The Movable Buffet

Dispatches from Las Vegas
by Richard Abowitz

Category: Vegas prostitution

Top 50 hookers in Vegas?

February 16, 2009 |  9:50 am

Just as the mayor was agitating to legalize prostitution downtown, the police have begun one of the most elaborate crackdowns on hookers in the history of the Strip. The program is called VETO (Vice Enforcement Top Offenders) and has gathered up the names of the 50 women whom police describe as "the most prolific prostitutes" in Vegas.

The Review-Journal has a partial list with photographs of the women here. But there are some problems. First you will notice that a number of women have been charged with trespassing or loitering and not prostitution. The casinos have banned the women and they returned. Prostitution was not directly involved in most of the arrests the program is taking credit for making. And that points to the main problem with VETO: It is only touching on one small part of the illegal prostitution that is everywhere in Vegas. These hookers are the ones who hang out in hotels looking for customers, and therefore are the most visible prostitutes to tourists; they are the Strip version of streetwalkers. For that reason this reeks of being a show pony for media rather than a serious attempt to really crack down on the activity.

For example, nothing in this program is meant to catch casino hosts who supply high rollers with hookers for kickbacks from the hookers. Also, there is a huge and thriving Internet community of escort prostitutes who work through websites that even contain consumer reviews by customers that also escapes targeting by this program.

The Internet escorts, like the prostitutes who work with casino hosts, do not loiter at a resort or search for customers at the casino but are already going to meet the john through arrangements made by phone and e-mail.

VETO therefore is really only targeting  the women who show up at a casino looking for customers. There are plenty of them. But they are probably not, as advertised by police, "the most prolific" prostitutes in Vegas. And what they do is just a tiny part of the illegal prostitution that takes place on the Strip daily and nightly.


Vegas prostitutes: Lukewarm on legalization

January 23, 2009 |  8:32 am

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman kept the idea for a red-light district for downtown Vegas alive. At his news conference yesterday the mayor told reporters: "I’ve met with folks from that industry who make a very compelling argument that it could generate $200 million a year in tax dollars, and that would buy a lot of textbooks, pay for a lot of teachers.” Interestingly, the prostitutes legal and illegal do not seem very excited by the potential of plying their trade in Vegas, at least, within the sanction of the law.

You see, when the mayor refers to "that industry" he does not mean he met with hookers. He met with representatives of the brothel industry and not actual prostitutes. I reached a prostitute at the Chicken Ranch to get her opinion of legal prostitution in Vegas. She asked that her name not be used but e-mailed:

"Since many customers are critically concerned with discretion and prostitutes prefer their 'freedom,' I believe the idea may appear much more appealing than the reality of the situation and what is necessary to make it happen"

As for what is necessary, she adds:

"I suspect that many in favor of legalizing prostitution may not realize all the checks and balances necessary to do so. Legalizing prostitution in Las Vegas may benefit the city as long as we recognize that legal prostitutes must remain in a 'quarantined' brothel where condoms remain a requirement for all sexual services, the ladies are tested for AIDS and STDs."

The first point is the one I want to focus on. At Southern Nevada brothels, sex workers are quarantined, which means (with only certain specific exceptions) that they are not allowed to leave the brothel property after getting tested for diseases. A week spent unable to leave the property is not unusual. Many workers, leaving children behind, stay for a month. When I lived at the Chicken Ranch for a story, I found being unable to ever leave the property one of the most oppressive aspects of life at a brothel.

Interestingly, there is no law requiring quarantine and the practice is not used in the Northern Nevada brothels. But it goes to show the power the brothel system maintains over the workers who bring in the customers and money. In any other industry, the brothel system itself would seem obviously a bad deal for the workers. The brothels charge room and board to the workers for lodging as well as take up to half the money earned by them from customers, technically often including tips. So, you could in theory work a week and lose money after you pay your rent to the brothel. Women have no privacy rights even in their rented rooms which can be searched by the brothel owners for hidden cash or drugs at any time. The sacrifice of "freedom" is real.

Others strongly object to the money. One local high-end illegal escort I reached who opposes legal brothels in Vegas told me: "I would never give a brothel owner half of what I earn, that is a legal word for pimp."

So, interestingly, one constituency not rushing out to support this idea, it seems, is prostitutes.


Will Las Vegas finally legalize prostitution?

January 22, 2009 |  8:42 am

Brothel1

Perhaps the most widely ignored legal reality in Las Vegas (except for the open container law) are the laws against prostitution. From brothel prostitution to escorts, there is no form of legal prostitution in Clark County, which includes Vegas. The confusion is caused by the fact that Nevada is the only state in the nation with legal brothel prostitution, just not in Vegas. The closest legal brothel to Vegas is the Chicken Ranch, which is just minutes from the county line by car.

Whenever Vegas has hit an economic road bump in the last decade, the idea of legalizing prostitution has been floated as a solution, and then gone nowhere. There are a few reasons for this. The state Legislature would have to pass a law allowing prostitution in Clark County and that would severely hurt the tax base of the smaller counties that depend on the money that comes from brothels. The state of Nevada -- despite the willingness, indeed, occasional eagerness of the brothel industry to be taxed -- has been reluctant to craft any integral role for the brothels in the state tax base. The view was based not only on resisting the temptation for expansion but on a general belief that as the state left behind its Western libertarian roots, rural Nevada would eventually grow out of the need for brothel taxes as suburbs blossomed, replacing the empty ghost towns and desert nothing between Reno (where prostitution is illegal) and Vegas. Also, the casino industry (especially Steve Wynn) has in the past opposed any attempt to legalize prostitution in Vegas. Finally, no previous economic crisis Vegas has faced has lasted long enough to begin a dialogue about opening up Vegas to legalized prostitution. Once the crisis fades, interest vanishes.

Of course, the biggest sponsor for considering legalized prostitution in Vegas is Mayor Oscar Goodman. But because prostitution is an issue to be decided on the state level, his support for exploring the use of the oldest profession for downtown redevelopment has never received any serious attention.

Now, state Sen. Bob Coffin has given fresh life to this old idea by simply bringing it up as a serious proposal. According to the Sun, "This is the first time in recent memory that a legislator has taken up this issue." Unsurprisingly, Coffin need not care about political fallout as he has reached his term limit for service and will not have to run again. Just as interesting, the article's one clear opponent to expanding Nevada's legalized prostitution system to Vegas is identified only as a "ranking Assembly Democrat." What does it say about changing times and attitudes when the opponents of expanded legalized prostitution do not want their names in a story connected to that position? Obviously, behind this push for expanding legalized prostitution is Nevada's budget mess. To give one example, the governor's proposed budget may require cutting close to half of UNLV's state funding. Therefore, no one is leaping to oppose ideas that can add money to help fix this mess.

So, here we are in 2009, and Nevada does not have enough money and everyone knows it. And everyone accepts that an awful lot of prostitution is going on unregulated and untaxed in Las Vegas. There are no new arguments about this issue, just changing times. And, unlike a recent proposal to lower the gambling age to 18, expanding legal prostitution does not seem as offensive to the general populace of Sin City, many of whom probably never knew it was illegal in the first place. After all, why should Nye County (where the Chicken Ranch is located) get the tax benefit from Vegas tourists?

Still, as much as downtown Las Vegas might support this idea, I doubt the casinos have changed their position. Resorts are opposed to most things that take their customers off the property to spend money. And without the support of the gambling industry, legalized prostitution in Las Vegas would be almost politically impossible.

But these are economic times like Vegas has never seen before. And I suspect this idea will get more attention than anyone imagines this go-around. The time to discuss legalized prostitution for Las Vegas has arrived. 

I certainly have mixed views on whether this would be good for Vegas tourism, the community and the customers and workers who frequent this sort of entertainment. Many of my opinions were formed when I was working on a story and spent a week living at the Chicken Ranch and observing the business up close. And as this moves along, I will share those thoughts and memories with you.

But for now, I am curious about what you think. Would legal prostitution be another way to make Vegas a fantastic fantasy spot for you, or would it make Vegas a hopelessly seedy neighborhood stacked with many of the world's most expensive and luxurious resorts? Would you be more or less likely to visit Vegas if there was legal prostitution available in some form?

These are questions getting a new look in 2009 as Vegas continues to lose residents and visitors, faces an unprecedented drop in gambling and remains the foreclosure capital of the country. Is it time to bring on the hookers to help save Las Vegas?

Photo: Dallas combs her hair at the brothel Donna's Ranch in Wells, NV. George Frey / For The Times


Massage parlor faces revealing light

July 3, 2008 | 10:18 am

From today's paper comes this article about Sunflower Massage, not too far from the tourist corridor and being investigated for prostitution:

". . . Crime scene analyst Tracy Kruse . . . inspected Sunflower Massage. . . . She used special lights that illuminate chemicals and biological fluids, and 'the rooms glowed a lot,' Kruse said. Subsequent tests indicated that the glowing globs were semen."

I have never been to a Las Vegas massage parlor. And if you go I would recommend dressing like it is winter in Minnesota. Touch nothing. And really ask yourself if this is where you want to be during your Vegas visit.


More on Operation Doll House

April 25, 2007 |  9:32 am
Operation Doll House continues to generate tremendous local interest. The raid on Saturday night was part of a two year investigation that closed a string of allegedly illegal brothels in Las Vegas utilizing, according to police, unwilling prostitutes who are victims of human trafficking. Therefore I was surprised that not a single customer was arrested. The Review-Journal interviews the district attorney on this point, about why no customers were charged in the raid, and he offers this:
 
"Clark County District Attorney David Roger said it would be nearly impossible for police to arrest customers who were found at a brothel, even if they admitted to what they were doing there.

'A typical solicitation (charge) involves an undercover detective who has direct communication with the alleged suspect,' Roger said, explaining that prosecutors need that direct line of evidence to nail down a conviction. 'There is no such evidence when you go into a place like this (a brothel) and find a male and some prostitutes.'"

Can that be true? A male is found with a bunch of prostitutes in an area which is described elsewhere in the Review-Journal's story as containing: "four beds, four TVs, a bulk order of 1,000 condoms and eight gallons of lubricant." And, in this hypothetical the man even admits to police what he is doing there. You still could not charge him in Las Vegas? Or, is it that juries here won't convict him? I am going to make some calls on this to the DA and local defense attorneys today and see if I can get some clarification.

Anyway, if the police really believe these women have been victims of human trafficking and forced into prostitution, it seems to me, that charging some of the customers that flow money into that system would be appropriate. It was, after all, a two year investigation; so, I assume all sorts of evidence against regular customers and others should have been obtainable to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

One side issue: I am curious about (and anyone with information please e-mail me) how hard it is to get a legitimate massage in Las Vegas late on a Saturday night?  I called over to the Mirage spa to see if a customer could schedule or request a massage on a Saturday night. I was told the spa closes at 9 PM and there was no other service available after that. I then called the Mirage concierge desk to ask if there was anyway they could arrange a legitimate massage late on Saturday night and was told that there was nothing they knew to do.


California sheriff at Vegas brothel?

April 24, 2007 |  4:04 pm
One of the more disturbing stories in Las Vegas right now is Operation Doll House. As reported in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, this is the name given to a police and FBI investigation and raid that has resulted in 8 arrests at 8 alleged brothels and the rescuing of 25 women who apparently were being forced to work as prostitutes in an organization tied to what the authorities have so far only identified as Asian organized crime. No customers were apparently charged in the raid. So, one fact omitted from local coverage was that both the sheriff of San Mateo County and his undersheriff were found by police and questioned in the Saturday night raid. They were not arrested. According to San Francisco Chronicle, Sheriff Munks offered this explanation for his late night presence at a brothel that apparently billed itself with the usual code of massage parlor:
 
 

"Munks called the incident a 'personal embarrassment' and apologized today to sheriff's officials, the county and his family for his 'lack of personal judgment.'

'I believed I was going to a legitimate business,' Munks said, reading from a written statement. 'It was not.'

Munks said he and Bolanos were both questioned by authorities and released. Bolanos was still outside the establishment when it was raided, Munks said.

'I would not, nor did I, break any laws,' Munks said. 'Neither did the undersheriff.'

He declined to answer questions."

 

I bet he did. Come on! This crime fighter allegedly goes to a massage parlor near the Strip on Saturday night and he expects, what, a massage? 



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