Jan 07 2007
THE ‘GODMOTHER’
As police hunt for English wife of a jailed Mafia boss, we find her living in tiny run-down terraced house in Manchester
ANN Hathaway looks more like just another housewife off to the shops than a Mafia Godmother.
Yet this British mother-oftwo is wanted over her alleged involvement in a multimillion- pound crime empire across Europe.
Police believe 44-year-old Hathaway became involved in the “business” side of the Rinzivillo Mafia family after her husband Antonio was jailed for 30 years for murder and drug trafficking.
Police are investigating whether she was involved in passing messages from her husband to other members of the family and money laundering.
Detectives in Italy issued a warrant for her arrest - and the Sunday Mirror tracked her down her to Manchester.
Hathaway, who met her husband in Italy when she was 17 and working as a dancer, hardly lives up to the image of a Mafia Godmother. She drives a P-reg Ford Focus and lives in a tiny run-down terraced house.
She married one of Italy’s top Mafia dons, who ruled over Italy’s most feared crime clans, in Rochdale in 1987.
At his peak Antonio Rinzivillo was the second most powerful Mafia figure after “Godfather of Godfathers” Bernardo Provenzano, who was caught earlier this year.
Rinzivillo was jailed five years ago for the murder of Italian lawyer Antonio Mirabelle. His wife moved to Rome to be near him, but 15 months ago is believed to have left for the UK.
Just before Christmas police in Italy seized £14million of family assets - including a supermarket, two building companies, two haulage firms and a pizzeria. More than 80 of the clan have been arrested and a European arrest warrant for Hathaway’s capture has been passed to Scotland Yard’s Extradition Unit.
The Rinzivillo family mirrored something out of a Hollywood Mafia movie.
Their main source of income was blackmail, extortion and protection rackets. Sidelines included gun-running and drugs.
People in the Gela area of Sicily lived in fear of the family, who had police officers in their pockets for protection.
Dirty money was laundered through their legitimate businesses, from fruit wholesalers to transport companies.
The family were involved in a bloody turf war over the drugs trade in the 1980s and 90s with over 120 people killed.
And in a scene that could be from TV’s Sopranos, one of their key members was killed when he was mown down in a barber shop. Emanuele Irubia was riddled with bullets as he sat having a shave.
Three members of a rival family were later jailed for life for their part in the murder.
The Rinzivillo family has been under investigation for two years after a blackmail victim came forward.
Detectives had to work in a tight team with only a handful of officers knowing about the operation because of fears of leaks.
One policeman was arrested when he went to sell a disc containing information on the clan for £14,000.
When Hathaway’s arrest warrant was issued before Christmas, nine other women were held in Gela, the heart of the Sicilian Mafia territory.
When Hathaway was confronted by the Sunday Mirror, she looked worried and said: “You’re not Italian are you?” Then she admitted: “Yes, I am Ann Hathaway but I can’t talk to you. I left all of that business behind 15 months ago when I left Italy.”
On her Friends Reunited website entry Hathaway says she is working as a “masseur”.
Her father John, 70, who lives in Manchester where she was born, said: “She comes back every Christmas and decided last year that she wanted to stay. She said there was nothing left for her in Italy as Antonio was in jail.”
Last night Rocco Ligouri, the Italian prosecutor in charge of the investigation, said: “The charge that Ann Hathaway faces is one of Mafia association. We believe that she was acting as the messenger between her husband in prison and other jailed members of the gang and people on the outside.
“We believe that she was involved in money laundering through pizzerias and building contractors.”
Exclusive by Justin Penrose In London And Nick Pisa In Rome, 7 January 2007, http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_headline=the–godmother-&method=full&objectid=18409935&siteid=62484-name_page.html
