Residents shocked at neighbour ‘married to mob’

NEIGHBOURS yesterday spoke of their shock at learning that they are living alongside the wife of a Mafia Godfather.

They said that Ann Hathaway, aged 44, of Middleton, Greater Manchester, appeared to be a “friendly, down-to-earth woman who didn’t look the Mafia type”.

Ms Hathaway is wanted by Italian authorities over claims that she is helping to run a multi-million pound mob crime empire. She is understood to have lived in Rome until November, before she returned to her home town.

She is married to Godfather Antonio Rinzivillo, who is serving 30 years in prison for the murder of a lawyer and drug trafficking.

Rinzivillo is reportedly number two in the Mafia’s hierarchy behind ‘Godfather of Godfathers’ Bernardo Provenzano, who was arrested earlier this year at a remote farmhouse in Sicily after more than 40 years on the run.

Ms Hathaway lives in a modest, terraced house with her two daughters. No one was at the address yesterday morning. Her father, John, who lives close by in Middleton, refused to comment on the allegations facing his daughter.

A neighbour of Ms Hathaway, who did not want to be named, was shocked to learn of her background.

She said: “She’s a really nice woman, and is quite down-to-earth. She doesn’t look the type to be involved with the Mafia, but then again what is the type?”

The arrest warrant for Ms Hathaway would have to be passed to Scotland Yard’s Extradition Unit.

She is said by investigating police in Italy to have carried on her husband’s criminal activities by issuing orders after he was jailed.