It appears that Rupert Murdochâs News Corp. â in its ongoing effort to mold a media monarchy â has resorted to dubious means of making headline news. Murdoch allegedly encouraged the hacking of phones and bribing of public officials to obtain the âraw meatâ insatiable readers find so tasty.
Does it seem that journalism has morphed into a virtual âspy vs. spyâ occupation, populated with reporters who majored in journalism and minored in espionage? How safe are you in discussing your gallstones with Aunt Henrietta?
One of the worldâs best-paid businesswomen hired private investigators to bug her estranged husbandâs ÂŁ2âmillion home, according to papers lodged at the High Court.
Elena Ambrosiadou is being sued for spying and harassment by Dr Martin Coward. The pair, who separated in 2009, founded Ikos, one of Europeâs biggest hedge funds.
Dr Coward claims in papers obtained from the court that Miss Ambrosiadou hired a private detective agency called Kroll Associates to plant secret surveillance devices last December at his house in Steyning, West Sussex.
Separated: Martin Coward and Elena Ambrosiadou founded Ikos, one of Europeâs biggest hedge funds
He alleges that Kroll employees entered his property illegally and left bugsand video cameras in the kitchen and the fireplace of his study.
He claims that they also planted a GPS tracking device in his car. The court document also alleges that Dr Coward was covertly followed by detectives from another agency who photographed his meetings with people in Monaco and Cyprus.
Dr Coward, regarded as one of the worldâs greatest financial mathematicians, is suing his estranged wife for breaching his privacy and his human rights, which guarantee him a right to a private life.
He is also seeking an injunction against Miss Ambrosiadou and Kroll Associates âto prevent any further similar activityâ.
Greek-born Miss Ambrosiadou, 51, and Dr Coward amassed a ÂŁ200âmillion fortune through the hedge fund they jointly founded in 1993. She took a salary of ÂŁ16âmillion in 2004 as the chief executive of Ikos, and last year spent ÂŁ60âmillion on the Maltese Falcon, the worldâs largest private sailing yacht.
Last week The Mail on Sunday revealed how Miss Ambrosiadou hired a glamorous undercover agent called Laura Merts, 37, to spy on her former portfolio manager, Tobin Gover, and to extract âconfidential and private information about himâ.
Mr Gover was among 12 Ikos employees who were mysteriously sacked in 2008 while Dr Coward was on a skiing holiday. Miss Ambrosiadou has agreed to pay Mr Gover âsubstantialâ damages.
After the sackings, Ikos was hit by scandals and setbacks. In late 2009, Dr Coward, who was chief investment officer, resigned, saying he wanted to set up his own hedge fund. The couple also separated shortly afterwards.
The court papers claim that the bugs in Dr Cowardâs home ârecorded a long conversation between the claimant [Dr Coward] and his mother in the study, in which they discussed a number of highly private, confidential and sensitive issues, including issues concerning the claimantâs business plans, investments and tax affairsâ.
Dr Coward also claims that his estranged wife hired another agency to spy on his movements between November and December 2009 in Monaco. Dr Coward lives in the principality with his 24-year-old Brazilian girlfriend.
He claims he was also subjected to a more intensive surveillance when in Limassol, Cyprus.
Last night a spokesman for Dr Coward refused to comment.
Miss Ambrosiadouâs lawyers said there has been no finding of wrong-doing against her and she denies any allegations of unlawful conduct.
An Ikos spokesman said: âWe are not going to debate an ongoing situation through the media. There are a number of outstanding criminal cases to be dealt with.â
Hugh Grant … on a revenge mission against the UK tabloids.
Hugh Grant has turned the tables on the English paparazzi by bugging a confessed tabloid phone-hacker.
The Four Weddings and a Funeral star secretly taped a conversation with former News of the World reporter Paul McMullan and managed to elicit some juicy confessions from the former hack.
McMullan is one of the whistleblowers in the phone-hacking scandal which has shamed the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid News of The World and forced News International to issue a public apology to bugged celebrities.
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In an article for New Statesman, Grant revealed his revenge mission.
Grant visited McMullan at his Dover pub after a chance encounter with the former News of the World features editor when the actorâs car broke down on a country road.
McMullan had given Grant a lift and during the journey confirmed he had been among the celebrities bugged by News of the World.
Grant decided he wanted to know more and returned with a concealed tape recorder to McMullanâs pub.
During the conversation, McMullan repeated accusations against former News of The World editor Andy Coulsonâs knowledge of the nefarious methods used by his reporters, including McMullan himself, to generate stories.
He also said 20 per cent of the Metropolitan police had taken back-handers from tabloid hacks and told Grant celebrities had to expect to lose their right to privacy.
ââI mean, if you donât like it, youâve just got to get off the stage. Itâll do wonders,ââ he said.
The New Statesman website reportedly crashed as Grantâs article created a stir in England and on Twitter. Stephen Fry tweeted ââsheer class from Hugh Grant. Magnificent.ââ
During the reported conversation, McMullan spilled the beans on his dealing with various celebrities:
On Johnny Depp
McMullan said it was difficult to snatch a shot of Depp.
ââYou know, I was in Venice and he was a nightmare to do because he walks around looking like Michael Jackson. And the punchline was . . . after leading everyone a merry dance the film was shot on an open balcony – I mean, it was like – he was standing there in public,ââ he said.
On Nicole Kidman
McMullan told Grant he was sent to find out about Nicole Kidmanâs sex life while she was in Cannes for the movie Moulin Rouge!.
ââBasically my brief was to see who Nicole Kidman was shagging – what she was doing, poking through her bins and get some stuff on her,ââ he said.
On the Royal Family
McMullan claimed the so-called Squidgy tapes of Princess Dianaâs phone conversations were recorded by members of the paparazzi using a digital scanner in the back of van parked outside her residence.
The tapes were originally said to have been recorded by radio hams. Digital scanners were later outlawed.
On Rupert Murdoch
He said the chief of News Limited may not have been aware of the illegal activities going on at his English newspapers.
On Divine Brown
He said Murdoch was furious when Brown, the prostitute caught with Grant in 1995, was used on the front-page of one of his tabloids and complained it was lowering the tone of the publication.
They could put your mind at ease – or do very much the opposite.
A new arms race is on and it could change everything from the way we parent to how we get our celebrity gossip.
For the technology currently being used by the CIA to ferret out terrorist leaders in the hills of Pakistan is set to arrive in a neighbourhood near you – and there’s nowhere to hide.
Coming to a sky near you? A remote CCTV camera drone circles in the sky during a political rally in Britain last year. Drones are set to play a large part in the future of policing – but could they affect our personal lives also?
Personal drones – smaller, private versions of the infamous Predator – are the next hot technology for people looking to track celebrities, cheating lovers, or even wildlife.
And it could be a dream tool for the paparazzi, named after the Iralian for buzzing mosquitoes.
Now the metaphor is coming to life. Several personal drones are scheduled for completion next year.Â
A police constable in Liverpool tries out the force’s new remote-controlled UAV. Liverpool police have already used such drones to make at least one arrest
The officer can see from the drone’s perspective using a special pair of goggles
Already in the UK police are using drones to track thieves. In February, the Air
Robot was deployed by Merseyside police after officers lost an alleged car thief who had escaped on foot in thick fog.
Using the device’s on-board camera and thermal-imaging technology,
the operator was able to pick up the suspect through his body heat and
direct foot patrols to his location.
It led officers to a 16-year-old youth, who was hiding in
bushes alongside the Leeds-Liverpool canal, in Litherland, Merseyside.
The drone, which measures 3ft between the tips of its four
carbon fibre rotor blades, uses unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
technology originally designed for military reconnaissance.
The battery-powered device can have a range of cameras
attached to its main body, including CCTV surveillance or thermal
imaging cameras.
It is designed to hover almost silently above crime scenes and
send live footage to officers on the ground, but the unit can also
‘perch and stare’ from a solid platform, allowing the operator to
capture hours of footage from a hidden vantage point.
Merseyside Police is one of a handful of forces trying out the
devices which, at ÂŁ40,000 each, are far cheaper to use for small-scale
operations than a conventional helicopter.
They have been using the drones for two years, mainly to help
in search and rescue operations, to execute drug warrants and to crack
down on anti-social behaviour.
The Home Office is now exploring how the craft can be used to give back-up to police, ambulance and fire services.
A Predator drone like the ones used to hunt down terrorist leaders in Pakistan (file photo). The military must follow rules of engagement with such technology, but there are no such rules governing private use yet
Spy drones are considered the future of policing, although
critics have voiced concerns that they could be a worrying extension of
Big Brother Britain.
Last month arms manufacturer BAE Systems said it was adapting
military-style UAVs for a consortium of government agencies led by Kent
police. Documents showed the force hoped to begin using the drones in
time for the 2012 Olympics.
But they also indicated that the drones could eventually be
used to spy on the civilian population, by rooting out motorists
suspected of antisocial driving, for covert urban surveillance and to
monitor ‘waste management’ for local councils.
Similar concepts are already being developed in the U.S.
‘If the Israelis can use them to find terrorists, certainly a husband
is going to be able to track a wife who goes out at 11 o’clock at night
and follow her,’ New York divorce lawyer Raoul Felder told the Journal.
The technology is swiftly moving beyond military and even police circles – already unmanned aircraft that can fly predetermined routes cost just a few hundred dollars and can be operated by an iPhone.Â
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and former Navy fighter
pilot Missy Cummings is working to develop a ‘Personal Sentry’ drone about the size of a pizza box that warns soldiers if danger is approaching from behind.
But, she said, ‘that military stuff is kind of passe’.
‘It doesn’t take a rocket scientist from MIT to tell you if we can do it for a soldier in the field, we can do it for anybody.’
She told the Wall Street Journal that she could use such technology to follow her young child on the way to school by planting an electronic bug in her lunch box or backpack.
‘It would bring a whole new meaning to the term hover parent,’ she said.
The FAA has not approved the use of personal drones just yet. But a spokesman said the agency is working with private industry on standards that could allow the broader use of drones.Â
Grey areas already exist, however – particularly with the recreational use of drones.
There are no regulations governing recreational drone use. Instead the FAA recommends – emphasis on ‘recommends’ – such drones be flown away from populated areas, from aeroplanes, below a certain altitude and so on.
And if people claim their drones are for personal use, that could theoretically get around many FAA regulations.
So while the military has to follow rules of engagement regarding drone use, there is – as yet – no similar set of rules regarding privacy for domestic use of drones.
‘If everybody had enough money to buy one of these things, we could
all be wandering around with little networks of vehicles flying over our
heads spying on us,’ Ms Cummings said.
‘It really opens up a whole new
Pandora’s Box of: What does it mean to have privacy?’
TORONTO – An electronic bug burrowed deep inside a laundromat in Italy, part of the largest strike yet against the Calabrian ‘ndrangheta, overheard something that stunned police.
A Calabrian crime cell is operating in isolated Thunder Bay in northern Ontario.
The surveillance device in the business owned by the Commisso clan in Siderno, Calabria, overheard Giuseppe Bruzzese, 64, a clan member from the lakehead group.
He was speaking with his ‘ndrangheta overlord about a dispute with a Toronto group, according to a report, Project Crimine, written by Italian magistrates.
The project shows how widespread the ‘ndrangheta is in Canada and that its network is capable of replacing the now weakened Rizzuto clan, which until recently was Mafia royalty.
The recent violence against the once-mighty Rizzuto crime family in Montreal is reverberating in the Toronto area where the Sicilians’ grip on the drug trade is being threatened.
The Calabrians have long been established in the Toronto area and coexisted with the Rizzutos.
But that may now all change.
The ‘ndrangheta is considered by Italian authorities to be more powerful, richer and better able to distribute drugs globally than any Mafia group.
On Thursday, police in Calabria seized the laundromat where Giuseppe “Master” Commisso allegedly operated his empire along with 140 condos and a commercial mall owned by his clan, considered by Italian authorities to be one of the richest in the world.
The seized properties are worth about $280 million, police said.
In July, Project Crimine netted more than 300 members and associates of the ‘ndrangheta.
Along with uncovering the Thunder Bay clan, the report also revealed six Calabrian mobs tied to Siderno that are based in the Toronto area.
The extensive report also identifies the leaders of the Toronto area clans as Vincenzo Tavernese, 44, of Thornhill, and Giuseppe Andriano, 62, of Vaughan; Antonio Coluccio, 41, of Richmond Hill; Cosimo Commisso; Angelino Figliomeni, 48, of Woodbridge, and his brother, Cosimo Figliomeni, of Vaughan; and Vincenzo DeMaria, 56, of Mississauga.
DeMaria, a convicted killer, was arrested in April 2009 for breaching parole and has since been released.
Tavernese was arrested in Italy in July while Coluccio who was wanted on arrest warrants in Italy disappeared.
But Coluccio’s lawyers appealed the warrants and a judge ruled there wasn’t enough evidence to file charges in Italy but he is wanted by Canadian immigration authorities.
The other men, named in the Italian report, aren’t wanted by Canadian police.
The report also looked at the organized crime group’s activities around the world, particularly in Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Australia.
Italian authorities say there are five forms of traditional organized crime in Italy, the Sicilian Mafia, the Calabrian ‘ndrangheta, the Neapolitan Camorra, the Sacra Corona Unita based in areas of Puglia in southern Italy and the Stidda, based in Sicily.
The ‘ndrangheta, derived from the Greek word “andrangetos” meaning a valiant and cunning man, has had a strong presence in the Toronto area for decades, and was dubbed the Siderno Group because most of the families came from the town of Siderno in Calabria.
Police discovered in 1968 the cells in Ontario were governed by a central board called the La Camera di Controllo.
The first board formed by Giacomo Luppino, of Hamilton, in 1962 consisted of Michele Racco, who died in 1980, Salvatore Triumbari who was murdered in 1967, Filippo Vendemini, murdered in 1969, Rocco Zito, Vincenzo Deleo and Cosimo Stalteri.
Authorities now believe the ‘ndrangheta has surpassed the Sicilian Mafia in power and its ability to distribute drugs – including cocaine – around the world.
Police say there are about 160 ‘ndrangheta cells with about 6,000 members in Italy, worth an estimated $61.2 billion in assets.
The ‘ndrangheta’s structure is different than the Mafia.
Its cells are based on family ties and don’t have rigid vertical lines of authority. Cell members don’t always know what other members are doing and the groups allow for freelancing.
The Italian report noted the existing strong ties between ‘ndrangheta cells in Canada and Italy.
“Even today the Commissos of Siderno – through their most illustrious member Giuseppe ‘Master’ Commisso – continues to influence the policy of all the ‘ndrangheta … to settle the criminal issues, even the most distant,” it said.
