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CSECArchive 2008–2016

CSEC in Staten Island, New York (2010)

A CSEC case from 2010 in Staten Island, New York, United States. 1 source on file.

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What happened

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Authorities have charged 14 reputed members and associates of the Gambino crime family -- including nine Staten Islanders -- on counts ranging from sex trafficking of a minor to murder and racketeering. OREFICE, DIFIORE, MANZELLA, SCOTTO, EISLER, MAIURRO, and PORCELLI are charged with sex trafficking and sex trafficking of a minor. From 2008 to 2009, the defendants operated a prostitution business where young women and girls—including an underage girl who was 15 years old at the time—were exploited and sold for sex. The defendants first recruited various young women and girls—ages 15 through 19—to work as prostitutes. The defendants then advertised the prostitution business on Craigslist and other websites. The defendants drove the women to appointments in Manhattan, Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Staten Island to have sex with clients. The defendants then took approximately 50 percent of the money paid to the young women. The defendants also made the women available for sex to gamblers at a weekly, high-stakes poker games that OREFICE and his crew ran

Response and intervention

Twelve of the 14 were arrested early Tuesday, one was arrested last week and another is on the run, the Justice Department said. The charges included racketeering, murder, sex trafficking, sex trafficking of a minor, jury tampering, extortion, assault, narcotics trafficking, wire fraud, loansharking and illegal gambling. “It’s still about making money,” said George Venizelos, head of the New York FBI office. Prosecutors said the mobsters drove the prostitutes to appointments in Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn and New Jersey, splitting their earnings with them. The defendants also “made the young women available for sex to the players at the regular high-stakes poker games” hosted by the family, the court papers said. At a news conference, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the sex trafficking ring both a “new low” and an apparent “first for the mob.” http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nyfo042010.htm

Sources

Nearby cases

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Sex Trafficking2010

Staten Island, United States, 2010

United States US

Most of the defendants were arraigned yesterday in State Supreme Court on Staten Island before Justice Leonard P. Rienzi, who set bail for Mr. Farella at $400,000. He set bail for Mr. Pioppo at $80,000 and for Mr. Galbo at $40,000. Mr. Farella's lawyer, Vincent J. Romano, said he and his client knew about the investigation since the first search warrant in the investigation of the prostitution ring was executed in October 2002. But Mr. Romano insisted that his client's businesses were lawful and that he was unaware that anyone who worked for him was exchanging sex for money. ''It was a business,'' Mr. Romano said. ''It was a legitimate business.'' He said his client ''didn't authorize, force or coerce'' anyone to take part in any illegal activity. ''If it happened, my client didn't know it happened,'' the lawyer added. The women were dispatched from storefront offices in Staten Island and from a Brooklyn apartment and would be dropped off by the limousine drivers, mostly in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, the law enforcement official said. Two women would ride with each driver, and they would work 12-hour shifts, the official said. They carried a device inside the car to make an imprint of customers' credit cards, the official said. At the end of the night, most of the drivers and the women would come together to settle up at a Dunkin' Donuts shop or a diner in Brooklyn, with as many as six of the cars parked outside as the credit-card receipts and cash were counted and the women were given their share of roughly one-third of the proceeds, the official said.

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016
CSEC2009

Bensonhurst, New York, United States, 2009

United States US

Between April 2007 and November 2009, the defendants, who are Mexican nationals, used physical violence, threats, and intimidation to force a 17-year-old Mexican woman (the victim), to work as a prostitute in and around New York City and elsewhere. The victim was not permitted to leave the apartment where she lived with the defendants in Brooklyn except to work as a prostitute. Half of the money she earned was taken by Salazar, and the balance was kept by drivers who transported her to work locations. The violence used against the victim included Salazar punching her in the face and body and beating her with a brick and a wooden board, and Mendez cutting her with a knife.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Sex Trafficking2008

Brooklyn, New York, United States, 2008

United States US

Chai Hock Ng trafficked three women from Indonesia to work in brothels first in Connecticut then in Brooklyn. The victims knew the man as Johnny, who recruited them, saying that for $3,000 the women would receive a falsified visa, a plane ticket, and a restaurant job in New York. After arriving, the women were told they would be working as prostitutes, and threatened with being shot by Ng and several of his friends. The victims were forced to have sex with men, who were charged $140 for 45 minutes, and told that they now owed Ng $30,000 and that he would make arrangements to sell them to brothels in order to collect his money.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016