IMPACT: SWEATSHOP EXPOSED
Owners of Tobacco Sweatshop Charged with Wage Theft
June 4, 2025
THE CITY’s exposé of HotHead Grabba, a tobacco sweatshop in northeast Brooklyn, triggered state and federal investigations and ultimately, an indictment against the sweatshop’s owners on more than 70 criminal charges.
In February 2024, we interviewed workers — mostly immigrant women from Ecuador — who were required to strip 15 pounds of tobacco leaves daily, 13 hours a day for only $8 an hour – if they were paid at all. The women alleged hazardous environments, wage theft and threats of deportation. Many complained of headaches, fatigue and difficulty breathing from the unsafe conditions.
Our reporting prompted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the New York State Department of Labor to investigate workplace safety and wage theft complaints. Several Brooklyn elected officials spoke up too, decrying the situation as “abhorrent” and “disgusting.”
In June 2025, Brooklyn district attorney Eric González charged the sweatshop’s operators on 74 counts, including stealing more than $310,000 in unpaid wages.
When reporter Claudia Irizarry Aponte reached out to the workers to get their reactions, one of them told her, “Finally, there is justice.”
OUR REPORTING ON THE ISSUE
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