President and Managers of New Bedford Manufacturer Indicted

BOSTON - The president and two managers of a New Bedford manufacturer awarded almost $230 million in contracts over the past five years were indicted today on charges they conspired to harbor and hire illegal aliens in order to fill the company's workforce. United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Bruce M. Foucart, special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Investigations in Boston, announced today that the president of Michael Bianco, Inc. (MBI), Francesco Insolia, 50, of Pembroke, Massachusetts, was indicted along with production manager, Dilia Costa, 55, of New Bedford, and contracts specialist Gloria Melo, 41, of Fall River. The defendants are named in a two count indictment charging each with conspiring to harbor or conceal or shield illegal aliens from detection, or to encourage and induce aliens to come to, enter, and reside in the United States; and also with conspiring to hire, and continue to employ, unauthorized aliens. The indictment arises in the context of an ongoing investigation which began in 2006 and culminated in a March 6, 2007 raid on the company's New Bedford offices at 89 West Rodney French Boulevard, leading to the detention of at least 361 illegal aliens. Based on information contained in the indictment and in an affidavit previously submitted to the court, Insolia created MBI in 1985. MBI specialized in the manufacture of handbags and other fine leather goods. Between 2001 and 2006, MBI won a number of Department of Defense based contracts worth approximately $230 million to manufacture certain products for the U.S. military. As a result of these defense contracts, MBI began to substantially increase its workforce, growing from about 85 employees in 2001 to approximately 650 people in 2006. The indictment charges that, as part of the alleged conspiracies, the defendants knowingly employed aliens who were illegal or not authorized to work in the United States; certain defendants assisted illegal and/or unauthorized alien employees in obtaining housing in the local area by providing advance payments to some employees, and by continuing to pay alien employees each week despite being aware of, or acting with reckless disregard of, their status; the defendants instructed illegal alien employees in how to avoid detection by the authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the defendants attempted to conceal, harbor, and shield from detection certain illegal alien employees; the defendants assisted certain illegal alien employees in obtaining fraudulent identification documents; the defendants, by hiring and paying illegal aliens with knowledge of, or with reckless disregard of, their status, encouraged and induced illegal aliens to unlawfully reside in the United States to work at MBI; and certain defendants knowingly filed and caused to be filed, W-2 tax forms with the Social Security Administration containing false identity information. "The conduct, as alleged in the indictment undermines the integrity of our immigration system and could place legally operating businesses at a competitive disadvantage," said U.S. Attorney Sullivan. "Today's indictment should send a clear message to all employers that hiring illegal or unauthorized aliens, or conspiring to shield them from detection, will not be tolerated," concluded Sullivan. "According to the indictment, the conspiracy involves knowingly hiring illegal workers and instructing illegal aliens on how to avoid detection by ICE," said Bruce M. Foucart, special agent-in-charge of ICE's Office of Investigations in Boston. "The widespread publicity of this case has focused attention on ICE's commitment to stopping employers who knowingly hire an illegal workforce." If convicted, Insolia, Costa and Melo each face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and at least two years of supervised release on the charge of conspiring to harbor illegal aliens; and 6 months in prison, a $100 special assessment, and $10,000 fine for each illegal alien hired by MBI on the conspiracy to hire illegal aliens charge. The investigation is continuing. The case is being investigated by the ICE Office of Investigations in Boston, with assistance from the Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General, Department of Defense's Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General, Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau and the U.s. Postal Inspection Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Cabell in Sullivan's Criminal Division. The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.