Italy: Final Payment

What does a man do who is hounded by his creditors and tired of his wife? In the port of Reggio Calabria on Italy's toe. he sells his wife.

Last June, debt-ridden Vincenzo Marino, 32, a baker's assistant, sealed a deal with his friend Antonio Raffa, a courtroom attendant who greatly admired his wife Francesca. After some haggling, Marino agreed to let Francesca, 29, and two of their three children move in with Raffa for a consideration of $1,600. Although he already had a wife in Sicily, Raffa seemed glad to pay the charges—in easy installments. Since Raffa, 30, was...

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