Italian police have arrested more than 40 members of a gang that allegedly scammed insurance pay-outs by breaking the limbs of poverty-stricken ‘volunteers’ with iron weights and chunks of concrete.

The 42 people, including a lawyer who was allegedly in on the fraud, were arrested by police in Palermo and Trapani in Sicily on Monday.

Investigators discovered at least 50 cases, including one in which the victim, a Tunisian migrant, was inadvertently killed after having several of his limbs broken.

“At a certain point it seems that he wanted the beating to stop because it was so painful, but to continue they gave him a dose of crack and he died of a cardiac arrest,” said Rodolfo Rupert, the head of the Palermo flying squad.

“Despite that, they took him to a roadside and attempted to pretend that he had been involved in a traffic accident so they could file an insurance claim.” He described the gang’s methods as “horrific”.

The gang allegedly recruited struggling migrants, drug addicts, alcoholics and homeless people, promising them a large share of any successful claim.