Life imitating art videogames

From DATELINE ZERO – Italy’s number two mafia boss, Gerladino Messina, was recently arrested while playing the Godfather videogame. As reported by The Epoch Times, Messina was among Italy’s list of top 30 most dangerous fugitives, 14 of whom have been arrested in the past few months as part of the government’s crackdown on organized crime.

Messina, 38, was on the run from police since 1999 for “mafia-type association and several murders,” according to a translation of an Italian Ministry of Interior document. He is Sicily’s No.2 mafia boss, next to top boss Matteo Messina Denaro, according to Reuters.

After 11 years of eluding the law, he was nabbed on October 23 in Favara, Sicily — evidently with an Xbox 360 controller in his hands while playing EA’s version of The Godfather.

The Epoch Times reports that “Messina apparently had an interest in the Godfather videogame, which is based on the popular Godfather movie trilogy. Police noted that while tracking Messina for 11 years they had found the game, among many others, in his various hide-outs.”

Denaro, however, is still at large. He has been on the run since 1993 for crimes including “mafia-type association, murder, massacre, destruction, detention and the port of explosive materials, theft and more,” according to the Ministry of Interior. Maybe he’s somewhere playing Grand Theft Auto or Godfather 2 or some shit.