WHEN Italian police found 320 mobile phones in the home of a suspected Mafia boss, they assumed that they were for drug dealing or an elaborate means of evading phone-tapping.
But further investigation revealed they had been used to rig the voting in a television song contest in which the alleged godfather's 13-year-old daughter was a contestant.
The police dialled the most frequently called numbers in the phones' memories and found that they connected to the voting hotline of the talent show Ti Lascio Una Canzione (I'll leave you with a song).
Domenico Ferrara, 56, allegedly got friends, relatives and neighbours in his home town of Villaricca, near Naples, to vote for his daughter, Giovanna, who came second in the show.
Ferrara then collected the phones, put them in a plastic bag and hid them in his cellar, where they were found this week .
He was arrested this week on suspicion of Mafia association and being involved in shipping drugs.
Nicknamed O'Muccuso (the Snotty One) and Zi' Mimmi (Uncle Mimmi), he is believed to be the head of a powerful clan.
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