Every year tens of thousands of West Africans migrate to Europe in search of a better life. But for some of them that search will end in tragedy, as they fall victim to competing mafia gangs that prey on the hopes of the desperate. In southern Italy, it is Nigerian women who are among the most exploited, with many ending up trapped in the nightmare world of the sex trade.

In the first of two special reports, Juliana Ruhfus investigates the plight of African women caught up in a web of organised crime, prostitution and people trafficking. In the following account Chiara Caprio, an Italian journalist who was involved in the making of the film, describes what they found out in southern Italy.

The ghetto of Destra Volturno, an assembly of houses once used by Neapolitan tourists, is surrounded by flowers as it hosts the funeral of Mary Morad, a seven-year-old from Ghana. She was killed by a man with psychiatric problems. But in Castel Volturno, more than one-third of the 25,000 official citizens are African and, in particular, Ghanaian and Nigerian.

Al Jazeera came to investigate the phenomenon of Nigerian organised crime in this small town, quickly forgotten after serious riots in 2008, when hundreds of Africans took to the streets to protest against the massacre of six young Ghanaians committed by Giuseppe Setola, the army of the Casalesi clan.

Mary's family is waiting for the coffin and tension grows as delays and friction increase. Bose Atta, Mary's Nigerian mother, who was trafficked to Italy to be forced into prostitution, is nervous. She cries as her friends express anger against Mary's father, a man from Ghana who is now married to another Nigerian woman.

Finally, the coffin arrives and a group of men start celebrating with a Muslim rite. An improvised march towards the cemetery starts under a warm sun overheating a tormented African community.

Stronger than ever

"The Domitiana crosses Castel Volturno for 28 kilometres," says Stefano Ricciardiello, a detective at the local police station, a small and shabby office overwhelmed by new and old papers covering stories of murders, repatriations and organised crime. "The new African mafia's activities have invaded the whole territory."

He is showing us along the roads where, one after another, Nigerian women and young girls are waiting for clients.

According to the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), Italy is now the main destination for more than 10,000 Nigerian prostitutes, trafficked from Benin City to European cities and criminal hubs, just like the Domitiana and its coast.

"Nigerian criminals are able to find agreements with all the mafias, from Colombians to Chinese. But it's an easy game for them in Italy also for another reason: the high number of Italian clients who look for prostitutes night and day," says Giovanni Conzo, a prosecutor at the anti-mafia section in Naples.

"This organisation is stronger than ever. We should stop them before they take full control of our region," he adds. But Conzo's words offer just a glimmer of hope.

Using voodoo to enslave

Isoke Aikpitanyi, a former victim of trafficking and now the main reference point for Nigerian women in Italy, knows how this business is managed in Caserta's area. As she walks in Castel Volturno's historic centre, she explains: "Today in Italy there are almost 10,000 madams, each one in control of an average of two or three girls."

Madams are the key, she explains. They are the main actors in this exploitation. They force girls into prostitution and ask for money to repay the debt. They work with "brothers", men who are in charge of physically trafficking the "babies", as girls forced into prostitution are called.

But Nigerian human trafficking is often associated with drug smuggling and a distorted use of religious tradition.

The women and girls are often forced to undergo a Juju oath-swearing ritual that commits them to repaying the money they owe to their smugglers on pain of death or insanity.

"The Juju, the voodoo rite, it's not a bad practice. It was used to bring justice, but they ruined everything," says Isoke with anger. "They don't care how they make their money as far as they make it. They use Juju to enslave."

Even in this hell, there are people who try not to lose hope. Sister Antonia, a Nigerian nun of the Sacred Heart of Jesus order, manages a shelter, the Casa Santa Maria dell'Accoglienza, launched in 2000 in the Fernandes centre by the Capua-based Caritas. Here, more than 70 women have found a place to stay and 10 children have been born.

"We were called by the bishop of Capua, Mons. Bruno Schettino, to promote these girls' integration. They are all former prostitutes. If they want to change their lives, they know they'll always find a place here," Sister Antonia says.

The women can stay for between six months and a year, a period when they dedicate their time to education and "to gain[ing] their dignity back," explains Sister Antonia. The nuns give the girls the opportunity to write down their stories and explain what happened and who forced them into prostitution.

"We try to make them understand that Juju won't have any effect on them," she says.

But we met girls who still work on the streets and believe in the agreements they made. Some of them have to repay debts of up to $58,000 and are still terrified of the powerful consequences of Juju on their families and themselves.

You can watch the video via this link

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2011/08/201189141348631784.html

WRONG SECTION

Some NL chicks will not like dis topic becos dey re running good business dere and @ d same time posting some fu-cking sh-it.

OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why oh why jesus help oh jesus

Goldieluks:



I know the fool would mention my name,
take time to watch the video and see whta your Edo and Benin brothers,
are doing to your Benin sister,over there in Italy.

yes i think edos love human trafficking the most.

9jafetish:

yes i think edos love human trafficking the most.

same old story!!!

I don't mean to play this down but can the OP please tell us something we don't know yet? Like how this can be stopped

wow this is so so so so sad i feel bad for most of those people may God help us all

This thing does not apply to Italy alone it all over the continent (especially where Nigerians reside). in Uk you will find them in peckham and in USA here you will find them Chicago north side. most of don't have papers and they tend to look for a way to survive.

@Goldieluks i think the only diff btw you and these so called edo girls is that u are not in italy(ie if u are not there already).Wait did i just see her in that vid?!!Haha just kidding really!

The worst job in Italy is being being a cop. The mafia gangs and handling these LovePeddlers together with their madams can drive one mad.
I think am more shocked by the 2 mafia gangs; Nigerian and the Italian.
So now that these video is out and the girls in Nigeria are aware of these false promises, will they still be willing to go to the same poo?
I think they should learn from those that have left and stay back home without dreaming of a quick way of making money and endangering their families in the process.
The area is pathetic as well. Gosh some ghetto. I want to believe that Lagos or Abuja is far much than that.
Very sad but you go at your own will.

Kslib:

@Goldieluks i think the only diff btw you and these so called edo girls is that u are not in italy(ie if u are not there already).Wait did i just see her in that vid?!!Haha just kidding really!

.
Did your Mum not tell you to respect Ladies?

Mynd_44:

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Did your Mum not tell you to respect Ladies?

Didn't u read other posts above mine,some insulted a whole state and everything in it.why didn't u reply theirs,but rather u singled out mine because i say it as it is.Sometimes we should examine our selves before saying rubbish,to make sure we are not guilty of the same thing we are insulting!!!

Mynd_44:

.
Did your Mum not tell you to respect Ladies?

Didn't u read other posts above mine,some insulted a whole state and everything in it.why didn't u reply theirs,but rather u singled out mine because i say it as it is.Sometimes we should examine our selves before saying rubbish,to make sure we are not guilty of the same thing we are insulting!!!

Well,

like i say,and will continue to say, respect is given to those who deserve it no matter what!!

like i say,and will continue to say, respect is given to those who deserve it no matter what!!

@Kslib, when you diss a collection of people, it is can be viewed as a joke but when you single out one person, it's another kettle of fish