An investigation by El Diario La Prensa reveals how a ring of brothels operates near Roosevelt Avenue, Queens.
Young men standing on street corners call out: “Girls, girls!” while they hand out cards with erotic pictures of women on them. These men are known as terjeteros, “card holders.” They ride bicycles or walk, and guide clients into the clandestine world of prostitution in Queens.
Out of a total of 1,448 arrests related to prostitution until May 2008 in New York City, whether they were made because of sponsorship, promotion, or association with crimes and vagrancy, nearly 18 percent occurred in a small zone bordering on Roosevelt Avenue, according to figures from the State Department of Justice.
This area in northern Queens includes the neighborhoods of Jackson Heights and Corona. Prostitution has flourished in this zone and arrests have increased by 11 percent in the past year, according to Joseph Burns, chief of the Anti-Corruption Unit in northern Queens.
The majority of those involved in the murky world of prostitution in this area of Queens – the landlords who rent out rooms in houses without asking questions; the tough men in charge of running the brothels; the women who work there, many against their will; and the clients of these brothels – are Latino.
The business is brutal and dangerous, and above all requires secrecy in order to operate under the nose of police. And if those who commit prostitution crimes can infiltrate the law, it’s worth gold to them.
This report by El Diario La Prensa opens a window into the world of prostitution along Roosevelt Avenue and explains how a ring of six brothels operates, from how they obtain houses to how they hide from the police. The report commenced with information obtained from a participant in this prostitution ring, on condition of anonymity, and confirmed and expanded by police and other official sources. The investigation involved multiple reporters over a period of two months. The six brothels are located between 74th Street and 95th Street, in the streets parallel or perpendicular to Roosevelt Avenue.
The card holders stand on Roosevelt Avenue and say to all who pass, “Girls, girls.” Whoever is interested in the offer is “pulled” to one of the houses where the women work.
On the outside they appear to be simple residential homes, but the reality is that inside they have a room, usually in the basement, that serves as a brothel. Four to six women work in each house.
The prostitutes have to divide the money that they earn from clients with the men in charge of running the house. They also have to tip the card holders and buy condoms, toilet paper and other personal things from the same house. The women are the ones that work the hardest and earn the least.
The girls charge as little as $20 to have sex with a client, a service that lasts 15 minutes, according to a source from the District Attorney’s Office in Queens who did not want to be identified. The service costs $40, but the women only receive half that amount; the other $20 goes toward the house in which they practice prostitution.
Some of the women are there against their will. In November 2007, a state law went into effect in New York against human trafficking. The law criminalizes the trafficking of persons exploited for sex work or labor, and toughens up the laws that condemn people who traffic victims. The sentences for this crime are between three and 25 years in prison.
Until July 3rd of last year, 36 victims of human trafficking were identified in the state of New York, according to the Department of Criminal Justice Services. A total of 30 were born outside the United States and 19 came from Latin America.
According to our source, two out of every 10 women who work in prostitution rings are victims of human trafficking.
“The majority of the workers are from Mexico. Some are threatened by ‘pimps’ who lock them up in an apartment for a year, or kidnap their children in Mexico to prevent them from leaving,” says our source. “But the most common thing is that they fall in love,” our source adds.
The pimp handles the women directly and finds the houses where they work.
Three workers in the prostitution ring confirmed to El Diario that two women nicknamed “Chava” and “Yesica” are in charge of placing the women inside the houses.
At the top of the pyramid are the landlord of the house and those who manage the business.
According to our source, six of the eight houses belong to Javier Gómez, a resident of Queens. Ownership was corroborated through public documents from the City of New York Department of Finance. Two of the Gómez properties are located on Farley Street and on 76th Street, and he is co-owner of two other houses, one on 79th Street and the other on Judge Street. A fifth house, on Ithaca Street, belongs to his ex-wife.
Jorge Cosme, nicknamed “Fataché,” and another man identified only as “Jairo” manage these houses, according to two sources who have been inside the business and who spoke with El Diario. Gómez, the owner of the house, appears to rent the basements to “Fataché” and “Jairo” by charging them a determined amount (between $1,000 and $3,000), or taking a cut from their earnings from the business each day.
For the ring, it is essential to evade police surveillance. To achieve that end, they try to take advantage of cracks in police coverage.
The houses are located in a zone between police Precincts 110 and 115. Brothel schedules depend upon the movements of detectives from the Anti-Corruption Unit. According to our source, they operate between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. On the weekends the workload gets heavier.
But the prostitution ring’s secret weapon, which is the most important factor ensuring the business’ survival, is that men who run the brothels are themselves police informants.
According to our source, “Fataché” has informed Precinct 110 of prostitution activities for more than six years, while at the same time working for the prostitution ring. He provides information about other houses that practice prostitution in order to protect his own business.
Our source explained in detail how “Fataché” and “Jairo” have even mounted their own counterintelligence operatives within Precinct 110 in order to know when undercover police will be making their rounds, and can consequently warn those who run the houses.
“I don’t believe that the police know that Fataché is involved in the business, nor that they keep an eye on the precinct. They have one person in front and another at the back of the precinct informing them of all the activities,” said our source.
Neither Precinct 110 nor the District Attorney’s Office in Queens corroborated that “Fataché” was an informer for the Anti-Corruption Unit that covers the 16 precincts in Queens. The police argued that the identities of informants, who work for the special squadrons and used to obtain information that leads to arrests, are kept confidential for the informants’ own security.
“Given the protection that Fataché and Jairo are able to provide their houses, they feel untouchable,” said our source.
The chief of the Anti-Corruption Unit and the District Attorney’s Office in Queens responded to El Diario that they could not confirm if Gómez, the owner of the houses, is under investigation.
The prostitution ring revealed by the investigation is only a small part of a business that thrives in the shadows of the city. To fight it, some experts want to change the traditional focus: the arrest of prostitutes.
Prostitution is a business of alliances, deals and lies where at least 30 people earn money on a daily basis, but only one person really does the work.
“Prostitution is a crime and all who are involved are criminals. We have to change how we think about prostitution and see the sex workers as possible victims,” said Sonia Osorio, president of the Association of Women of New York, one of the advocates of the anti-human trafficking legislation in the state of New York.
According to the District Attorney’s Office in Queens, in 2006, 541 people were accused of crimes related to prostitution, not counting the prostitutes.
Assemblyman José Peralta (District 39) said it is necessary to restore the team that used to patrol Roosevelt Avenue and combated prostitution and drug trafficking in the 80s and early 90s.
Early in 2008, Peralta introduced legislation subject to vote this year that would increase the penalties against the card holders who promote prostitution on Roosevelt Avenue.
“The precincts are doing a good job, but we have to understand that Roosevelt Avenue is the dividing line between Precincts 110 and 115. We have to have more help to combat prostitution,” he said.
