Members of the Mafia in Italy are using a football TV show’s text-in service to send coded messages to their jailed ring leaders.

The programme allows fans to text messages into the show, which then run along the bottom of the screen when the show is on air.

Anti-mafia prosecutors are making the claim that members of the gang are using the show to their advantage and sending seemingly innocent messages to their imprisoned godfathers. One such message read: “All is well, Paolo.”

The means of communication was uncovered after authorities at prisons intercepted a relative of a jailed mafia boss saying he would text the show to contact the jailed boss.

In the past, communications have taken many forms – including wafer-thin pieces of paper, on which messages were written, being hidden in between toes to avoid police searches.

Pietro Grasso, the current chief prosecutor of Italy’s anti-mafia group, said the allegations were still to be fully investigated.

Photo by ydhsu