They would have baited three 16 year old girls, convincing them to prostitute themselves with the promise of easy money. And they would have managed this child prostitution ring for years (since October 2021), organizing meetings with clients (even lawyers and entrepreneurs) in hotels, including luxury ones, and B&Bs in the provinces of Bari and Barletta-Andria-Trani. Each service cost hundreds of euros, the money was given by the clients directly to the exploiters (who, in nearby rooms, waited for the encounters to end) who then handed over 50% to the young girls. Money used by young people to buy bags, clothes, dinners in expensive restaurantsbut also (the investigators suspect) drugs. Dedicated telephone numbers were used to manage the business and placed in online advertisements. Everyone had a different task: who booked the hotels, who accompanied the girls to the rooms and who received phone calls from clients, setting up appointments.
Because of this, four women (Marilena Lopez aged 35, Antonella Albanese aged 21, Federica Devito aged 25 and Elisabetta Manzari aged 24) and two men (the 29 year old Ruggiero Doronzo from Barletta and the 25 year old Nicola Basile from Barletta) they ended up in prison on charges of having induced, facilitated, exploited, managed and organized the prostitution of three minors. Two clients aged 42 and 47, aware of having had sexual relations with minors, instead ended up under house arrest. A third customer aged 55, a criminal lawyer in Lecce, was subjected to the obligation to reside in the Salento city, the same measure carried out against a 45-year-old from Bari, manager of a business in which he tolerated the habitual practice of prostitution. The arrests were carried out by agents of the Bari flying squad in the Apulian capital, in Rome, in Trani and in Lecce.
The investigations after a mother’s complaint
The investigations were started by the Bari flying squad in March 2022, after the complaint presented by the mother of a 16-year-old who noticed anomalous behavior in her daughter, as well as finding her frequenting an adult, «described by public opinion as an operational escort in the Marche region”, the police wrote in a statement.
«The stalking, the stakeouts, the interceptions, a plurality of interviews, including those of the minors involved in prostitution, carried out with the aid of psychologists – the police continue to write – made it possible to acquire the investigative elements that led to the police operation carried out” on the morning of May 12.
