Modern day slavery ring trapped hundreds of migrant workers in south Georgia

Modern day slavery ring trapped hundreds of migrant workers in south Georgia
Modern day slavery ring trapped hundreds of migrant workers in south Georgia

A modern-day slavery ring has been busted in Georgia where workers were raped, kidnapped and imprisoned in squalid camps, according to prosecutors. 

The crooks raked in more than $200 million by luring hundreds of desperate migrants from Mexico and Central America to the US, a federal indictment says.

At least two people died in the brutal conditions that saw workers forced to handpick onions at gunpoint for just 20 cents per bucket in sweltering heat.  

They were kept in squalid camps surrounded by electric fences and had their passports and documents taken off them to deter them from escaping.

Two dozen members of the alleged gang were indicted last month after a three-year probe known as 'Operation Blooming Onion.' 

Guest workers harvest a Vidalia onion field in Lyons, Georgia (file photo, June, 2013)

Guest workers harvest a Vidalia onion field in Lyons, Georgia (file photo, June, 2013)

Workers harvests onions in a field in Lyons, Georgia (file photo, June, 2013)

Workers harvests onions in a field in Lyons, Georgia (file photo, June, 2013)

One of the conspirators is accused of repeatedly raping, kidnapping and threatening to kill one of the victims.

In many cases, the alleged crooks sold or traded the workers among each other.  

The victims were kept in cramped, unsanitary quarters in camps with little or no food, limited plumbing and without safe water.

The slavery ring extended across southern Georgia where farmers paid the conspirators to provide contract laborers.

The exploitation took place in the counties of Atkinson, Bacon, Coffee, Tattnall, Toombs and Ware.

The defendants laundered the cash by siphoning millions into a casino and through the purchases of land, homes, vehicles, and businesses, the indictment states.

Investigators dubbed the gang the 'Patricio TCO' (transnational criminal organization) after Maria Patricio, a 70-year-old resident of Nicholls, Georgia.

She is accused of filing

read more from dailymail.....

PREV US Army launches urgent probe after Alabama-based Special Forces soldier was ... trends now
NEXT In news vacuum, rumours and concern swirl over Catherine mogaznewsen