Cops claim Google Maps led them to a mafia member, but there’s more to it than that
Digital footprints aren’t always clear
Mapping a murderer
Gammino was one of Italy’s 100 most-wanted criminals. The 61-year-old had been convicted of murder, but escaped prison in 2002.
His life on the lam led him to Galapager, a Spanish town near Madrid, where he lived under the assumed name of Manuel Mormino.
Gammino later opened a store bearing his alias: El Huerto de Manu (The Garden of Manu).
Thegreengrocer’s has a stellar 4.7-star rating on Google.
You can visit it for yourself — but only onGoogle Maps. The physical store is now labeled “permanently closed.”
While chatting outside the premises one day, Gammino was photographed by a Google Street View vehicle. Years later, Sicilian police said they spotted him on the service.
The lead investigator said the arrest wasn’tsolelythanks to the app, but that it added to their suspicions.
“It’s not that we spend our days looking for fugitives onGoogle Maps,” Francesco Lo Voitold the Guardian.“There have been many investigations that already pointed to Spain. We were on the right track and Google Maps helped us to confirm our investigations.”
Indeed, that wasn’t the only app that provided clues. Another image of Gammino was found on the Facebook page of a Galapagar restaurant called “La Cocina de Manu” — Manu’s Kitchen. The mobster was identified by a distinctive scar on his chin.
It seems Gammino wasn’t living quite as quietly as he should have.
A bad egg
On the Restaurant Guru listing for La Cocina de Manu, customers praise the pizzas, Sicilian wine, and the attentiveness of the owner. However, not all the reviews are so glowing.
One criticizes the slow service; another says Manu attacked a local councilor and threatened to kill him.
The dispute stemmed from an order to stop using a smoky stone oven, Spain’sABC News reports. Gammino wrote the councilor a letter of apology, was fined €1,500, and paid the victim €325 in compensation — but he was spared a prison sentence.
The incident was captured by CCTV cameras:
Detective Google
It may seem strange to imagine cops trawling through Google Maps for fugitives — particularly as the app blurs faces to protect privacy.
Skeptics suspect that the police are hiding something. Was the Street View explanation used to avoid revealing their source? DidGoogleprovide the cops with a special unblur orfacial recognitionfeature? The latter wouldn’t be entirely surprising given the company’sroots in the CIA.
In any case, Gammino is unlikely to be the last criminal who’s found on Google Maps. With Street Viewconstantly improving, it’s getting harder for anyone to evade the mapping app.
And if you’re a mafioso on the run? My advice is to avoid opening a Sicilian restaurant — although those cannoli do sound delicious.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, and government policy.Thomas is a senior reporter at TNW. He covers European tech, with a focus on AI, cybersecurity, and government policy.
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