Church caught up in piracy

Italian police sweep in to arrest church official in anti-piracy swoop

20 April 2007 15:16 GMT / By Ryan Haynes

This is one for your weekend BBQs. Police in Italy have arrested a sacristan working the Duomo di Napoli, the main cathedral in Naples. Together with his son, he is accused of working with a criminal organisation that downloaded music and movie pre-releases from the Internet.

A sacristan (not a twisted cookie made from puff pastry, sugar, and sometimes almonds) is an official of the Catholic Church responsible for the sacristy, which is a room in the church where the vestments, church furnishings, sacred vessels and other church treasures are kept.

But, it wasn't just the two to be arrested, in total 11 members of the gang were caught by the Rome Fiscal Police acting on warrants issued by the Public Prosecutor of Naples.

The police also seized 143 burners, 14,000 pirate CDs and DVDs, 222,000 jewel boxes and 40,000 inlay cards.

A great story after a few cans of lager and some black burgers.

Full tags

Biz, Lawsuits, Legislation, Church, Piracy, PSP, YouTube