Sebastian Marset had always wanted to play football – when he was young, working at a petrol station he spent all of his salary on a David Beckham track jacket.
Marset and his friends grew up playing in the street, they would make goals out of stones and use markers to write numbers on their backs.
But from his time as a semi-professional footballer it was clear that he lacked the quality to take his career any further.
It was clear to some that Marset’s footballing desire was inspired by money, after he had been seen by friends walking home from nightclubs as he could not afford the bus after rubbing elbows with the richer members of society.
Instead, the Uruguayan would turn to a life of crime, where he attempted to cultivate the moniker ‘The King of the South.’
Sebastian Marset had always dreamed of being a professional football player
His first interaction with Monteviedo’s criminal underworld were in fact pretty minor as reported by the Washington Post.
He was arrested for possession of stolen goods at 18 and for possession of narcotics a year later.
It wasn’t long before he was trusted with far more though – at 22, Marset accepted a job of receiving a shipment of marijuana – a job usually assigned to a team of men but he had earned the traffickers trust.
But the police had been tipped off and Marset found himself beset by officers, where he immediately gave himself up, where one officer recalled him being shrewd and respectful.
After taking his mugshot one of the agents recalled telling a colleague ‘this guy is going to be a big problem for us someday.’
It wouldn’t be too long before his concerns seemed to become a reality, as Marset left prison in 2018, aged 27, with a raft of criminal contacts.
Marset joined Deportivo Capiata in 2021 where he offered the players large sums of money for wins
Deportivo Capiata’s biggest win came against Argentinian giants Boca Juniors
He managed to forge connections to both the Brazilian and Italian organised crime networks and it wouldn’t be long before he was travelling to Paraguay to build his empire.
That is where he would forge his first alias, going by the name of Gabriel de Souza Beumer.
In 2021 Marset made his first foray into football, where he turned up at Deportivo Capiata, announcing himself as a new signing from his silver Lamborghini.
There he made a deal with his teammates that he would pay them thousands of dollars on top of their current contracts for each win.
The only problem was Marset had paid his way into a starting berth – wearing a number 10 jersey that his performances would not live up to as Capiata struggled to win games.
Capiata were the pride of the Asuncion suburb, the club had famously claimed the ubspet of Boca Juniors in 2014.
But it had been a struggle for Capiata in the years following and they were relegated to Paraguay’s second division.
Following his arrival in 2021 Marset began bankrolling improvements for the team, there were new televisions, physio beds and better food in the cafeteria.
Though not officially listed as an owner investigators say he was pouring money into the club and taking a portion of it’s revenue, Marset was laundering money through Capiata.
Head coach Jorge Nunez had no intentions of starting the drug kingpin, until the players encircled the boss and insisted Marset had to play.
After joining the club, Marset spent thousands improving the facilities of Deportivo Capiata
‘I kept wondering, ‘Who is this guy?’ Nuñez said, adding: ‘I had the obligation to win or else they would fire me.
‘But it wasn’t the same for him. He was just having fun.’
Marset seemed relatively unphased about the potential of raising his profile playing professional football, until May 2021 when he learned that officers were trying to fin him.
His training with Capiata stopped, and his name promtply removed from the squad. While none of his teammates in Paraguay heard from him again, Marset did not stop playing football.
After going aground, it was revealed in 2023 that the drug kingpin was now living in Bolivia and that same year he is said to have purchased Los Leones El Torno F.C.
Only this time Marset was following in the footsteps of his idol, he was finally wearing the number 23, made famous by David Beckham during his Real Madrid days.
Having spoken to Canal 4, Marset appears to have gone underground again with authorities circling.
