Snakeheads - The Chinese Mafia & the New Slave Trade

Due to its reputation of being a materialistic paradise America exerts a powerful attraction throughout the world. As the permission to enter the country is strictly regulated, unscrupulous traffickers see their chance. In exchange for large amounts of money they smuggle people into America. A ship that had run aground with illegal Chinese aboard put filmmaker Jon Alpert on the track of the new slave trade. SNAKEHEADS: THE CHINESE MAFIA & THE NEW SLAVE TRADE unravels the malpractices of Chinese criminals, who go to villages to shanghai workmen. After the villagers have signed an IOU they are shipped to America, where they will live on a pittance as illegal immigrants in the margins of society. Many of them are confronted daily with a threatening atmosphere because they are unable to pay their debts to the smugglers.