Deaf-Mute Gang Leader In Court in New York

The self-confessed leader of a gang which forced deaf mutes from Mexico to sell trinkets on the streets of New York, has appeared in court in the city.

The woman, Adriana Paoletti Lemus -- who is herself a Mexican deaf mute -- testified through a Spanish-speaking sign language expert that she'd arranged for a hundred people to enter the United States illegally.

Once there, they were threatened or beaten if they failed to make sales of six hundred dollars a week.

She'll appear for sentencing in March; a total of twenty people have been charged in the case.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service