NEW YORK, July 20: Scores of Mexicans who are deaf andnunable to speak were held in ``virtual slavery'' while being forced to peddle trinkets for a man who kept their earnings, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Saturday.

Police found 62 Mexicans, 10 of them children, crammed into two apartments divided into cubicles, Giuliani told reporters. The children ranged in age from 4 months to 7 years. `'This is a very disgusting and horrible situation,'' he said.

The mayor said at least one man, and possibly others, had been holding a number of people in bondage, in virtual slavery. ``The adults 30 women and 22 men also may have been physically and sexually abused,'' he said.

No charges had been filed on Saturday. Police were questioning a man who was accused of being the boss of the operation, authorities said.

Authorities believe the Mexicans were brought into the United States and forced to sell trinket key chains on the streets, Giuliani said. Four of the men got away before dawn on Saturday and went to a police station, said police spokeswoman Carmen Melendez.

They somehow got a sergeant to understand that they were ``put to work for little or no pay,'' and that their papers had been confiscated, she said.Police then went to a house in the heavily Hispanic Jackson heights section of Queens and found 44 people crammed into one apartment.

Eighteen others were found in a second apartment nearby. ``They all seem to be in good health,'' Melendez said.

The Mayor said the apartments were intended for only seven or eight people each. The rooms were divided into cubicles with mattresses on the floors, he added. Authorities were using experts in Spanish sign language to interview the group.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.