Mafia Boss Betrayed By Facebook

An anonymous reader writes "One of Italy's 100 most-wanted criminals, a vicious mafia boss who had been on the run for months, was betrayed by his passion for social networking and flushed out thanks to Facebook. Using the name 'Scarface' from the gangster movie starring Al Pacino, Pasquale Manfredi, 33, a boss of the the ferocious 'Ndrangheta mafia organization from the Calabria region in southern Italy, had logged on to his Facebook account so often that police were able to trace the signal from his Internet key and find his hideout.' Seems the Mafia Wars Facebook phenomenon goes deeper than it seemed!"

Comments

Eh

[Dyinobal]

I dunno I can't seem to bring myself to take a mafia boss who uses facebook seriously. I can only imagine how seriously people will take him when he's in jail. Getting caught by using facebook can't be good for your criminal reputation.

Re:Eh

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'm guessing that "'Ndrangheta boss" counts for more than "uses facebook" when it comes to calculating an individual's ranking in the criminal respect index.

Re:Eh

[ShakaUVM]

>>I'm guessing that "'Ndrangheta boss" counts for more than "uses facebook" when it comes to calculating an individual's ranking in the criminal respect index.

Yeah, but tweeting your crimes is definitely worth -50 points.

Re:Eh

[Bender0x7D1]

Perhaps he was using it to keep in touch with his "family".

Re:Eh

[magus_melchior]

Yeah, there's something comical about a villain who is taken down so easily. Reminds me of this cartoon about an incompetent criminal.

Re:Eh

[justthisdude]

Facebook should cater more to their "made" clientele: Along with relationship status, there should be a "legal status" pulldown menu:

- Totally legit
- On the lamb
- Locked up
- It's complicated

Re:Eh

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

@ShakaUVM: tragic accident #everyoneyoueverloved

Re:Eh

[Anonymous Coward]

You'd think an organisation as big as the Mafia had some decent IT. I wonder if they are hiring ... they certainly need more IT techs :D

Re:Eh

[Hoi Polloi]

"'Scarface' has invited you to be a capo! Click here to accept."

Re:Eh

[Sulphur]

- On the lamb

For priests?

--

DiGiorno and delivery.

Re:Eh

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I believe you are thinking of "on the altar boy"...

Re:Eh

[flyingsquid]

I heard the guy was actually turned in by his Facebook friends. They finally got tired of reading all the annoying news about his FarmVille game.

Re:Eh

[BrokenHalo]

Maybe the guy was just tired of all this freedom. I find it difficult to imagine that one can get to be the boss of a Mafia gang by being stupid - at least not for long.

Re:Eh

[flyingsquid]

Incidentally, they took down Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar in a similar way. Despite his taste for hookers and bimbos, he was actually a devoted family man, and kept in constant contact with his family even as he was on the run from the U.S. and Columbians. They were finally able to track a phone call he made to his family- if I recall, he knew they were looking for him, but he stayed on the phone a bit longer than he should have.

Re:Eh

[flappinbooger]

The existence of the mafia (and the general culture of doing everything and anything you can get away with) is just the way the Italians ARE.

The government only deals with the organized crime periodically, like when it's so bad it gets embarrassing.

A thirty something mob boss on facebook isn't all that surprising, something tells me it's not like the movies where all they do is sit around eating pasta and talking in cliche like "Paulie sleeps wit da fishes".

There's probably a mafia presence in the malware scene, anyway, as organized crime keeps up with the times.

Re:Eh

[scoopr]

Are you sure it wasn't Mafia Wars?

Re:Eh

[damien_kane]

Yeah, but tweeting your crimes is definitely worth -50 points.

Those wouldn't happen to be Don kill points, would they?

Re:Eh

[Zen Hash]

Have fun explaining to the boss why he can't use facebook... and good luck when he needs you to restore something important he lost and never backed up.

Re:Eh

[PPH]

You think that's bad? Follow the link in TFA to the next story, about the cancelled Israeli raid.

Re:Eh

[dotmarker]

- On the lamb

You may indeed be, "on the lamb," not that there's anything wrong with that. Well, unless you're a PETA member of course. But maybe you meant "lam".

Re:Eh

[DarwinSurvivor]

...he stayed on the phone a bit longer than he should have.

You do know that phone traces are instantanious these days right? The only exception is if you are doing some VERY, VERY creative routing, which not very many people know how to do.

Re:Eh

[mr_lizard13]

And he thought being poked on facebook was fun...

Re:Eh

[Idiomatick]

Nah the one for priests is:

- On the choir boy

Re:Eh

[drkim]

- On the lamb

For priests?

...no, for farmers.
Very lonely farmers...

Re:Eh

[drkim]

Martin Bishop: "Organized crime?"
Cosmo: "Hah. Don't kid yourself. It's not that organized."

Sneakers (1992)

Re:Eh

[Phoghat]

The man is a moron. Film at 11

Re:Eh

[bestalexguy]

The existence of the mafia (and the general culture of doing everything and anything you can get away with) is just the way the Italians ARE.

I'm Italian. I hate nationalism. I AM NOT like that. Like American women ARE NOT fat, or blacks ARE NOT criminals. Lots of them, lots of us ARE actually like that, but what you state is unfair generally speaking.
Madoff, Enron, a President who had until recently a favorite priest who is a racist, all this and much more don't allow me to state that Americans are sick as a whole.

More on the practical side, I'd like people all over the world to be able to see the difference between Northern and Southern Italy with regards to mafia. It's a Southern business which unfortunately migrated to the North.

Re:Eh

[flappinbooger]

My experience with Italians is very limited, but probably more extensive than many people.

I worked for a company that sold Italian equipment in the USA, so we talked with Italian people daily and traveled with them in the US, etc. We did business with them on a large scale. Solved problems with them, etc.

They (the people in this company) are honest and hard working people, not involved in organized crime. Very ethical and honorable.

That being said, one must admit that the Italian culture is different than the US culture, and will always be different, and that's the way they like it. A US company will have to get past the fact that Italy "closes" for August, and essentially "closes" in December, too. When they work, they work hard. But when they're not working, they don't. At all.

Not saying we didn't admire them and appreciate the differences, but it's just not the way things are done here in the US.

My former boss told a story about how a prominent political leader (I forget who) was speaking in Italy and was open and proud about how much he cheated in school. My boss was informed by the Italians he was with that the culture in Italy is pretty much geared that way - what can you get away with without getting caught, without getting in trouble, or without causing problems.

Re:Eh

[jargoone]

You do know that this is completely irrelevant information, right? Escobar was found in 1993.

Re:Eh

[DarwinSurvivor]

For my post to be irrelevant, we would have to have still been using manual switching stations in 1993, which was the reason for traces taking time as each station had to be called up and asked where an incoming call was originating from.

Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

WTH is that supposed to mean?

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Pojut]

It's likely simplified language for something too complicated for the general public to understand.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Darth Sdlavrot]

Maybe it's one of those 3G USB dongles you plug into your laptop.

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/Cell-Phone-Detail.aspx?cell-phone=T-Mobile-webConnect-USB-Laptop-Stick&Wt.z_searchCategory=Site+Search+Summary&Wt.z_searchZone=Products&WT.z_searchTerm=usb&WT.z_searchProduct=webConnect%99+USB+Laptop+Stick

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[canajin56]

They linked "Trace the signal" to an article about companies using GPS trackers in employees' cell phones. I think it's simplified so that ABC can understand it, and they still don't ;)

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Sinning]

I assumed that internet key was a badly translated Italian phrase for IP address. But your explanation probably makes more sense.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

Technically speaking, it works like this. There is a guy in a brightly lit room with about 30-40 computer screens of various sizes. He sees the bad guy log in to facebook and runs a trace on the internet key by typing furiously. A few of the screens show maps of the world with lines tracing the signal as it gets closer to the mafia boss's hideout. If he doesn't log out before the connect the dots reach him, he gets busted. Make sense now?

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Mr_Silver]

I assumed that internet key was a badly translated Italian phrase for IP address. But your explanation probably makes more sense.

Whereas we call it a USB Modem, in Italy they call it "Internet Key".

Basically, they got his IP address from Facebook, took it to the Mobile Broadband supplier who gave up his billing address.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[dnaumov]

I assumed that internet key was a badly translated Italian phrase for IP address. But your explanation probably makes more sense.

Whereas we call it a USB Modem, in Italy they call it "Internet Key".

Basically, they got his IP address from Facebook, took it to the Mobile Broadband supplier who gave up his billing address.

Or actual triangulated physical location. If you are a mobile provider, these things are quite possible, although whether the law enforcement agencies get access to this kind of data depends on the laws of your country.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

In italian "chiavetta " (key) is the layman translation of "dongle", I guess the guy used a USB 3G modem and they got him identifying to which cell tower he was connecting.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Mister Whirly]

And of course he is running a custom OS where you can type in complete phrases that it will understand like "find the bad man's internet key" and 1.5 seconds later it has a GPS location, pictures of the bad man, all his recent activity, etc. all on the screen. It could also find any DNA or fingerprint info from it's imaginary worldwide database that contains this info everybody in the world and can also return the results in a matter of seconds.

Seriously though, if law enforcement had any of the programs and databases they seem to have on every cop show on television, I am pretty sure the unsolved crime rate would be below 2%.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

You'd think he would have learned something from Tony Soprano that told his guys to "LOG OFF!" before even talking business around him with a computer nearby, or getting rid of his GPS from his new car the first day he got it.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Exitar]

A wireless USB stick, known in Italy as "chiavetta internet"/internet key.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[c_sd_m]

But they do have VB!

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Jeremy Erwin]

The sort of detail that should have been in the article in the first place.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

As an italian, I can tell you that "internet key" is the way the average Joe in Italy calls a 3G usb dongle.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Lostlander]

This.

... is why I hate hollywood.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[commodoresloat]

It basically means that law enforcement whipped up a GUI in Visual Basic in order to trace his IP address.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[heckler95]

Then they just "log in" to get grainy security camera footage from a convenience store that shows him 50 feet from the camera at the back of the store. A few zooms and "enhance!" operations and you can clearly see each of the hairs in the suspect's beard. Case closed.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[rgviza]

You'd need to contact facebook to get their IP address.

actually most ISP's enter long/lat info into their routers. you can easily trace a connection to the nearest NOC of the ISP using a geotracing program find their neighborhood in a few seconds with nothing more than an IP address.

Here's an open source geotracing program: http://www.linuxsoft.cz/en/sw_detail.php?id_item=169

You can then call the NOC and find out who the IP's been assigned to, and get their billing address, if you have a badge, maybe even if you don't.

This technology is not Sci Fi, it's real. I was playing with neotrace in 1997 to trace IRC users and freak them out. This capability has been around a long time and it's next to free to get a client to do this.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

It didn't need to be in an ABC News article any more than the creators of Independence Day needed to explain to the masses how humans could create a computer virus that could infect alien computers. The latter was still very successful and the former will be read by the masses who really don't care about the details, nor should they.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or actual triangulated physical location. If you are a mobile provider, these things are quite possible, although whether the law enforcement agencies get access to this kind of data depends on the laws of your country.

At the end they triangulated his signal, is my wild guess. "Internet Keys" don't necessarily have a (real) billing address: they are "recharged" on consumption, based on easily obtainable recharge codes (=buy cash at a corner shop). The Italians never let themselves be fooled by phone subscriptions like in (ehum..) all the rest of the world?

Further everyone in Italy is well aware that all his mobile phone calls record, his live phone triangulation any time needed and even the content of his calls and every SMS he ever sent are basically so protected as being public domain.

Tapped lines are countless in that land, so much that you better sent your greets tot the third listener every time you call your fiance`, as a matter of good manners. SMS records even often appear on tabloids on judiciary and gossip cases.

Call records (and probably SMS, too) are even stored for years, as the European law requires so. Although triangulation is not saved, for what is known.

That means that knowing an IP address through Facebook at a given time could be hardly tracked to a physical position later, but the mobile operator could say whose "internet key" number (the GSM SIM card) was using that IP at that time.

Afterwords tracking that SIM card next time it was used was trivial. Well done to the cops, I'd say.

It all seems to depend on the 'who do we know' mentality by the mobile provider or by the authorities, either way.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[tlhIngan]

Or actual triangulated physical location. If you are a mobile provider, these things are quite possible, although whether the law enforcement agencies get access to this kind of data depends on the laws of your country.

Or... just used GPS.

Remember, most 3G chipsets do use USB, and the chipsets are identical to the ones used in smartphones (there are only a few big chipset manufacturers out there). Most of them connect via USB - whether it's to your PC, or to the smartphone's main processor. Many of these "USB Sticks" or "Internet Sticks" or whatever are just the phone part of a smartphone ripped out, so they support GPS and all sorts of other phone features...

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[icebraining]

Of course it's possible. The Google Maps app for my phone could pinpoint me in my house, and they don't have access to all the data from the mobile provider's antennas.

And no, the phone doesn't have GPS.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Spaham]

you forgot that he ENHANCES the data a couple times too :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxq9yj2pVWk

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Mister Whirly]

Right, and if you are using a 3G dongle, an IP address won't tell you much other that a billing address and name, both of which can be easily faked. In order to track down a 3G dongle, you need to triangulate the signal using more equipment that a laptop with neotrace. Which takes a lot longer than a few seconds. Then factor in the idiot cops trying to get your Linux program to run on their XP boxes and you are talking about hours before they finally give up and start trying to beat the information out of informants. Also I have played with tracing programs before and they can usually get you to a city level, which would probably be enough to freak out people on IRC, but would not be good enough to take down someone in a densely populated urban area. And I wasn't specifically referring to only the GPS tracing aspect. It's mostly all the other stuff I mentioned - typing plain phrases into a command prompt and having the computer know exactly all the info you want and displaying it within seconds. That is pure SciFi.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[D Ninja]

Seriously though, if law enforcement had any of the programs and databases they seem to have on every cop show on television, I am pretty sure the unsolved crime rate would be below 2%.

2%? Sounds like we are not [remove glasses] milking our technology for all it's worth...

YEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[guzziguy]

One of the investigators sat down at a terminal and said, "Hey... this is UNIX! I know this!" Then, he used the UNIX GUI to fly around the interwebs until he found a box with the name "scarface" on it. He clicked on that box, and it brought up this guys address, phone number, names of his family members, and favorite color.

It was pretty simple, actually. The investigator learned how to do it by watching Jurassic Park over and over.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[dnaumov]

Or actual triangulated physical location. If you are a mobile provider, these things are quite possible, although whether the law enforcement agencies get access to this kind of data depends on the laws of your country.

Or... just used GPS.

Remember, most 3G chipsets do use USB, and the chipsets are identical to the ones used in smartphones (there are only a few big chipset manufacturers out there). Most of them connect via USB - whether it's to your PC, or to the smartphone's main processor. Many of these "USB Sticks" or "Internet Sticks" or whatever are just the phone part of a smartphone ripped out, so they support GPS and all sorts of other phone features...

No, there is no such thing as an USB gprs/3g modem with GPS. It makes no business sense whatsoever for manufacturers of devices to include GPS.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah CSI... how far you have fallen.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Mister Whirly]

You are really skimming the bottom of the barrel now. Butter luck next time.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, there is no such thing as an USB gprs/3g modem with GPS.

There is; it's called a "phone".

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[postbigbang]

I'll bet that nefarious Google was involved. Trying to make amends.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Penguin]

Have you seen Italian computers? They actually do require a key for the ignition.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[houghi]

although whether the law enforcement agencies get access to this kind of data depends on the laws of your country.

That should be coverd by a court order. Not by the police asking the provider and the provider giving the data. If that was what happend, he will be laughing all his way back to freedom due to procedure error. And rightfully so.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

Technically speaking, it works like this. There is a guy in a brightly lit room with about 30-40 computer screens of various sizes. He sees the bad guy log in to facebook and runs a trace on the internet key by typing furiously. A few of the screens show maps of the world with lines tracing the signal as it gets closer to the mafia boss's hideout. If he doesn't log out before the connect the dots reach him, he gets busted.

Make sense now?

Sounds like each and every episode of "24"!

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

The average Giovanni you mean :p

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure they can get his general vicinity through triangulation, but they can pinpoint his exact location with one omni pointed AWAY from his signal and going the opposite direction of the weakest signal. Triangulation is for nerds with friends.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

And of course he is running a custom OS where you can type in complete phrases that it will understand like "find the bad man's internet key" and 1.5 seconds later it has a GPS location, pictures of the bad man, all his recent activity, etc. all on the screen. It could also find any DNA or fingerprint info from it's imaginary worldwide database that contains this info everybody in the world and can also return the results in a matter of seconds.
 

I bet emacs could do that if it only had a decent word processor......

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[houghi]

I doubt that the billing adress would be the place where he was or where he even would be related to. They just give a person of the lower ranks money to pay the bills that will be put in his name. I am not sure if it is possible, but it could even be that they used pre-paid cards.

As this is the mafia, you can bet that they will have some stores that sell this stuff and it won't be too difficult to do the first buy under a false name. As long as you pay all your bills all the time, nobody will be the wiser. I can even imagine that he will have a different subsription with a new phone each month.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[houghi]

I did such a trace once, but came to a system I could not enter so the bad guy got away. If only I had known then that all I needed to type was "override" I would have gotten him.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[opus_magnum]

Key (italian "chiave" or "chiavetta") is the common shorthand for usb dongle.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Fishbulb]

You forgot the climactic live video satellite zoom in over Bad Guy's shoulder as he's sitting in a Sicily cafe clearly texting on whatever device paid the most for a product tie-in.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[magarity]

There is a guy in a brightly lit room with about 30-40 computer screens
 
No, the guy in the high tech office can't do it because he's caucasian. The police must enlist their friend the ethnic minority person in a ratty apartment who hacks into the official networks to track the bad guy.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[shadowrat]

Also, it would display a photo of every person it was comparing the DNA or Fingerprint scan to. It's not really a bottleneck to spend time drawing images when it could be searching the database. Without that speed bump, the system would clearly return a positive result faster than dramatic pacing allows for.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[dgatwood]

An omni, by definition, can't be pointed.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Carewolf]

Seriously though, if law enforcement had any of the programs and databases they seem to have on every cop show on television, I am pretty sure the unsolved crime rate would be below 2%.

Seriously though. If they had any of that stuff, the solved crime rate would be above 2%

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Mister Whirly]

It is like the Seinfeld episode where Jerry gets robbed. After he gives his info to the cops, they say "We'll let you know if we get your stuff back." to which Jerry asks "Do you ever get the stuff back?". The cop without missing a beat answers "No".

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[BrokenHalo]

The investigator learned how to do it by watching Jurassic Park over and over.

Heh. He could have got it from anywhere. Like you see on all of those CSI or NCIS shows, you only have to rattle QWERTYUIOP into a keyboard and you get a blinking display on a big plasma screen saying "MATCH FOUND".

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[BrokenHalo]

No, there is no such thing as an USB gprs/3g modem with GPS. It makes no business sense whatsoever for manufacturers of devices to include GPS.

Furthermore, lots of countries outside the US have no requirement for GPS chipsets to be added to phones, so there are plenty of devices that don't have them.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[sskinnider]

DAMN YOU MS COFFEE!!!

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

In Canada, the CRTC is mandating that mobile providers be able to provide triangulated coordinates to the 9-1-1 system. I know for a fact, that one carrier subcontracts the triangulation to a company in the US. The information is captured, sent to the US, triangulated, sent back to the carrier in Canada, given to 9-1-1 operator.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[SQLGuru]

No, there is no such thing as an USB gprs/3g modem with GPS. It makes no business sense whatsoever for manufacturers of devices to include GPS.

Tell that to AT&T.

http://www.wireless.att.com/cell-phone-service/cell-phone-details/?device=AT%26T+USBConnect+Velocity&q_sku=sku4380265

If you have a laptop without GPS, you can turn it in to a large screen nav unit. So, why WOULDN'T you want it. Imagine running Google Maps on a nice 17" touch screen laptop.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Zironic]

Many countries do not care about the legality of the evidence, though I don't know if Italy is one of them or not.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

BWAHAHA, TV fail

Greetings, yabos,
I see that digg and the chans have gotten to you. It was inevitable. But if you should happen to see through the fog of groupthink and hive mind,
remember, you are only allowed to use approved slashdot memes here (examples, in soviet russia, beowulf cluster jokes, i, for one, salute... etc). Digg and chan memes are a little too childish for us, and we tend
to frown upon them. Thank you for patronizing slashdot, and please remember to stick to the guidelines or forever be banished as -1 troll.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[OverlordQ]

IRC is like boats . . . .

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

Stupid criminals, should have been using a Gibson, those things are way harder to crack.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[MattMattMatt]

ofcourse, capture could have been easily avoided if he was using the IP Trace Buster Buster Buster (TM)

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[izomiac]

Interesting, I was unaware that anyone was working on a Facebook filesystem. Now the only question is if the investigator was using the original FSN or the open source alternative.

(I'm rather curious as to whether that was an intentional reference to real-life technology that people think only existed in movies, or if it was just an amazing guess.)

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anomalyst]

But they do have VB!

Hopefully they are not strains resistant to antibiotics ... oh VB ... never mind. /Roseanne Roseannadanna

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

You should have finished it with a fresh prince...

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[grumpyman]

You've gotta be kidding. A mafia head lives (or connects in any way) in his real billing address lol??

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[ogrizzo]

Is there any place where it is not sufficient to have a judge agreeing to the search?

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Onymous Coward]

Wait- what? How does that work?

No GPS and no cell tower triangulation, yet house-level location?

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[photonic]

Here in Italy, they tend to always ask for your social security number (when you buy a sim-card or request an ADSL line) or ask for ID (when visiting an internet bar), so for simple peasants like you and me, the police/intelligence agency/Berlusconi should be able to get your personal details with a simple database lookup. I assume that 'Ndrangheta bosses, however, should have enough connections to get all the connections they want using a fake IDs. I also believe that as a mafia boss, you cannot count on any privacy law for not being triangulated, so I guess that was the case here.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[internewt]

It didn't need to be in an ABC News article any more than the creators of Independence Day needed to explain to the masses how humans could create a computer virus that could infect alien computers. The latter was still very successful and the former will be read by the masses who really don't care about the details, nor should they.

If you expect the news to be as realistic as Independence Day, then no, ABC don't need to explain things properly.

But the news shouldn't be an action film, though one look at it shows you it isn't far away: explosions, violence, a bit of human interest, all washed down with a big serving of nationalism.

If you let the news get away with dumbing things down too far and too frequently, then they will exploit that sooner or later, dumbing down stories to obscure the news company's own interests in a story.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't Joseph (Joe) in Italian actually Giuseppe?

/me wikipedes

Yeap, Joe = Giuseppe. Giovanni is John.

Of course, there could be some other joke that has whooshed me?

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Jedi Alec]

But without hollywood, would we have had...Uplink?

and the best part is that time actually caught up with the game ;-)

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[icebraining]

Well, they can have triangulation - the cellphone knows the distance to each tower as well as each tower know the distance to the cellphone. Like GPS, the device measures the emitter's power to calculate it's own position.

But that only works if Google know the exact position of each tower, in an European country. Nothing impossible, for sure, especially since they have plenty of phones around running Maps and that have both GPS and GSM. They can use GPS to add the location of the tower to their database, then use that information for non-GPS phones like mine.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

imaginary worldwide database.

They just _want_ you to think it's imaginary

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[Mister Whirly]

Well, if you have ever handled change before, they already have your DNA.

Re:Trace the signal from his internet key?

[bestalexguy]

"Internet Keys" don't necessarily have a (real) billing address: they are "recharged" on consumption, based on easily obtainable recharge codes (=buy cash at a corner shop). The Italians never let themselves be fooled by phone subscriptions like in (ehum..) all the rest of the world?

Anyway here (Italy) any rechargeable SIM has an identified individual as the owner. You may well bet that mafia bosses are not the owners of the SIMs they use. It's usually some old cash-strapped guys, who incidentally also happen to own bosses' real estates and cars. This would also happen in the case of a regular phone subscription (we have many of them, too).

Is this good or bad?

[Nefarious Wheel]

It's good when the bad guys get caught, but bad when the good guys get caught...

I'm a bit uncertain about this. I guess phones could be traced too...

Re:Is this good or bad?

[flajann]

All things electronic can be traced, including (and especially) cell phones! They triangulate your location from the receiving towers.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[TheRaven64]

It's bad, because only the stupid criminals are being caught, giving an evolutionary advantage to intelligent and tech-savvy criminals.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[somersault]

All things electronic can be trace

Wow, I didn't know that! Could you try tracing my microwave oven, please? Just to give you a bit of a head start, it's 800W, and I'll probably be using it tonight around 7pm, somewhere in the UK.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[Anonymous Coward]

207.148.2.2

Re:Is this good or bad?

[flajann]

All things electronic can be trace

Wow, I didn't know that! Could you try tracing my microwave oven, please? Just to give you a bit of a head start, it's 800W, and I'll probably be using it tonight around 7pm, somewhere in the UK.

Ok, Sm@r1 @$$, how about any electronic communications device? Is that better?

And actually, if I knew the exact signature of your microwave oven, that would be traceable too, from a certain distance, at least. If you're in a big city, you have safety in numbers, of course. If you were living out in the wilderness using a microwave, I could just zero in on any microwave source in the frequency range of typical microwave ovens, and that would be you.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[Enderandrew]

The iPhone uses three different methods for location data. GPS is only one of them. Even if I'm in a building and can't get a GPS signal, the iPhone can show me my current location within 5 seconds or so.

I often hear that triangulation of your location off towers is bullshit, except I have a working proof of concept sitting in my hand.

Do authorities have access to that immediately without a warrant? I would hope not.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[somersault]

That's better, yes :)

And technically true, but unlikely.. the shielding in microwave ovens is very good, so you'd need some incredible scanning technology, or to be very close.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[qoncept]

Uh.. You set the conditions, and you already knew the outcome. Let's review:

1. Mafia boss gets caught.
2. It's good when the bad guys get caught, but bad when the good guys get caught...

What was the question again?

Re:Is this good or bad?

[Mister Whirly]

If you can get a signal form 3 different towers, you can triangulate the position. It is trivial to analyze the strength of the signals to determine the distance from each tower. And with 3 points you can tell almost exactly where the signal is coming from relative to the towers. No, the authorities technically should need a warrant to get cell tower info, but if they just mention the magic "t" word (terr'ist) then all bets may be off.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[Ogi_UnixNut]

Don't know who told you it's bullshit, because it isn't. There are real world implementations of this.

Hell, I built one (small scale example) using FM transmitters. If you know the transmitting power of three points, and you can find out the signal strength from the receiver, then you can triangulate the position rather accurately.

For my project, it was in a field, so the accuracy was really good (to the metre). If you get walls/building/etc... in the way, it's not so good, but generally will be good enough to work out in what area/section you are. From which point I presume other police methods are applicable for narrowing down further.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[Theoboley]

The question was,

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?

Re:Is this good or bad?

[Penguin]

It works, but it's not as accurate as one might think. Signals bounce, which (at least in the GPS world) is known as multipath. This both result in a longer distance (and delay) and a weakened signal. The recipient (the antenna tower) do not know how much the signal has bounced.

Actually the distortion and reflection in the GPS signal makes it possible to gather (crude) information about the location and shape surrounding buildings. I wish I could find the appropiate video :-/

Re:Is this good or bad?

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

Triangulation based on cellphone towers works, and it's been used for years, even before cellphones you could triangulate radio signals. It basically works in the same way GPS does, except the towers are closer than satellites, and it's less accurate.

In Argentina, Movistar provides you with that information. Basically, you have a service where you can send a text message to a given number, asking for location information of a given cellphone. The mobile you are trying to track gets an SMS requesting authorization. If the owner replys with a 1, you get the info through SMS. This service doesn't actually triangulate, it just tells you at how many meters the mobile is from the tower it's currently connected too based on signal strenght, so it only uses one tower, and basically says "Mobile phone XXXXXX is within 100 meters of ". it's pretty accurate.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[Lunzo]

Amazing! That's the same IP address as my luggage.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[flajann]

The shielding in microwave ovens is not that good. It knocks out my cell phone's bluetooth every-time I get near it while it's warming something yummy up for me.

Re:Is this good or bad?

[Nefarious Wheel]

The shielding in microwave ovens is not that good. It knocks out my cell phone's bluetooth every-time I get near it while it's warming...

Do you feel a bit warm when you're standing near it? The shielding in old microwave ovens can deteriorate over time.

Replace your microwave, dude. They're comparatively cheap.

Common sense is a mother-F(@%*R

[voodoo cheesecake]

Despite several warnings people often don't believe that s#!t stinks until they step in it.

Great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if we can just get Osama Bin Laden a Facebook account...

Re:Great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahh, the greatest hide-and-seek player ever.

internet key??

[datapharmer]

Where do I get one of these keys to the internet they speak of?

Re:internet key??

[flajann]

I think they probably meant his IP address. You know reporters. They never get the technology nor the science right.

Re:internet key??

[BHS_Turf]

USB devices are commonly referred to as "keys", so you too can own a key to the internet I think Sprint even has a 4G key.

Re:internet key??

[ls671]

Just Google for it ;-)

"Internet key"

I found this one really quickly:

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/review/broadband/3-mobile/broadband_internet_key/222237

Re:internet key??

[lundstrj]

Indeed, I too seek one of these keys. Would be quite handy, now wouldn't it?

Re:internet key??

[Anonymous Coward]

now just imagine how badly they fuck up when they aren't talking about one of your areas of expertise!

Re:internet key??

[Nieriko]

Where do I get one of these keys to the internet they speak of?

I'm pretty sure The Elders of the Internet gave one to him.

Re:internet key??

[Enderandrew]

What is this Google that you speak of?

Do I need an internet key to access it?

Re:internet key??

[ls671]

> Do I need an internet key to access it?

Not necessarily, an IP address would suffice ;-))

Canadian made IP addresses seem to be better for some users:

http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2007/09/how-can-i-canadianize-my-ip-address.html

You may want to estimate your needs with the "Advanced IP Address Calculator" prior to buying your IP address at a store near you:

http://advanced-ip-address-calculator.softonic.fr/

Re:internet key??

[Anonymous Coward]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=google&l=1

Re:internet key??

[flajann]

now just imagine how badly they fuck up when they aren't talking about one of your areas of expertise!

Even if it's not my area of expertise, I usually know something about it if it has to do with Science or Technology. And yes, they screw up there as well. Drives me frelling nuts.

his Internet key?!

[Anonymous Coward]

wtf is an Internet key and how do I get one? Alt+F4?!

Re:his Internet key?!

[SteveFoerster]

wtf is an Internet key and how do I get one? Alt+F4?!

Why would you want one? Look what happened to this guy! ;-)

Too bad...

[flajann]

Yet another idiot who does not understand how the Internet works.

Rule No. 1: NEVER log on from your hideout directly if you are on the run! At least use proxies, but I wouldn't even trust them under those circumstances.

Re:Too bad...

[ben0207]

What a nub. He should have made sure he was behind seven proxies...

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Seven_proxies

Re:Too bad...

[s1lverl0rd]

He's a mob boss, not a geek. He doesn't know nor care about Tor or proxies, he cares about getting bullets in places where they don't belong.

Al Pacino was not the first scarface.

[Nadaka]

Mr. Capone would like to have a word with you.

Re:Al Pacino was not the first scarface.

[RevWaldo]

Not to mention Paul Muni.

The Original Scarface

[NekSnappa]

Al Capone was "Scarface" long before Al Pacino.

Re:The Original Scarface

[Anonymous Coward]

Al Capone may have been the boss, but Mas Capone was always the big cheese.

Re:The Original Scarface

[NekSnappa]

When I made that the parent post there were no comments on the story.
After I hit submit and went back to the story I saw that somebody had been quicker on the draw than me. So I figured I'd end up getting smacked with a redundant mod.
Just didn't think that the one that just beat me would end up +4 insightful.

ZYNGA STRIKES AGAIN

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet one of the other mob bosses had more friends in his MafiaWars Mob.

Re:ZYNGA STRIKES AGAIN

[MiniMike]

No, he just asked for help on one too many jobs...

Does Spider-Man know about Mr. Manfredi?

[Steeltalon]

It's probably Mysterio again.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Notification!

[ultraexactzz]

Pasquale Manfredi has sent you a Computer Set-up. Could you send him a gift back? Together you can be the top players.

The Crime Boss's Manual to the Internet.

[flajann]

I think I should write this book, just for the sheer fun of it! Then I recall what happened to Steve Jackson Games, and all they did was an RPG. Nevermind...

Re:The Crime Boss's Manual to the Internet.

[Mister Whirly]

Well, Steve Jackson Games did win on their day in court and got something like $300,000 (most to cover legal fees IIRC) and the Secret Service got a slap on the wrist for basically raiding them when it wasn't necessary. Wasn't the whole thing about some supposed "stolen" documents from Bell that Bell had actually made available to the public?

Re:The Crime Boss's Manual to the Internet.

[flajann]

Yes. In fact, the very 911 operations manual they were going nuts about could be ordered by anyone and sent to you via snail mail for something like $20 or so. Kinda silly.

Fan of baths in the canal

[Nautical Insanity]

Pasquale Manfredi has sent you an invite you cannot refuse. Do you want to accept?

Re:Fan of baths in the canal

[MattMattMatt]

Sorry, Mr. Manfredi's facebook account is currently sleeping with the iFishes

Re:Fan of baths in the canal

[Mindcontrolled]

Pasquale Manfredi has sent you an invite you cannot refuse. Do you want to accept?

You surely meant "Do you want to accept - yes or yes?".

In Communist Russia

[kiehlster]

Facebook would be betrayed by a mafia boss.

Loose lips sink ships!

[voodoo cheesecake]

All I can think is that he wanted to get caught.

Re:Loose lips sink ships!

[ls671]

It could make sense since he congratulated the police ;-))

Quick!

[dvoecks]

Somebody get Whitey Bulger a Twitter account!

First Rule of Not Being Seen

[LaminatorX]

<Python>"As you see, Sergeant Smiley has not learned the first rule of Not Being Seen: Never stand up."</Python>

Internet key?

[nilbog]

What is an internet key? I don't need keys to access the internet...

Re:Internet key?

[Andy Dodd]

Apparently that's how the term Italians use to describe USB 3G wireless modems translates into English. (See earlier comments...)

Re:Internet key?

[Anonymous Coward]

As explained in an earlier comment, it's what Italians call USB modems. Like USB storage keys, only with INTERNET. Anonymous Coward, redundantly informative!

His last Facebook status update...

[dclozier]

Saying goodbye to my little friends!

Re:His last Facebook status update...

[RevWaldo]

Polizia: FREEZE! Up against that Wall you, and don't try anything funny!

why do these mafia bosses live like peasants?

[alen]

when they arrested the boss of bosses in Sicily a few years ago he was in a farmhouse running from the cops and sleeping in a different house every night. this guy lived in a basement. why do people choose a life where they have millions of $$$/Euros but have to live where they can't show it off and like they are poor?

Re:why do these mafia bosses live like peasants?

[Bigjeff5]

why do people choose a life where they have millions of $$$/Euros but have to live where they can't show it off and like they are poor?

Because before they were on the lamb they were living like kings.

Seriously, why the hell else would you think they do it? You've only seen them at the end of their time as mob boss, they haven't been living in basements for the last 20 years, they've only been living in a basement for the last three weeks. Get it?

It takes years, decades even, to close the noose on these guys because of their money and influence, and even then you'd better have out-witted them at every turn or they'll find a way to slip away clean. In the mean time, they are living in multi-million dollar houses, eating like kings, wearing clothes worth more than ordinary people's cars, etc. There is a lot of advantage that goes with the risk - the only thing that sucks is if you get caught you are as bad off as the poor people these guys despise.

Re:why do these mafia bosses live like peasants?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not always so. Some mafia bosses have been known to hide in pathetic basements for years, and indeed the parent poster's question makes a lot of sense. It seems that these people's kick ain't money but power and respect, and in mafia subculture the latter aren't tied to money. And those who make an excessive show of wealth are often snubbed as parvenus, kids without the balls etc etc. because money is a proxy for power only when power isn't apparent - and thus not existent.
That of course may change depending by geographical area, exact type of mafia (mafia proper from Sicily, 'ndrangheta from Calabria, camorra from Campania) etc., but basically it's the way it is with those dorks.

Re:why do these mafia bosses live like peasants?

[Hatta]

They do it for the pussy. Why leave your basement when you can have young Italian girls delivered to you any time you want?

Re:why do these mafia bosses live like peasants?

[blue l0g1c]

Because before they were on the lamb...

I thought he was Italian, not Welsh.

Re:why do these mafia bosses live like peasants?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because before they were on the lamb

TFA says he's Italian, not Welsh.

Reminds me of this Song

[introspekt.i]

The only thing that happened to me when I read this summary was that when I saw the word "Calabria" I immediately thought of this song. And now I have it stuck in my head for the read of the day.

A Warning

[MrTripps]

He should have known there was a problem when someone posted a picture of a horse's head on his wall.

Driveby shooting ?

[freaker_TuC]

Don Zynga strikes again! so, Facebook may be expecting a drive-by shooting any moment ?

Re:OMG!

[X0563511]

Go away. Go away, and never come back.

Facebook games

[ADRenalyn]

Maybe he was jonesin' for his fix of "Mafia Wars"

/ducks

Who will get rubed out over this?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who will get rubed out over this?

That depends

[commodoresloat]

What's his score on Mafia Wars?

Re:That depends

[Anonymous Coward]

Pasquale Manfredi requested help in Calabria with the Help a Fugitive Flee the Country job in Mafia Wars.

Re:That depends

[Anonymous Coward]

He needs to buy more Godfather Points!

Get a horse, Slashdot!

[Anonymous Coward]

This was reported on the BBC several days ago. And the Beeb is not the fastest news network in the world. For shame, /.

Italy needs your help defeating a mafia boss

[shadowrat]

I wonder how many toolbars and trials Italy had to install to defeat this boss?

What really bothers me...

[Hoi Polloi]

What really bothers me about this is that this guy became a mob boss at 33. I really need to pick up the pace.

Re:What really bothers me...

[Anonymous Coward]

He had plenty of opportunity for advancement given the high fatality rate of that profession.

Re:What really bothers me...

[sanche]

What really bothers me about this is that this guy became a mob boss at 33. I really need to pick up the pace.

Make sure to spend all your points on Energy upgrades so you can do more jobs each level without downtime. Oh, and do your Cuba missions as soon as you hit level 35.

Re:What really bothers me...

[Anonymous Coward]

i know im 35 and im only a Dictator of a Banana Republic, i want at least to be on the UN security council

Re:What really bothers me...

[LordKronos]

What really bothers me about this is that this guy became a mob boss at 33. I really need to pick up the pace.

Pick up the pace? You still don't get it, and that's why you're still where you are at. You need to work smarter, not harder. Start by asking the important questions....like "who do I have to kill to get a promotion around here?" In the mob, that's not just a saying.

Re:What really bothers me...

[Anonymous Coward]

I was wondering what the average life span of these 'Ndrangheta guys is if you could be the boss by age 33.

Re:What really bothers me...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure you can find faster ways of ending up in jail by that age.

My friend?

[lavardo]

GREAT! Can he still be my friend? Maybe I'll suggest him to all my "family" also! :)

Wow

[JumpDrive]

So does this mean that the name 'Scarface' is now available on Facebook?

Really???

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting, I will look into this further out of curiosity...

Eh?

[TheMidget]

I can only imagine how seriously people will take him when he's in jail.

... and I only wonder how many serious bananas he'll take when he's under the shower.

IDS

[dremspider]

Monitor heavily! Set up a Snort box or some commercial equivelant at multiple points in the network and religously watch it (if you are large enough then you can hire a dedicated team, if you are small then it should be someones job to look at it on a regular time interval). This allows you to respond to incidents faster and ensure that an incident doesn't get out of hand. This can be the difference between a piece of malware is on 1 machine or the entire network. Don't let vendors sell you on an IPS and all it's glory. If you want to buy one as a good Defense In Depth strategy, fine, but an IDS is far more important then an IDS. So if I could only pick one due to budget constraints I am going to pick the IDS every time. IDSes have the benefit of being able to trigger on things that may be incidents and not on it definately is an incident. It is then up to some human to decide whether it is or not.

Re:IDS

[socceroos]

An IDS wouldn't have really helped in this situation would it? His net connection was tracked down. All they would have to do is ring the ISP hosting his IP Address and ask which account its been linked to - then headed to the address for that account.

Lol....

[joocemann]

... It seems we will voluntarily invoke orwellian lifestyle.

Everyone is screaming "look at me" for attention, but also complains about the government's oversight... HELLO! Did you want attention in public or did you want privacy? Not only are people's locations, relationships, and photographs posted online --- their feelings/emotions, beliefs, and personal problems are too! I'm not knocking it -- this is quite obviously what people are really going to do.

The world is getting far too small for many of our older ideas. Privacy will dissolve whether we like it or not. Privacy is an illusion.

Re:Lol....

[Dynedain]

The world is getting far too small for many of our older ideas. Privacy will dissolve whether we like it or not. Privacy is an illusion.

Lunch privacy doubly so.... wait, that didn't work out how I thought it would.

Comic strip

[Anonymous Coward]

A little less than a year ago, two Czech comic artists made a comic strip about Facebook, mafia and police. See for yourself (in Czech): http://www.bugemos.com/?q=node/159

It's "on the lam", not "on the lamb"

[osvenskan]

I don't mean to pick on you; yours is not the first comment I've seen in this thread mistaking "lamb" for "lam". The two words sound exactly alike, but the correct phrase for someone who is trying to escape pursuit is "on the lam".

Wikipedia entry for fugitive

Re:It's "on the lam", not "on the lamb"

[drkim]

Thanks, that was driving me crazy too.
It's easy to remember guys:

The lam is when you are jumping over the fence.

A lamb is the animal you 'help over the fence.'

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Shoe Size?

[517714]

What size cement overshoes does Facebook wear?

"Internet Key"???

[Anonymous Coward]

"had logged on to his Facebook account so often that police were able to trace the signal from his Internet key and find his hideout."

His what, sorry? This is slashdot, can we have some pertinent technical details please?

Re:"Internet Key"???

[KraZy-KaT]

"had logged on to his Facebook account so often that police were able to trace the signal from his Internet key and find his hideout."

His what, sorry? This is slashdot, can we have some pertinent technical details please?

Mobile 3G USB dongle: http://www.broadband-expert.co.uk/dongle/

except for the fact that

[commodoresloat]

on TV they still have to keep the perp on the phone for like 5 minutes in order to get his phone number!

Re:except for the fact that

[Mister Whirly]

Only on shows made before the late 80s (or shortly thereafter). Between 1985-1988 (at least in the US) almost all of the phone company switches were upgraded from analog mechanical type relays and switches over to ESS (Electronic Switching System) - a computerized system. Prior to that they would actually have to keep you on the line long enough to physically trace it back to you. Of course if you knew anything about phones you would have bounced it through a dozen other locations first making the trace useless anyways...

Re:except for the fact that

[Anonymous Coward]

*whoosh* You don't watch much TV do you? they *still* use this gimmick to draw out the suspense even though it's totally based on an outdated view of the technology available.

Re:except for the fact that

[Mister Whirly]

No, I don't. And the cop shows I do (have the misfortune of having to) watch, they can get any information, no matter how obscure, in a matter of seconds. Only older shows do the whole "keep them on the line" thing. With most people having caller ID on their phones, I think that whole setup is not being believed even by the non-technical common folks anymore.

K.Bacon universe

[StickANeedleInMyEye]

Adrian...!!!

and in other news invading irak was about 9/11

[Anonymous Coward]

What you people don't get is that you have just been duped into accepting "the authorities" (i.e. the official Mafia in power) using Face Book for whatever the hell they want, and you will cheer them for it. Just like invading Irak was about 9/11. You most likely deserve what is coming to you.