Code Words and Sign Language Used to Run Mafia from Maximim-Security Prison

A father and three sons used code words and sign language to run their Sicilian Mafia clan from a maximum-security prison, Italian police said Tuesday.

Francesco Madonia, the head of the Madonia clan, died in prison in 2007. Investigators say that a year before his death he ordered the death of the head of another clan leader after he and Palermo boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo decided he was not competent, the news agency ANSA reported.

Madonia and his sons were being held under restrictions known as 41-bis that include limited visits. Inmates under 41-bis are unable to make any purchases or to receive packages, are held in single cells and can mix with no more than five other inmates during the four hours a day they spend outside their cells.

Maria Angela Trapani, a Madonia wife who allegedly carried orders out of prison, was arrested Tuesday.

The Madonias allegedly evaded the 41-bis restrictions with code language and mime. Questions about the elder Madonia's wife's health, for example, were actually about the family extortion business, and Lo Piccolo, who was arrested last year on a murder charge, was referred to as "Auntie Rosalba."

Thanks to UPI

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Perfect Holiday Gift for Your Mob Aficionado

THE SOPRANOS: THE COMPLETE SERIES
Why? Because you have “Moby-Dick” in your library, don’t you? Individual seasons of “The Sopranos” are available, of course, but this set, just released, brings together all 86 episodes on 28 discs, with the added value of a conversation between Alec Baldwin and David Chase. (Mr. Baldwin had hoped for a role but never got one.) Other features include a photo album, CD soundtracks and a filmed dinner with cast members. For $399.99, and especially in the current climate, we might want the recipes for every plate of veal Carmella ever produced — no, actually, the veal itself — but still, a complete set of one of the greatest series television has ever produced seems to fall in the ranks of cultural essentials. (HBO Video, $399.99.)

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Former Chicago Cop and "Crime Syndicate on Wheels" Featured on America's Most Wanted

Eddie Hicks:
Former Chicago cop Sgt. Eddie C. Hicks swore to uphold the law throughout his 30 years on the force. But for nearly ten of those years, police say Hicks was part of a racketeering scheme in which he and his crew stole drugs from area dealers, only to sell the loot back to a local peddler. Now this disgraced ex-cop is on the run, and police need your help to bring him down.

A.T.F. Mongol Raid Update:
The notorious Mongols biker gang have been described as a "criminal syndicate on wheels." But this month, the gang was dealt a serious blow when federal agents infiltrated the organization's highest levels, and AMW was there as the bust went down.

Roger McCray:
Less than 48 hours after we told you about accused killer-arsonist Roger McCray, your tips led cops right to him in Seattle, Wash. McCray was wanted for setting his roommate on fire and leaving him to burn to death.

Unknown Kenneth Harris, Sr. Killer:
After nearly two months, Baltimore City police caught up with 19-year-old Charles McGaney and 20-year-old Gary Collins -- two men they say murdered beloved former Baltimore city councilman Kenneth Harris, Sr. But no one in the police department is celebrating yet, because a third suspect is still out there, and the manhunt is far from finished. Cops need help identifying the third man responsible for Ken's senseless murder.

Lorrie Trites:
For 10 years, investigators in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the FBI have been on the hunt for alleged child predator Lorrie Trites. For many years, AMW and investigators knew him only as Loren. The FBI says they've learned his actual name is Lorrie, and chances are he can't stay away from pools, he loves to swim -- and worse, the FBI says he loves to coach children.

George Navarro:
Melesio Martinez was known simply as "Daddy" to his two small children. His wife describes him as a hard-working construction worker who worked ten-hour days, and still had time to play and entertain his kids. That all changed one night in September 2001, when cops say the Martinez family went into a Granada Hills, Calif. liquor store and ran into George Navarro.

Ronald Young:
On Friday, Oct. 17, 2008, the Brea Police Department arrested Robert Young, who had been arrested before after an AMW tipster recognized him. He has been charged with First Degree Murder, as well as Conspiracy to Commit Murder, in the 1996 car bombing death of Gary Triano in Tucson, Ariz. Police are also looking for Pamela Phillips, Triano's widow, who they say may have been involved in the bombing.

Pamela Phillips:
Pamela Phillips, the ex-wife of the late Gary Triano, is wanted for Murder and Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the First Degree. Police say Phillips and her accomplice Ronald Young -- who has been apprehended with the help of AMW viewers -- worked together to orchestrate Gary's murder.

Garrison Colby:
In February 2008, Garrison Colby divulged to his wife a horrifying secret: he had been sexually abusing their son for six years. Colby was arrested and released with a ankle monitor, but he cut it off, and now he's on the run.

Richard Torres:
A 13-year-old's nightmarish ordeal began during the 2005 Thanksgiving holiday when cops say her mother's ex-boyfriend, 39-year-old Richard "Craig" Torres, molested and raped her at a Southern California hotel. Now, Sacramento Sheriff's detectives are determined to capture this accused sexual predator.

Rachel Walsh:
Cops say 48-year-old Rachael Walsh was camping alone at her Falls Creek, Idaho campsite on the weekend of August 16, 2008. However, the U.S. Postal worker's family became alarmed when they didn't hear from Rachael after she was supposed to return and went to her campsite looking for her. What they discovered was a mystery -- all of Rachael's belongings were untouched, her car was gone, and there were no signs of the missing mother of four.

Robert Bowman:
Since 1967, Ohio cops say Robert Bowman has literally gotten away with murder, but science -- and now the police -- finally caught up to the accused killer. Cops say DNA irrefutably ties him to the abduction, rape and murder of 14-year-old Eileen Adams in Toledo, Ohio some 40 years ago, and his time on the lam has come to an end, thousands of miles from the scene of the crime.

Jesus Munguia:
Jesus Roberto Munguia's rap sheet shows that the 32-year-old gang member is no stranger to the law. Authorities say he started stealing cars in California when he was just 15 years old, but Munguia soon fled to Nevada with his girlfriend and their kids. When Munguia's girlfriend had enough and left him, the FBI says he lured her back to his home and killed her, now adding murder to his long list of charges.

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Prosecutors May Add Several Defendants to Mob Bombing Case

A federal prosecutor in Chicago says more indictments may be coming in the investigation of a bomb allegedly set off to scare a company out of competing with organized crime in the video gaming business.

Assistant U.S. Attorney T. Markus Funk told U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman today that the government may add several defendants to the two already charged in the February 2003 bombing.

The blast ripped apart the offices of C & S Coin Operated Amusements in the Chicago suburb of Berwyn.

Prosecutors say the mob has long had a monopoly on the $13 million a year video gaming business in Chicago's western suburbs. And authorities say it bombed the C & S offices to let the company know that it wouldn't be allowed to horn in on the illegal profits.

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8 Members of the Lucchese Crime Family Arrested on Illegal Gambling and Narcotics Charges

FBI agents arrested eight members of New York's Luchese organized crime family Monday on illegal gambling and narcotics charges, the federal prosecutor said.

An acting "capo" in the Luchese family and seven others were nabbed, US Attorney Michael Garcia said.

Anthony Croce, the man described as the capo, faces a maximum sentence of five years prison if convicted on the gambling charges.

Three others face heavier sentences of between five and 40 years if convicted on cocaine distribution charges, the prosecutor said.

New York's five mafia crime families -- the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Luchese -- have taken big hits in the last decade as veteran leaders died and turncoats helped the authorities make strings of arrests.

This August, New York police arrested the alleged former capo of the Gambinos, John "Junior" Gotti. He is due to be tried in Florida on racketeering charges.

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