FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

News

Migrants are dying under the Mafia-like system that controls Italy's tomatoes

Sixteen migrant farm laborers died this month in two separate road crashes within 48 hours of each other in Italy

Sixteen migrant farm laborers died this month in two separate road crashes that occurred within 48 hours of each other in Italy, sparking a mass walkout that has drawn international attention to the dire conditions endured by seasonal tomato pickers.

Both crashes occurred close to the southern city of Foggia, which hosts half a dozen makeshift camps for illegal workers. And both accidents involved overcrowded vans carrying migrant laborers home from long shifts in the region’s tomato fields.

Advertisement

The vans are often operated by illicit gang members, known as the Caporali, who act as middlemen in Italy’s $3.5 billion tomato industry, supplying farm owners with cheap labor and taking a cut of the workers’ wages.

That leaves workers like Mohamed Doumbé Keita, an undocumented migrant from Guinea, earning less than $30 for a shift that can last up to 15 hours in scorching heat.

“It’s like the return of slavery,” Mohamed told VICE News. “Life is tough here. There’s no medical care, and each man fends for himself. If you don’t put in 10 hours a day, you won’t even make €20.”

Though Italy’s previous government passed a new law to criminalize the Caporali as a mafia crime, it’s only now being enforced for the first time.

But the legislation targets farmers rather than the middlemen themselves, threatening jail terms of up to eight years for landowners found hiring laborers through the Caporali, plus a host of other penalties for using illegal workers.

That has angered some farmers, who feel their earnings are already squeezed by big retailers and consumer demand for cheap produce. VICE News went to Italy to see what the situation is really like.

This segment originally aired August 20, 2018 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.