Eight Serie A match officials are expected to face criminal charges after prosecutors wrapped up the Naples end of the Calciopoli match-fixing probe Thursday.
Seven referees and one assistant ref were among 48 people issued with notification that they are suspected of being part of a "criminal organization" at the end of the investigation.
This is standard procedure before charges are pressed.
Former Juventus directors Antonio Giraudo and Luciano Moggi - the man suspected of being at the centre of moves to arrange 'friendly' refs for some teams - were among the suspects too.
So were former referee-appointers Paolo Bergamo and Pier Luigi Pairetto - suspected of fixing match-official draws for Moggi - and Innocenzo Mazzini, the former Vice President of the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC).
The publication of wiretaps of incriminating conversations involving Moggi and other top figures triggered Calciopoli, Italian soccer's biggest ever scandal, last May. The conversations were recorded by Neapolitan investigators.
As a result, the FIGC relegated Juventus to Serie B, stripped it of the 2005 and 2006 titles and gave it a 17-point penalty - later reduced to nine points on appeal.
Lazio, AC Milan, Reggina and Fiorentina were also found guilty of misconduct by the FIGC. Lazio and Milan were given three- and eight-point handicaps respectively, while Reggina and Fiorentina were docked 15 points.
The news that eight match officials risk going to trial is something of a surprise as only one ref, Massimo De Santis, was found guilty of misconduct by the FIGC. De Santis has been banned from refereeing for four years.
Furthermore, four of the eight match officials were not on lists of suspects issued at earlier stages of the probe.
Another surprise was that Serie A club Messina are suspected of involvement and that the Sicilian club's director of sport, Paolo Fabiani, will probably face charges.
As well as failing to be impartial in their decision-making, in some cases the refs are accused of giving yellow and red cards to certain players, so that they would be suspended for ensuing matches against Juventus or other favoured clubs.
In total the handling of 39 games is under suspicion, including 15 that were not previously in the spotlight.
The Neapolitan prosecutors said evidence provided by Turin investigators had led to new people and matches coming under suspicion.
The Italian Referees Association (AIA) said Thursday that it will wait for the official documentation regarding the investigation before deciding whether to suspend the match officials in question.
Moggi is also facing charges resulting from the Rome end of the Calciopoli investigation, which centred on the activities of GEA World, a players' management agency formerly headed by his son Alessandro.
Luciano and Alessandro Moggi and five other people are accused of forming a criminal organization which intimidated players into dropping their existing agents and signing up with GEA.
The other suspects include Davide Lippi, the son of Italy's World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi.
GEA represented over 200 soccer professionals before the Calciopoli scandal broke.
