3 at Bianco Plant Indicted on Immigration Charges

Excerpt from an article originally appearing in The Providence Journal, August 4, 2007
Article by: Karen Lee Ziner

    Five months after a sweeping immigration raid at the Michael Bianco Inc. plant in New Bedford, company president Francesco Insolia and two of his top managers have been indicted on charges of conspiring to harbor and hire illegal immigrants to fulfill almost $230 million in government contracts.
    U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said the 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."
    Sullivan, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, said the alleged conduct by Insolia and his managers "undermines the integrity of our immigration system and could place legally operating businesses at a competitive disadvantage."
    Insolia and the other two defendants will be arraigned Aug. 9.
    The two-count indictment names Isolia, 50; production manager Dilia Costa, 55, of New Bedford; and contracts specialist Gloria Melo, 41, of Fall River.  They are each changed 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 with conspiring to hire and continue to employ unauthorized aliens.
    If convicted of the charge of conspiring to hire illegal aliens, Insolia, Costa and Melo each face maximum sentences of 10-years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a $100 special assessment, plus at least two-years of supervised release.  They face months in prison, a $100 special assessment, and a $10,000 fine for each illegal alien hired by the Bianco company on the charge of conspiracy to hire illegal aliens.
    ICE is continuing its investigation with assistance from the Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General; the Department of Defense's Criminal Investigative Service; The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General; the Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.