Prato's Hanger War: Chinese Mafia Rivalries Reach Across Europe's Fashion Trade

A Killing in Rome Leads Back to Prato

The killing of Zhang Dayong on a sidewalk in Rome has brought renewed attention to a violent struggle rooted in Prato, the textile city near Florence. Zhang, described as a senior Chinese underworld figure and the deputy of alleged crime boss Zhang Naizhong, was shot dead in a murder believed to be linked to competition over Prato's garment industry.

At stake is a business network reaching far beyond Tuscany. The market for clothes hangers alone is estimated at €100 million, while control of the transport carrying garments across Europe offers criminal groups a much wider source of money and influence. The conflict has become known as the hanger war.

Prato is described as Europe's largest apparel manufacturing center and a pillar of the Made in Italy brand. More than 5,000 mostly Chinese operated apparel and knitwear businesses are estimated to work there. Their ability to make affordable clothes quickly has helped revive the local economy, while parts of the industry have become entangled with exploitation, fraud and organized crime.

As of August 4, 2025, the struggle involves allegations of beatings, threats, arson and murder, alongside demands for stronger policing and judicial resources. Warehouse fires in Paris and Madrid have added to concerns that the contest over Prato's factories and distribution routes extends across national borders.

For workers, factory owners and legitimate transport companies, the consequences are immediate. A business that depends on getting clothes to market quickly can be vulnerable to anyone able to threaten its staff, destroy its stock or interfere with deliveries. Control over these ordinary commercial services is central to the conflict.

How Prato Became a Fast Fashion Center

Chinese immigration reshaped Prato from the late 1980s and through the 1990s. Many newcomers came from Zhejiang and Fujian provinces and found opportunities in a textile industry that was struggling. They imported inexpensive fabrics from China and established thousands of small workshops capable of responding rapidly to demand.

Fast fashion means producing affordable garments quickly as demand changes. Prato's workshops built their business around that speed, supplying markets across Europe and helping turn the city into home to one of Europe's largest Chinese communities.

The economic transformation created jobs and gave consumers wider access to clothes bearing the Made in Italy label. It also changed the balance between established Italian textile companies and newer businesses whose production methods, costs and working hours could be very different.

Traditional Italian firms have struggled to compete with the speed and prices of Chinese operated workshops. Some have accused their competitors of avoiding taxes, breaking employment rules and disregarding local customs. Others acknowledge that Chinese entrepreneurs brought new life to the city's economy. Cooperation and tension exist alongside each other.

Luxury brands including Gucci and Prada have outsourced production to Prato, drawing on its skilled workforce and efficient supply chains. Greater scrutiny of those supply chains and periodic government crackdowns have pushed some Chinese factories to change their practices, hire workers from other countries and seek partnerships with Italian firms to gain legitimacy.

Workers Bear the Pressure of Low Prices

Workers from China and Pakistan are among those employed in workshops where pay has reportedly fallen as low as €3 an hour. Some work shifts lasting 13 hours, seven days a week. Production can continue around the clock, keeping costs low while placing a heavy burden on employees.

Many workers are undocumented immigrants. Their insecure position makes it harder to challenge an employer or report threats, especially when losing a job may also mean losing their main means of support. Union organizers say fear of retaliation from employers and criminal gangs discourages complaints and collective action.

A union representative described the conditions facing immigrants in the industry and the risks associated with speaking out:

The industry operates outside the law. Immigrants work long hours for little pay, and anyone who complains risks losing their job—or worse.

Unions have secured legal contracts and better conditions for a minority of workers. Most remain vulnerable in a system also described as "free from laws and contracts," where ordinary employees can face violence connected to commercial struggles they do not control.

Some businesses open and close rapidly, often to escape taxes, inspections or fines. That pattern makes it harder to hold an employer responsible over time. Labor and safety violations sit alongside allegations of customs fraud, fabric smuggling and hidden transfers of profits to China.

The Criminal Prize Is Bigger Than Hangers

Chinese organized crime groups, often called triads, initially focused on people smuggling and illegal immigration as the community in Prato grew. Their interests later expanded into extortion, commercial racketeering and control of logistics, the organization and transport of goods.

Hangers matter because garment businesses need them, but the larger prize is the movement of clothing and other Chinese products across Europe. A criminal group able to control transport can exert pressure on many businesses at once, reaching beyond a single factory or product.

Zhang Naizhong, known as "The Black Man," has been described in investigations as a "boss of bosses" within Italy's Chinese mafia. His organization is said to resemble Italy's domestic mafia groups, demanding absolute loyalty and using intimidation and violence to maintain authority.

Zhang Dayong, the man killed in Rome, was described as his deputy. Investigators believe the killing was directly connected to the struggle centered on Prato, although the precise circumstances and responsibility for the murder remain unresolved in the account available as of August 4.

Prosecutors describe criminal interests that extend beyond clothing: betting dens, prostitution, drug trafficking and underground banking. They also say these groups arrange illegal immigration, supplying cheap labor to factories, and provide clandestine transfers that help business owners evade taxes and move profits out of Europe.

Violence Spreads Through Commercial Networks

Chinese business owners and factory workers in Prato have been beaten or threatened during the conflict. Cars and warehouses have been set on fire. Prosecutors and law enforcement officials describe assaults, arson attacks and killings as methods used to intimidate rivals and strengthen control over the industry.

Industrial areas have become places of fear for people whose daily work depends on factories, storage buildings and deliveries. An attack on a warehouse can affect the business that owns it, the workers employed there and customers waiting for goods.

The violence also reaches beyond Italy. Warehouse fires have been reported in Paris and Madrid, while the criminal network described by investigators has branches in Paris, Neuss in Germany, Madrid and Barcelona.

Police believe attacks and threats in these cities form part of a coordinated effort to remove competitors and establish a monopoly over the movement of Chinese products across Europe. A monopoly means one organization controls a market so thoroughly that others have little room to compete.

Authorities in Germany and France have confirmed investigations into organized crime groups dominated by Chinese members. The offenses under examination range from tax and customs fraud to crimes associated with nightlife businesses. Italian prosecutors warn that the escalation has developed into a large commercial operation with the capacity to disrupt the wider European fashion trade.

The Police Response and Its Limits

Prato's chief prosecutor, Luca Tescaroli, has called on the Italian government to establish a dedicated anti-mafia division and provide more judges and police officers. His appeal reflects the range of work involved, from investigating violence to tracing businesses, money transfers and transport networks.

In 2018, Italian police arrested 33 people suspected of operating a Chinese mafia organization that dominated the transport of Chinese products in Europe. Authorities seized assets worth millions of euros, including bank accounts, vehicles and real estate. The operation drew international attention to the reach and organization of the groups involved.

Many of those arrested, including Zhang Naizhong, were subsequently released because of insufficient evidence. The case illustrates the difficulty authorities face in turning an extensive investigation into evidence strong enough to sustain criminal proceedings.

Investigators face language barriers, limited access to close community networks and intimidation that discourages witnesses from cooperating. Crimes can go unreported when victims fear the consequences of speaking to police. Those conditions make it difficult to build a complete account of attacks and identify who ordered them.

Prosecutors say the business model is changing. Drug trafficking and prostitution continue to generate money, but control of transport and logistics has become a central source of power. Investigating that activity requires following connections between businesses and countries as well as investigating individual acts of violence.

Corruption Complicates Enforcement

A senior police officer was accused in May 2024 of leaking classified information to entrepreneurs. Complaints from workers who had been attacked also reportedly went uninvestigated. Such failures can leave victims without protection and give businesses under scrutiny an advantage over investigators.

Prato's mayor resigned in June amid a corruption investigation. The resignation added to concern about the ability of local institutions to confront crime while facing allegations concerning their own conduct.

The expression "Prato system" describes a broader web of corruption, irregularities and legal loopholes around parts of the fast fashion industry. Businesses can avoid labor rules and taxes, import fabric or goods without paying customs duties, and use informal channels to move money and people.

Economic pressures, weak enforcement and the complicity of some officials help sustain that system. A factory operating without proper contracts or tax payments can keep its prices below those of a business meeting those obligations, placing pressure on competitors as well as workers.

Underground money transfers connect the local production economy with activity outside Italy. Profits can be moved back to China through channels that avoid ordinary financial oversight, while smuggled fabric lowers the cost of making garments. Together, these practices link workplace abuses to customs and financial crime.

A Conflict That Developed Over Decades

Prato's present crisis follows years of industrial change, criminal expansion and attempts at enforcement. The main dates show how the growth of garment production and the struggle to police it have unfolded:

• Late 1980s and 1990s: Chinese immigrants, mainly from Zhejiang and Fujian, established workshops and helped revive Prato's struggling textile economy.
• 2018: Italian police arrested 33 suspected members of a Chinese mafia organization involved in transporting Chinese products across Europe and seized assets worth millions of euros.
• May 2024: A senior police officer was accused of leaking classified information to entrepreneurs.
• June: Prato's mayor resigned amid a corruption investigation.
• By August 4, 2025: Zhang Dayong's killing in Rome and violence connected to Prato's garment trade had intensified concern over the hanger war.

The connection between these developments lies in the industry's commercial reach. Workshops in one Tuscan city supply customers across Europe, while the people, materials, money and transport services supporting them cross borders. Criminal groups seeking control can operate along those same routes.

What the Struggle Means for Prato

Prato's economy has benefited from the energy and production capacity of Chinese entrepreneurs. Thousands of businesses, new jobs and rapid manufacturing have helped sustain its place in European fashion. The same industry contains workers facing extreme hours and businesses exposed to intimidation or unfair competition.

The Made in Italy label is part of what is at stake. Allegations of illegal production practices and criminal influence have raised concerns about the integrity of the fashion industry, while scrutiny from luxury brands has already encouraged some factories to improve conditions.

For legitimate businesses, stronger enforcement could address competitors that avoid taxes, customs duties and employment obligations. For workers, the concrete needs are legal contracts, safer conditions and the ability to report abuse without facing retaliation.

Authorities are increasing efforts against organized crime, while Tescaroli's request for a dedicated anti-mafia division puts additional investigative capacity at the center of the response. The account gives no timetable for creating that division or sending reinforcements.

Prato's difficulties span policing, labor protection and relations with immigrant communities. Intimidation limits cooperation with investigators; exploitation makes workers vulnerable; corruption can weaken the institutions responsible for protecting them. Addressing these connected problems is central to reducing the criminal control described by prosecutors.

The city also faces a challenge extending beyond its boundaries. Transport routes, warehouses and financial networks connect Prato to France, Germany and Spain. Action within Tuscany therefore sits alongside the investigations already under way elsewhere in Europe, where competition over distribution has carried the conflict into other commercial centers.

Key Points

• Zhang Dayong's killing in Rome is believed to be linked to a struggle over Prato's garment and transport businesses.
• The clothes hanger market is estimated at €100 million, but criminal groups are also seeking control over clothing deliveries across Europe.
• Prato has more than 5,000 mostly Chinese operated apparel and knitwear businesses, alongside reports of severe exploitation in parts of the industry.
• Workers have reportedly earned as little as €3 an hour for shifts lasting 13 hours, seven days a week.
• Police arrested 33 suspects in 2018, but many, including Zhang Naizhong, were later released because of insufficient evidence.
• Chief prosecutor Luca Tescaroli has requested a dedicated anti-mafia division and more judges and police.
• Violence, corruption allegations and investigations in several European countries show the conflict extends beyond Prato.