The Forlì Mobile Squad has carried out an order for pre-trial detention in prison issued by the investigating judge at the Court of Forlì, against 4 people of Pakistani origin, as part of an articulated investigation activity on the crime phenomenon of the "caporalato" ”In agreement also with the Inspectorate of Labor and INAIL.
The 4 suspects in competition put in place a real criminal organization in which workers were directly recruited, patrons were identified and forms of intimidation and threats were put in place against those workers who manifested the will to turn to the unions to assert their rights. Relationships with customers and workers were managed directly and daily, by accompanying them to the workplace and supervising their work. Some of them had also been set up as two sole proprietorships which turned out to be fictitious because the addresses indicated corresponded to abandoned properties.
The workers, who were in a state of need, were often recruited by the reception centers, as asylum seekers and therefore not expelled from the TN and were destined for the collection of fruit and vegetables or pruning of trees, who were promised a hourly wages of 5 euros net, compared to the 9,6 euros normally provided for, which moreover turned into just 250 euros per month, of which 200 were reduced for board and lodging. In turn, the suspects received from the clients a share of 12-13 euros net per hour per worker compared to the 20 that they would have to pay for each worker. For this reason, the owners of the farms located in the provinces of Forlì-Rimini and Ravenna who have illegally employed workers from last September to January 2020 have been reported in a state of freedom.
The workers worked on average from 60 to 80 hours per week despite the fact that bargaining in the agricultural sector provides for a maximum ceiling of 44, they had no construction site facilities, and they were not allowed to carry out their physiological needs during work or to eat a meal in the environment. "repaired."
During the period of interest, the suspects would have earned 80 to 100 thousand euros from the exploitation of the workers. The money was sent from time to time via western union or money gram channels to Pakistan on fictitious people's accounts.
As for the buildings used to house the workers, farmhouses have been identified without hot water and sufficient food as well as beds consisting of dirty and inadequate mattresses, moreover on the ground and in poor sanitation. The properties were identified in country areas specifically away from urban centers, so that they could be overcrowded with all the workers to be able to control and marginalize them socially. Over time, 45 offended workers / persons, mainly of Pakistani and Afghan nationality, have been identified.
The Mobile Teams of Modena, Treviso and Ravenna gave valuable support to the tracing of the suspects.