Mafias, Agromafias, and Caporalato

For twenty years, reports of new caporalato (gangmaster system) practices in Modena’s meat-processing district have surfaced. These issues returned to the spotlight in the autumn of 2017 following the indefinite strike of 128 workers from two subcontracting cooperatives of the Castelfrigo company. This article by Sara Donatelli provides an overview of the situation. Here is all the press coverage published by the Gazzetta di Modena on the Castelfrigo case, continuously updated.

Some recommended readings and tools to understand the intersections between mafias and labor exploitation, especially in agriculture and food production:

• The 2024 report by the National Labor Inspectorate, revealing alarming data on undeclared work, fictitious labor intermediation, and caporalato.
• Caporalato Emiliano: A dossier published by Libera Bologna, collecting cases, testimonies, and data on a phenomenon often mistakenly associated only with the South and the agricultural sector. In Emilia, too, several cases of caporalato exist, starting with those emerging from the Aemilia maxi-trial against the ‘Ndrangheta in Emilia.
• A chapter from the third report “Agromafie e caporalato” by the Placido Rizzotto Observatory (FLAI-CGIL), focusing on the agro-livestock sector, meat processing, and the working conditions of foreign laborers, particularly in the province of Modena.
• Legambiente’s 2008 report on Emilia-Romagna, analyzing environmental crime and the role of organized crime, with insights into the cement and waste cycles and data from 1998–2008.
• Data and statistics from the Ecomafia 2024 report by Legambiente.