell Charlie to give him breakfast and pills. And do you know what he does? He just gives him a beer. And, of course, Diego drinks it, he's an alcoholic," Kosachev says in one of the audio messages.
"That's the problem. What worries me the most is the amount of alcohol Diego drinks," Luque replies. — How can I wean a person from alcohol who has been hospitalized several times because of this addiction, and his environment encourages it? He's been drunk all day. The other day, I went to tell him to stop drinking alcohol, but we ended up drinking a bottle together."
The conversation between Lucke and his patient highlights this situation.: "I told him: "Listen, Diego, you're going to die. You're going to die of cardiac arrest. Because you take sleeping pills and drink alcohol. Together." And he replied: "I'll tell you briefly. I've been sacrificing myself all my life. Let me have some fun now. Leave me alone." What should I say if he's right?"
Flowers and candles at the San Paolo Stadium in Naples in memory of soccer player Diego Maradona. The year 2020
In the last days of Maradona's life, the plan that was supposed to keep him alive collapsed. Doctors, on the one hand, treated the patient, and on the other, directed their efforts to protect themselves legally, realizing that the most likely scenario of their life after his death is a trial. Diego, according to them, focused on killing himself in his own way, that is, in the most hedonistic way possible. In rare moments of lucidity, Maradona pointed to the safe and babbled that someone was taking his money. For his last public appearance on October 30, 2020, in honor of his birthday at the Khimnasia Stadium, doctors developed a serum cocktail so that he would at least look functional in front of his fans. They barely managed to get the former professional athlete, who was only 59 years old, to walk on his own, without support.
A few months after the death of the football player, 17 of the 22 members of the Interdisciplinary Medical Commission charged with investigating the death published a report with the following conclusions: "This was never a real hospitalization at home, as patient care instructions were not followed, therapeutic support was discontinued, nurses did not enter the ward, vital signs were not monitored, and visits from both a psychiatrist and a psychologist were not carried out with the necessary frequency."
Diego Maradona Mural in Buenos Aires
Maradona has spent the last 72 hours sleeping. The medical team, tired of hard work with no visible results, nicknamed him Sleeping Beauty. Maximiliano Pomargo, his personal assistant, explained in court that the rule was: "Do not disturb the lion while he is sleeping." Even the swelling on her face, which was growing by the hour, could not make the star get out of bed. Maradona died of pulmonary edema caused by heart problems.
"Even his eyes are swollen. They bulged out like a breast, I swear to God," said one of his doctors.
"Relax, it's okay after 20 hours of sleeping in the same position. Then I'll go and get him some coffee," Luke replied.
I didn't have to make coffee anymore.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
