By Kathianne Boniello
A Bayside prostitution ring run by what authorities described as a repeat offender was shut down last week and $370,000 and hundreds of diamonds and imitation jewels believed to be its profits were seized Tuesday, the Queens District Attorney’s office said.
Three people were arrested in connection with the alleged Bell Boulevard brothel, including Aviva Leb, 57, of 13-21 Bell Blvd., whom Spokeswoman Betsy Herzog of the DA’s office said was arrested and convicted last year on several charges of promoting prostitution in a different location.
“They did a follow-up investigation on her and found she went right back into it,” Herzog said of Leb, whom the DA’s office also said uses the name Carmela Lebanon.
The supposed profits from Leb’s alleged prostitution ring — $370,000 and 400 diamonds or imitation stones — were found Tuesday after police searched a safety deposit box in Leb’s name at the Independence Community Savings Bank in Bayside, the DA’s office said.
Also arrested in the case of the Bayside prostitution ring that was allegedly run out of a home at 24-15 Bell Blvd. were Lisa Lamarti, 40, of 45-14 Pearson St. in Long Island City, and Israel Mandelkorn, 52, of 1350 Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, the DA’s office said.
Leb was charged with two counts of promoting prostitution and could face seven years in prison if convicted.
Lamarti was charged with one count of prostitution, and Mandelkorn, whom District Attorney Richard Brown’s office said had a video camera and a tape of himself and Lamarti having sex, was facing a charge of patronizing a prostitute.
The joint investigation conducted by Brown’s office and the New York Police Department and overseen by Assistant District Attorneys Oscar Ruiz and Michael Connelly began in December as a followup to Leb’s convictions in 2000, Herzog said.
Brown said Leb’s arrest was part of a crackdown on prostitution in the borough.
“Her latest and hopefully last arrest for a very long time is part of our continuing effort to eliminate houses of prostitution and street prostitution in our neighborhoods and revitalize those areas that have fallen victim to these illegal activities,” Brown said in a statement.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
