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Killing Maradona: How cocaine, the Camorra, cartels and crime corrupted football's greatest talent
Drugs, cartels, mafia, addiction, the FBI, and coercion - this is the untold story behind the tragic decline of football's most gifted and controversial legend.
Maradona was football's ultimate genius - a magician on the pitch whose talent rivalled only Pelé. But off the field, the boy from the barrios of Buenos Aires became entangled in a dark web of criminal influence and personal demons. From the Cali Cartel's attempts to lure him into the drug trade, to the Camorra's grip on his life in Naples; from clashes with the Italian government to Pablo Escobar's sinister hospitality, Maradona's life was a battleground far beyond football.
Battling addiction, betrayal, and exploitation, Maradona's story is one of genius corrupted - a man caught between adulation and self-destruction, whose medical neglect and FBI scrutiny culminated in a tragic end. Marking the 40th anniversary of Argentina's legendary 1986 World Cup victory, Killing Maradona is a searing investigation into the forces that destroyed football's first 'Golden Boy.'
Maradona was football's ultimate genius - a magician on the pitch whose talent rivalled only Pelé. But off the field, the boy from the barrios of Buenos Aires became entangled in a dark web of criminal influence and personal demons. From the Cali Cartel's attempts to lure him into the drug trade, to the Camorra's grip on his life in Naples; from clashes with the Italian government to Pablo Escobar's sinister hospitality, Maradona's life was a battleground far beyond football.
Battling addiction, betrayal, and exploitation, Maradona's story is one of genius corrupted - a man caught between adulation and self-destruction, whose medical neglect and FBI scrutiny culminated in a tragic end. Marking the 40th anniversary of Argentina's legendary 1986 World Cup victory, Killing Maradona is a searing investigation into the forces that destroyed football's first 'Golden Boy.'
312 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 21, 2026
About the author
David Arrowsmith
7 books72 followersAuthor of Narcoball: Love, Death and Football in Escobar’s Colombia.
New book Killing Maradona : How Cocaine, the Camorra and Crime Corrupted Football's Greatest Talent out 21.05.2026.
Also a writer of fiction.
New book Killing Maradona : How Cocaine, the Camorra and Crime Corrupted Football's Greatest Talent out 21.05.2026.
Also a writer of fiction.
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