Mafia clans use mobile texts to contact jailed mobsters through Italian TV show

London, Aug 23 (ANI): Mafia clans have used a popular football show, Quelli Che il Calcio, on Italian television, to send secret messages to jailed godfathers held in isolation.

The popular football programme unwittingly scrolled mobile phone texts across screen among innocent messages of support for the teams.

According to The Guardian, a magistrate Enzo Macri tipped off after a letter advising a jailed boss to watch the show was intercepted, cited one of the texts, "Everything is OK - Paolo," as being sent by a clan affiliate.

Few jailed mobsters have carefully supervised contacts with the outside world, the paper states.

Meanwhile, Carlo Vizzini, an Italian senator, has demanded an explanation from the authorities as to know why mafia inmates were allowed to watch Quelli Che il Calcio.

"I do not understand why people held under such conditions can watch programmes in which the TV audience can participate," he said.

The programme's presenter, Simona Ventura, claimed that the show's producers was unaware of the ruse and promised to stop airing texts immediately.

"The show has always had universal appeal, from the young, to graduates, to the old, and now, I discover, mob bosses and their families too," she said. (ANI)