Florida Authorities Cuff Two Alleged Pimps
Law enforcement officials from Florida traveled to Maspeth last Friday, Oct. 3, and picked up two residents allegedly connected to a prostitution ring involving gay men, it was reported.
The suspects were identified in published reports as Viktor Berki, 28, and Andras Janos Vass, 24, two Hungarian nationals who were taken into custody at a 61st Street location.
According to the Miami Herald, Berki, Vass and a third individual-Gabor Acs, arrested in Florida-held three young gay men inside locations in Maspeth and Miami and forced them into selling their bodies, sometimes working in 20-hour shifts.
Reportedly, the victims- males in their 20s-made contacts with the ringleaders online and were flown to the U.S. on promises of legitimate work.
But when they arrived, the Herald report noted, they were forced into prostitution and taking part in sex acts shown through live webcams. The incidents reportedly occurred inside a one-bedroom apartment in Maspeth, where up to eight men lived and worked.
As noted in the Herald report, the suspects allegedly seized the victims’ money and personal identification and made verbal threats if they attempted to escape.
“These individuals may have come from a differnet country to exploit the vulnerable, but they used the same basic trafficker tools of fear and intimidation to make their profits,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle was quoted in the Herald report.
