Italy: immigrants are burned alive, and crime exposes modern slavery linked to the mafia

Italian police car in illustrative image
Polizia di Stato/Reproduction
In a crime that shocked the Calabria region, in southern Italy, four immigrant agricultural workers - three of Afghan nationality and one Pakistani - were burned alive inside a vehicle in Corigliano-Rossano, on Monday (1st).
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The authorities arrested two Pakistani suspects, identified as "caporali", a term used to designate intermediaries who abusively control precarious labor in the country. The episode reignited the debate about "caporalato" and the persistent exploitation of immigrants.
The details of the attack reveal extreme cruelty. According to investigations, the attackers had blocked the car doors and poured gasoline inside the vehicle, before setting it on fire with a lighter.
The identification of the suspects was possible thanks to images from security cameras at a gas station and the report of an Afghan survivor, who managed to escape the flames by jumping out of one of the car windows.
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The young man testified that the reason for the violence was a demand for money made by intermediaries to cover the costs of transportation to the farms, an amount that the victims could not pay due to the miserable and irregular wages they received.
The "caporalato" system is described as a form of modern slavery, in which these intermediaries recruit workers for large agricultural holdings, often operating with the support or under the control of mafia organizations.
Reports from the CGIL union indicate that approximately 70% of agricultural workers in these conditions work without a formal contract.
Precarious inspection
Although a strict law was approved in 2025, providing for up to six years in prison and confiscation of assets for those who exploit workers, the application of the rule faces logistical obstacles.
Currently, Italy lacks at least 6,000 additional labor inspectors to inspect properties and ensure compliance with legislation.
Exploitation, however, is not exclusive to the fruit and vegetable fields of southern Italy. The phenomenon extends to sectors such as logistics, textile industry and civil construction, including in the richest regions of the north and center of the country.
A recent case in Milan involved the arrest of a manager of a construction company accused of clandestinely employing hundreds of Indian workers in the construction of the new American consulate.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, workers were subjected to 12-hour days, even during periods of illness, receiving only two euros per hour worked.

Source: G1

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