New gangs are entering the country's sunny criminal underworld
MILAN – A murder in Calabria has laid bare how Pakistani criminal networks are quietly taking over one of Italy’s most entrenched systems of labour exploitation.
On the evening of 1 June, four migrant farm workers were locked inside a van at a petrol station in Amendolara, a small town in southern Calabria. The suspects poured a flammable liquid into the vehicle, set it alight, and blocked the doors to prevent escape.
Three Afghan men and one Pakistani man burned to death. The sole survivor told investigators the victims had been working in strawberry fields without receiving any wages, and that the attack was carried out by their own gangmasters after the workers demanded to be paid. Both men arrested were Pakistani nationals.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the killings “have shocked” the nation, but for anyone paying attention to Italy’s agricultural underworld, what happened in Amendolara was less a shock than a confirmation.
