Soccer’s ‘Smurf’ implicated in drug crime AFP, BOGOTA
When the drugs police slapped the handcuffs on him in Naples last month, Anthony de Avila was wearing the colors of America de Cali, the Colombian club where he became a star.
The former international’s arrest and conviction in Italy should be shocking, but it is just the latest chapter in an old and sordid romance between soccer and drug trafficking in Colombia.
Nicknamed “Pitufo,” Spanish for “Smurf,” because he is just 1.54m tall, De Avila was a class act on the field, playing 54 times for Colombia.
