Mafia death threat to UK newspaper boss

The Mafia issued death threats against Richard Desmond, the owner of Express Newspapers, in a dispute over pornographic phone lines, according to court documents.

A member of the Gambino crime family travelled to London to issue a warning to Mr Desmond, who had struck a deal to carry adverts for adult chat lines in his pornographic magazines.

The Brooklyn court heard that one of Desmond's employees was told: "We want our money back. If your boss sets foot here, he's a dead man."

Richard Martino, 45, has admitted personally extorting money from Mr Desmond by threatening force in a London hotel in

1992. Five other men are accused of a ?320 million porn fraud. Users of the sites were charged over and over at high rates. There is no suggestion Mr Desmond was aware of the fraud.

A spokesman for Northern & Shell said today the company "has not had any business dealings with any unscrupulous sections of society".