Sex Slaves-Gangs & Prostitution: Part One

With the arrest last Thursday of two NYPD officers accused of accepting payoffs in cash, drinks, and prostitution services in exchange for raiding competing brothels, authorities are focusing on the extent of the brothel problem in Queens.
Readers have contacted The Queens Courier, saying the existence of brothels, massage parlors, escort and modeling agencies, are well known in the Flushing/Fresh Meadows/Kissena Park area, and that each one has its own practices, regulations, ethnic groups, nationalities, and pricing systems.
Last week, the F.B.I., the police, the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, and Immigration and Customs agents announced the arrests of NYPD officers, Jerry Svoronos, and Dennis Kim who were assigned to the 109th Precinct, on charges of taking payoffs, both monetary and in trade, to allow the Asian brothel to flourish and protect the owners from competition.
Koreans Gina Kim and Geeho Chae, were accused of running the brothel at 57-24 164th St. in the quiet residential area of Flushing across from a cemetery and near Kissena Park, and forcing 16 young Asian women to work there as prostitutes. Law enforcement officials estimated that the location generated more than $1.4 million dollars a year or about $4,000 a day in revenues.
According to U.S. Assistant Attorney Steven H. Breslow, $800,000 in cash was found in the search of the homes and cars of Kim and Chae.
“The women either had been smuggled into the United States or had visitor’s visas. These women are being detained in federal custody and will be interviewed to see if more serious human trafficking charges were warranted against any of them,” said Breslow.
Officials noted that at this Queens brothel only Chinese and Korean men were allowed in. They added that some of the women became prostitutes because they owed up to $100,000 to smugglers, or “snakeheads,” who brought them to New York.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the agency in charge of protecting children, girls as young as 13 (mainly from Asia and Eastern Europe) are trafficked as “mail-order brides.” However, when they arrive here, they never meet the man of their dreams; instead, they begin to live a nightmare.
“We have had cases of young Russian and Korean girls, who came to marry somebody here in New York with the “groom” paying all the expenses. In reality, the girls come here to work as prostitutes in massage parlors, especially in Queens, Brooklyn, and New Jersey,” said Curtis Sliwa, founder and president of the Guardian Angels, an organization that fights against the gangs and crime.
“This case is another confirmation that gangs are using very sophisticated ways in order to recruit girls and young women for prostitution activities. We have a lot of young male immigrants, and the gangs are exploiting the situation,” said Dr. Nayibe Nunez-Berger, a psychologist with a private practice.
“We have at least 50 brothels along Roosevelt Avenue,” said community activist Orlando Tobón.
According to U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie, last year, Lev Trakhtenberg, a promoter of Russian entertainment pleaded guilty to conspiring to force Russian girls to dance in strip clubs and extorting exorbitant fees from them for their work. “These women were paid $200 a day. They were, in essence, his property, unable to leave the United States. Lingering over their heads was always the threat of harm to their families in Russia from mobsters,” Christie said.
Trakhtenberg admitted in court that he and others induced more than 25 women from Russia to the United States. “The majority of the women were brought on visa petitions which falsely purported that the women were part of internationally recognized Russian show groups,” Trakhtenberg admitted in court.
In another similar case, last year Josu/ and Gerardo Florez Carreto, two brothers from M/xico, and Daniel P/rez Alonso, pleaded guilty to kidnapping, sexual abuse and organized prostitution in Queens, where they were captured with six women who were working as sexual slaves, servicing customers for 16 or more hours a day.
The Florez Carreto brothers and P/rez Alonso are believed to be part of the Mexican gang, “Los Padrotes de Tenancingo.” Tenancingo is a town located outside of Ciudad de Puebla, in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. Los Padrotes live in the richest neighborhoods, drive the most expensive cars, and have a lot of money. Padrotes is the Mexican word for pimps.
“We also call them “Los Industrials.” They only like young, usually under-aged girls, from Mexico; Central America; Argentina; Venezuela; Colombia; Peru, and Ecuador. Los Padrotes force these girls to become addicted to drugs before exploiting them as prostitutes, and then the pimps use the drugs as a tool to ensure the continuation of their profits,” said a Catholic priest, who in secret has been helping some girls to save their lives. “In Queens we have a lot of massage parlors, escort and modeling agencies, offering their services in the newspapers. I don’t know if the police and the authorities ever read the papers,” the priest exclaimed.