Behind the tragedy of Satnam Singh’s death there was what is now called the “Latina model”. A system that has been well tested for years, which several entrepreneurs would use, especially in the agricultural sector, to recruit low-cost foreign labor by circumventing the Bossi-Fini law. The over 30 thousand Sikh Indians who work in the fields in the province of Latina know this well, as do the judicial authorities, who have been investigating the phenomenon for some time now. This is demonstrated, for example, by the investigation for “illicit intermediation and exploitation of labor” against the father of Antonello Lovato, the entrepreneur investigated for manslaughter and failure to provide aid after Singh’s death. As TgLa7 revealed, the gangmaster investigation into the owner of the Agrilovato Cooperative had been underway since 2019. The same one who had said on Tg1 that the Indian laborer who died and was abandoned without an arm in front of his house had “committed something negligent” and who had told him to “be careful” of the winder that injured him. Machinery of which, writes La Verità, there is no trace in the company’s accounting documents.
Everyone has known for years
There have been investigation files open since at least 2016 into a vast system of gangmastering and exploitation of illegal workers in the province of Latina. Often with the complicity of public officials. As Il Sole 24 Ore reconstructs, the investigations of the investigators have so far revealed a series of figures capable of recruiting the manpower required by the entrepreneurs of Latina, also thanks to a system of ghost companies, which therefore have no real activities, exploited exclusively for bring foreign workers to Italy by taking advantage of the various Flow decrees.
Shell companies
In a recent dossier from the Carabinieri of Latina sent to the Prefecture it emerges that «the exploitation of Punjabi workers from the areas of origin to the Agro Pontino, organized through migratory chains, is capable of offering at the time of recruitment an entire package of services including transfer, reception on arrival, with accommodation included, placement at work or mostly in the agri-food sector”. A mechanism that has been going on for at least 30 years according to the military. With the first crime starting from the intermediaries’ request for money from workers who want to arrive in Italy. They are asked to pay up to 20 thousand euros per person. A figure that often forces entire families to go into debt even for life, to pay off the debt. And in these conditions, reporting the exploitation of gangmasters becomes even more complicated for the victims, who are always at risk of expulsion.
Organized crime and corrupt officials
For some time now, trade unions have also denounced the phenomenon behind which the military suspects there is also organized crime. Through the creation of ghost companies, taking advantage of the click day of the flow decree, workers are called to Italy. And once they arrive, they are “circulated” within the company networks, without the need to sign new contracts. Or the companies give up within six months of the call to the worker, who after leaving his country is recruited illegally in the network of agricultural companies. These are the main subject of the investigation, also aided by the state offices. The Carabinieri report continues as follows: «Corrupt or corruptible employees or officials belonging to the Public Administration for the provision of administrative documents at the request of dishonest local agricultural entrepreneurs». On the one hand there are the corporals, including Indians, on the other the corrupt employees, forming a well-tested system.
How foreign workers arrive in Italy
According to what the Carabinieri wrote, quoted by Il Sole 24 Ore, entrepreneurs turn to the international market to obtain low-cost labor thanks to “organisations specialized in satisfying their particular employment needs”. A system particularly present in the Agro Pontino, in particular in the municipalities of Sabaudia, San Felice Circeo, Terracina, Fondi and the areas surrounding the municipality of Latina. The military has identified the various roles that make up criminal organizations. Starting with the «caponero», who organizes the teams and transport. There is the “taxi driver”, who takes care of the transport. The «seller», who brings together teams and sells basic necessities at high prices. Then there is the “tormentor”, who uses systematic violence to steal documents from immigrants with the aim of keeping them constantly under blackmail. Then there is the “corporal”, at the head of the entire organisation. And finally “the trusted man”, who takes care of the entire recruitment campaign on behalf of the entrepreneur and has contacts with the criminal organisation.
