Screen shot of a video from Italian police surveillance cameras.
Posted on 08/03/2015 12:37:45 PM PDT by Red Badger
The head of the Sicilian Mafia, on the run for over 20 year, has been using "sheep code" to communicate with allies, the BBC reports.
Eleven men associated with mob boss Matteo Messina Denaro were arrested recently, and according to the Italian police, Denaro communicated with them by leaving bits of papers under a rock in a field near a farm in western Sicily.
The communication method called "pizzini" includes writing the messages in a secret code, according to AFP.
Among the men arrested during raids across Sicily on Monday, two were over 70 years old, one of them, Vito Gondola, had the responsibility to call or text the members of the clan to let them know when a new message was ready.
Police said many of the messages used to alert fellow criminals that a new "pizzini" was ready referred to sheep.
Among the lines used were: "The sheep need shearing ... the shears need sharpening" or "The hay is ready." The Italian police said they do not believe the mafia members were discussing agricultural matters.
Another phrase used was "I've put the ricotta cheese aside for you, will you come by later?"
The Italian police spied on the mafia day and night over several months by placing cameras in trees around the farm and fields, according to La Repubblica.
The Sicilian mafia, or Cosa Nostra, used to be Italy's most powerful organized crime cell before massive crackdowns and government monitoring left it weakened by the late 1990's. They lost power to Calabria's Ndrangheta, which remains the most powerful mafia in Italy.
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Screen shot of a video from Italian police surveillance cameras.
I guess he was on the lamb. Sounds like he wasn’t able to pull the wool over their eyes, though. Guess in retrospect it was a baaaad idea.
is that a sausage in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?
Leave the gun, take the cannoli...............
what the hell is this? where’s my money?!?
i said i was bringing ricotta, what’s your problem? it’s good stuff!
baaaaaa baa baaaa ba ba
Sounds like something Maude’s mother would say on the Golden Girls
You’re a cold lasagna......................
I knew it was ewe all along.
Life is a Minestrone - 10cc
I’m dancing on the White House lawn
Sipping tea by the Taj Mahal at dawn
Hanging ‘round the gardens of Babylon
Minnie Mouse has got it all sewn up (Come on Pluto)
She gets more fan mail than the Pope (Own up, own up)
She takes the Mickey out of all my phobias
Like signing cheques to ward off double pneumonia
Life is minestrone served up with parmesan cheese
Death is a cold Lasagne suspended in deep freeze
I’m leaning on the Tower of Pisa
Had an eyeful of the tower in France
I’m hanging ‘round the gardens of Madison
The seat of learning and the flush of success relieves a constipated mind
I’m like a gourmet in a skid row diner
A fitting menu for a dilettante
Life is a minestrone served up with parmesan cheese
Death is a cold Lasagne suspended in deep freeze
Love is a fire of flaming brandy, upon a crepe suzette
Let’s get this romance cooking honey but let us not forget
Life is a minestrone served up with parmesan cheese
Death is a cold Lasagne suspended in deep freeze
Life is a minestrone served up with parmesan cheese
Death is a cold Lasagne suspended in deep freeze
Love is a fire of flaming brandy, upon a crepe suzette
Let’s get this romance cooking honey but let us not forget
Life is a minestrone served up with parmesan cheese
Death is a cold Lasagne suspended in deep freeze
Life is a minestrone served up with parmesan cheese
Death is a cold Lasagne suspended in deep freeze (C’mon, serve it up boys)
Mine, mine, mine, minestrone
Mine, mine, mine, minestrone
Mine, mine, mine, minestrone
Mine, mine, mine, minestrone
Mine, mine, mine, minestrone
Mine, mine, mine, minestrone
Mine, mine, mine, minestrone
Mine, mine, mine, minestrone
Mine, mine, mine, minestrone
Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine
is that anything like "pig latin" ?
It's from a scene in The Godfather.
Shear nonsense! Let’s get pasture silly comments.
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