More than 50 alleged johns ID'd in teen hooker probe

Investigators determine eight girls worked in teen bordello

(ANSA) - Rome, March 18 - More than 50 men are under investigation on suspicion of hiring underage prostitutes working out of an apartment in an upscale Rome neighborhood, judicial sources said Tuesday.

Prosecutors have identified eight young women, two of them minors, as working in the teen bordello allegedly run by Army Major Corporal Nunzio Pizzacalla and pimp Mirko Ieni, who is currently under house arrest.

Wiretaps revealed the husband of right-wing Italian MP Alessandra Mussolini is one of the suspected johns who contacted the girls most often. Mauro Floriani, a former finance police officer, is currently a manager at publicly-owned train operator Trenitalia.

He has three children with his wife, who is the grand-daughter of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and has recently served as president of a parliamentary infant's rights committee.

He has not been indicted in the ongoing probe, although he made a voluntary statement to police as to why his name was likely to show up on the girls' phone records.

Ieni was issued another arrest warrant Thursday after investigators determined he was also pimping out of an apartment in the Vescovio neighbourhood of Rome, where he filmed sexual activity unbeknownst to clients.

The underage hooker case made headlines in October when five men were arrested on suspicion of paying two underage prostitutes, who studied together at the same high school in Rome.

The girls allegedly began working in May 2013 after being lured through a social network called 'Bakeca Incontri' (Meetings Bulletin Board). They allegedly went to school in the morning and worked in the afternoon.

The Italian unit of international child protection agency ECPAT said there could be as many as 11,000 underage sex workers in Italy.