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demonstrate how close the links of the organisation are with those in Nigeria whocan bring about the retaliation.Following such violence often the families invite the victims to respect the pact,to honour the debt for fear that the retaliation on them increases, something that caneffectively happen, as cases show in which the level of physical violence increasedand was accompanied by other actions, such as destroying the house of the victim.The victims have also talked about periods of detention in prison suffered bythe family, following the complaints made by them and following the non paymentof the due sum, due to the contract underwritten through a notary or publicofficial 45 which would appear effectively to be legally valid or at least useable as ameans of pressure by those who can count on support and connivance in legalinstitutions or the police.The direct violence on the families opens unresolved problems: if in fact, thevictim in Italy can obtain help and protection thanks to programmes of socialprotection ex art.18 d.lgs. 286/1998, the families in Nigeria are without anyguarantee. In abstract, there exists the possibility to apply the norms on thecollaborators of justice 46 , but it must involve a situation so serious as to justify itsapplication 47 . In abstract the possibility exists of taking advantage of the procedureto have the families join them, but in this case either a preferential channel isactivated or one must wait for the duration of the bureaucratic procedures, givingdue account also to the restrictive modifications introduced by Law 189/2002 - theso-called Bossi-Fini. 48From the elements collected one can therefore affirm that we are not only facedwith an “affair between women” of limited criminal relevance, but a capillarynetwork, well structured, possessing a widely spread control system which poses aseries of questions on the character of the criminal organisation, on themanagement of the proceeds of the activity of exploitation of prostitution, on thelinks with other illicit trade carried out by Nigerian subjects and, not last, on theefficacy of the contrasting action undertaken until now.45Little is known about the person before whom these contracts are signed; one could talk about a“notary” because from the declarations of the victims it appears that it is an act legally signed in front ofsomeone endowed with certification powers.46Obviously with not a few difficulties if the family is still in Nigeria.47This is law 15 March 1991, No. 82 as modified by law 13 February 2001 No. 45 which has extendedthe measures of protection also to the witnesses of justice (see in particular Item II and IIb). For carefuldisheartenment see: Bernasconi (2002, page 75); for the analysis of the original regulation and asystematic picture: Bernasconi (1995).48Reference is made to the modifications introduced to Art. 29 of d.lgs 286/1998 and in particular thecancellation of the possibility of the joining of relatives within the third grade with inability to work, andthe limitations for the parents who are free to join “if they do not have other children in the originatingcountry or that of departure” or in the case of “parents above 65 years old, as long as the other childrenare unable to sustain them for serious health reasons”. On this point, see also the Chapter VII.