Mafia Boss Betrayed By Facebook 214
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!"
Al Pacino was not the first scarface. (Score:5, Informative)
Mr. Capone would like to have a word with you.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Trace the signal from his internet key? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:internet key?? (Score:3, Informative)
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 [idg.com.au]
Re:Trace the signal from his internet key? (Score:5, Informative)
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? (Score:4, Informative)
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:Internet key? (Score:3, Informative)
Apparently that's how the term Italians use to describe USB 3G wireless modems translates into English. (See earlier comments...)
Re:Trace the signal from his internet key? (Score:1, Informative)
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:Al Pacino was not the first scarface. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Trace the signal from his internet key? (Score:5, Informative)
A wireless USB stick, known in Italy as "chiavetta internet"/internet key.
Re:Trace the signal from his internet key? (Score:2, Informative)
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? (Score:1, Informative)
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.