More resultsβ¦. In the street of Giudecca Vecchia in the infamous mafia district of Forcella in Naples, I see the Nigerian girls standing close together. They are waiting for customers. I usually choose the neighboring street when I go to the train station, even though it is a detour. However, it is uncomfortable to walk down this short street and be offered so many opportunities to buy sex. He has spoken with Robert β the pimp king for Nigerians in Palermo, met Laura and Clara, who worked their way from brothel to brothel through the Sahara, to end up on the Italian streets.
The author has also had conversations with a Nigerian journalist who was granted asylum in Europe β threatened with death by Black Axe. Palmisano has interviewed Adele, who was taken captive by Boko Haram in Nigeria and sold as a prostitute to a brothel in Libya , only to end up as one in Bois de Boulogne in Paris. It is not a cheerful read. But it gets worse when he becomes more specific. When Mia 36 says that she increases the price by 10 euros for each additional customer when she has to have group sex, or when Eveline 32 says that she is forced to shoot brutal porn films without men using condoms, it turns the stomach.
If she gets HIV , she says, she will be sent back to Nigeria by Black Axe; there are so many other things one can die of there that customers do not think about AIDS when they have sex with prostitutes. However, it has not been an easy task; 15 pages are devoted to the specific rituals that Nigerian girls must undergo before becoming prostitutes in Italy, and the punishment that awaits them if they try to break away.
The girls must participate in the West African voodoo-like ritual of juju , which psychologically and religiously binds them to Black Axe. If the girls attempt to break away, family members will lose their lives. Everyone who has tried knows that it is true. No one dares to speak. The International Organization for Migration IOM claims that the number of Nigerian prostitutes arriving in Italy has increased sixfold in the past three years.
In the Β«peak yearΒ» of , more than 8, Nigerian prostitutes, victims of human trafficking, arrived in Sicily alone. They compete against other criminal networks, and they are expanding their operations beyond human trafficking. Smuggling diamonds, gold, and the mineral Coltan has become significant. They are deeply involved in drug trafficking, particularly with heroin and cocaine. Members are rarely caught, and those who are, never talk.
