Sex Trafficking2010
United States US
Cui has in recent months posted job advertisements in Korean-language newspapers seeking nail salon attendants. But once the women responded, Cui threatened them, Spota said, at times saying that she would have them or their families killed by Chinese gangsters. Cui also threatened to abandon them penniless on Long Island or tell their families they were prostitutes if they refused to cooperate, Suffolk DA Spota said. As many as eight women, all in their 30s and 40s, serviced dozens of clients a day at a Huntington Station nail salon and an unnamed "spa" near the Hicksville train station. The women performed a variety of sexual services for as little as $60, officials said. Cui got the money, officials said, and the women kept tips. One Craigslist ad earlier this month promised erotic services. Raids at the businesses and Cui’s home, an 8,000-square-foot, Tudor-style house in Flushing, found $20,000 in cash, lingerie, shower massage tables, cases of condoms, baby oil and rubbing alcohol. "There was not a single bottle of nail polish found," said Suffolk police Detective John Rodriguez, who assisted in the investigation. Rodriguez said many of the women — only some of whom have agreed to cooperate in the case — did not speak English and were new to the country. "If you’re from a small village, you don’t know the language, it can be easy to intimidate someone like that," he said. All information found from the following sources: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Queens-Woman-Charged-With-Sex-Trafficking-97407769.html http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/06/29/2010-06-29_queens_madam_forced_young_korean_women_into_lives_of_sex_slavery_in_li_massage_p.html http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/northeast/view.bg?articleid=1264866 http://www.newser.com/story/94221/ny-madam-forced-korean-women-into-sex-slavery.html http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2010/07/have-you-become-a-hooker-today/
Forced Labor2004
United States US
Mariluz Zavala pleaded guilty (November 5, 2004)of forced labor; conspiring to recruit, harbor, transport, house undocumented workers; engaging in extortionate credit transactions and transferring false alien registration cards of 69 Peruvians. Zavala and Jose Ibanez (co-defendent/husband) sheltered these immigrants into one house with squalid & cramped living conditions, 13 of who were minors, and used the earned money of the workers to pay for the mortgage of their three houses. They forced the victims to pay $6,000 to $13,000 for their smuggling fees.
Sex Trafficking2005
United States US
With the arrest 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. 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. Officers Dennis Kim and Jerry Svoronos were arrested along with alleged brothel operators Gina Kim and Geeho Chae following a 10-month investigation. 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. On June 20, 2008, a judge delayed the sentencing of Kim after prosecutors dropped new allegations of police corruption in a Queens precinct. Ex-NYPD Officer Dennis Kim and his partner admitted accepting cash and sexual favors from a pimp in return for protecting a brothel in Flushing. Now, the churchgoing Kim could face significantly more jail time because of claims from an informant that he and other cops in the 109th Precinct planted drugs on suspects and stole cash during gambling raids.