Vice ‘godfather’ faces 58 year jail sentence

THE trial was due to begin this week in Alicante of Vlad Costel, a Rumanian ‘godfather’ who allegedly headed Europe’s biggest vice empire.

Nicknamed by the Spanish authorities as ‘The Godfather’ , he reportedly controlled Rumanian prostitution throughout Europe, has several court cases pending.

Inspiring terror in subordinates, he preyed on hundreds of vulnerable women and young girls. According to report in the online versions of local newspapers Las Provincias.es and La Verdad, his name was a byword for sexual exploitation, degradation and cruelty and his Spanish operations encompassed the entire Levante coast, reaching inland to other provinces.

‘The Godfather’ now faces a 58-year prison sentence for forcing women into prostitution and providing underage girls for brothels in Elche and Alicante.

The minors were brought into the country on forged passports and identity documents, believing they would be found legitimate jobs. The 49-year-old could also receive a further 26-year term for continuing to run his crime empire from inside Fontcalent, the province’s top security jail.

While there, Costel kept abreast of everything, according to leaked court documents. He organised crime operations, controlled the money earned through prostitution and set salaries for gang members.

He bought and sold women for between €3,000 and €4,000 and allegedly ordered the execution of a fellow-Rumanian in a settling of accounts. The Guardia Civil foiled this operation by intercepting Costel’s henchmen at the La Marina services area on the AP-7 motorway.

The gang was already under surveillance following the kidnap in Torrevieja of a prostitute whose family were being pressured into paying for her release.

This was the habitual punishment for anyone trying to escape Costel’s clutches, a useless ploy as gang members would locate the woman, abduct her and then demand money from her relatives. Apartments housing the prostitutes were controlled by “cells” which allegedly had to support themselves through stealing.

One group stole from supermarkets and allegedly boasted to Costel in a bugged telephone call that they had so much food they needed to prop a chair against the fridge to close it.

Even pregnancy was no escape for the girls and women working for Costel. One was taken to a Barcelona clinic when she was five months pregnant and forced to have an illegal abortion, for which four doctors have since been charged.

Costel and 18 accomplices now face a series of court cases which, if they are found guilty, could bring 279 years in prison sentences.

Costel’s arrival to Alicante from a Romanian prison was reportedly delayed at the beginning of the week due to heavy snow in the capital Bucharest, according to Romanian daily Adevarul although this could not be confirmed by Spanish sources.