[2] In 2007, Pastorelli was arrested after an anti-prostitution operation dubbed "Gatto Nero" by Carabinieri; her appeal against a three-year prison sentence was pending in the Court of Cassation in October 2011.
[5] Nippon Victor[1] asked the leader of a Japanese school choir called "The Larks" to nominate a member to record a Japanese-language version of the song.
[6] She chose her nephew,[6] Osamu Minagawa 皆川 おさむ (born 22 January 1963), whose recording was released on 5 October 1969.
[7] The song reached number one in the Oricon chart, and sold 3 million copies,[2] making six-year-old Minagawa the youngest artist ever to have a million-selling record.
[8] The Japanese lyrics bear no relation to the Italian ones beyond the central idea of a black cat.