Modus Operandi Read online

  The primary advantage of prostitution for these men is its impartiality, impersonality and economy. Attracting and seducing a woman can be costly. By its effort to contain sexual acts in a meaningful and enduring social relationship, society creates advantages for prostitution. For less than the cost of a single date with a girl who is not a prostitute, a male can engage in whatever sexual fantasies he desires with a prostitute. Additionally, the impersonality of prostitution makes it particularly suited to strangers. The man away from his wife or circle of girlfriends cannot, in a short time, count on seducing a respectable woman. Also, since certain sexual acts are considered immoral for wives and sweethearts, the prostitute has an advantage. That is, the prostitute, as long as she gets paid, will usually perform 99.9 percent of the services requested by the client. The demand for prostitution will not be eliminated or seriously altered

  by a change in the economic system. The underlying basis for the demand is inherent in human society.

  Prostitute Categories

  Now it's time to put on our hot pants, lipstick and high-heeled shoes and check out the action on the streets.

  The Legalized Brothel

  In some countries prostitution is a legal, commercial venture. Brothels are licensed and regulated by the government in an effort to minimize the negative impacts of venereal disease and organized crime. These two side effects of prostitution are generally present in situations where prostitution is illegal.

  In Nevada, the practice of legalized brothels is accepted in almost all of the seventeen counties of the state. The Mustang Ranch, one of the fifty or more licensed brothels is the largest, doing an annual business of between S3 and $5 million. The house rules are not too strict. Drugs and sloppy clothes are not allowed. There are between twenty and twenty-five women working in this establishment at any given time. They are regularly inspected by physicians and are required to hang their health certificates on the walls. The average income of the women is approximately $600 to $700 per week, of which $300 goes for room and board. The women are free to accept or reject customers for any reason. They may, for example, discriminate against clients from different ethnic backgrounds. Whether or not the legal brothel has resulted in an increase or decrease in venereal disease or AIDS cannot be established. It has, however, decreased the activity of the police and courts in Nevada in dealing with prostitution.

  The Illegal Brothel

  In the United States most brothels that operate do so illegally. A common scene in New York City is luxurious east-side apartment houses, catering to New York and visiting businessmen.

  Sue, the proprietor of the brothel, receives a minimum of $700 every few days tax free. A trick, which is a sexual act, costs anywhere from $35 to $75 and the money is divided equally with the hooker. Sue calls the hookers or prostitutes to work when they are needed. Sue is perpetually looking for new women to satisfy her customers. She usually hears of women from other hookers.

  Sue considers her apartment a clean, respectable place that gentlemanly clientele can frequent. She avoids troublesome or aging hookers. Troublesome hookers are those who give out their home telephone numbers, which Sue considers stealing, and those who don't share the money that they have made from a client.

  To prevent detection by the police, Sue pays off the doorman and the building manager, and the owners of the building seem oblivious as long as the rent is paid. Every two or three years, Sue changes her apartment and her telephone number, in the process dropping a few johns, who either showed violent tendencies or didn't pay enough money. However, Sue must always stay on the right side of the clients she drops because they can always go to the police.

  The Street Walker

  In many respects the street walker is at the bottom of the prostitution hierarchy. The most common scene that we have experienced is a young girl, either a runaway or a throwaway child, who drifts to the big city after leaving her home. She could be running away from sexual abuse by family members or friends. She often works as a waitress or clerk and for a time lives a rootless, disorganized life without friends and without ties to any social institutions. During this crucial period she is dissatisfied, tense, bitter and bewildered. She is far away from home and away from things that, even though they were uncomfortable, were her mainstay in her younger years. Her shiftless, alienated way of life brings her into contact with established prostitutes, who on the surface seem to be very well off and have good job security. Her morals are at a low, and she hungers for some kind of friendship and affection, so she will accept

  dates arranged for her by a prostitute friend or the prostitute's pimp.

  What is a very common sight in New York City is for the pimps to be wandering around the Port Authority Terminal, which is the largest bus terminal in the United States. As these runaway or throwaway children enter the Port Authority, they are overwhelmed by the vastness and are easy to spot as new to the area. The pimps, who are male, frequent the coffee shops and rest areas of the Port Authority and attempt to strike up a conversation with these runaways. They offer them shelter for the night or possibly a part-time job or some money. They want to build up a friendship so that they can have this girl dependent on them. Some of them may actually come right out and request that they work for them as prostitutes. However, most of them state that they would be willing to have these women work as escorts for young men who need affection and attention at social events.

  These young women, unaware of city life, enter into these relationships with pimps not knowing that it is really a front for hardcore prostitution. Eventually, the pimp moves from friendship to initiating the girl into prostitution either by raping the girl himself, or having multiple members of his circle of pimps rape her repeatedly until she gets accustomed to rough sex.

  The curious relationship between prostitutes and pimps, to whom they turn over a large part of their earnings, is seen as an attempt by the women to overcome loneliness and form a relationship with someone who seems to be lower than themselves.

  Once the girl is degraded into this type of life, she becomes the pimp's servant and works for him where and when he tells her to. In return for these services, the pimp will give the girl free room and board, and, of course, she must have sex with him or any of his friends whenever they desire. Eventually, some street walkers will move from one pimp to another. However, if she moves, it will be a tremendous distance away from the original pimp, as pimps have certain territories and zones. The girl is only supplied with free room and board as long as she works for the pimp. Should she decide to go out on her own, she must work even harder to make money to have a place to stay. Some women who successfully do go on their own and escape from the pimps will arrange to live with other hookers so that they can share the rent.

  Eventually, street walkers will move outside lawful society when they get arrested. After a time, the arrest experience is viewed as a simple occupational hazard, much like overstock in a regular retail business. Eventually, the prostitute becomes stabilized in her calling, finds her friends almost exclusively in this type of industry, and acquires a recognized status as a prostitute.

  The Call Girl

  In the upper echelons of prostitution is the call girl who usually maintains her own apartment and keeps a book, in which she lists the names and phone numbers of her clients. Generally, she responds to calls, although she may also use her book of names to solicit. Most of the call girls encountered by the police have a deep hatred for men, demonstrate a pattern of lesbianism, and have very strong suicidal tendencies. Additionally, most of these women are characterized by having been rejected by both parents or they have a history of being sexually abused, sometimes prostitution is used as an attempt to replace affection that was missing during childhood.

  In the 1990s, the typical call girl is equipped not only with a residence from which to operate, but also with a beeper and cellular phone. The call girl usually escalates to this level after working for a short time as a street walker. However
, it should be noted that not many street walkers make it to call girl status. It takes a special kind of woman to elevate herself, gain enough money to go out on her own, and operate this way without being attached to pimps who dominate her. In effect, they have the same spirit of entre-preneurship as do persons who open up their own business.

  The call girls we have encountered have ranged from the street walker who elevated herself to housewives and college students desiring to make extra money. Recently there was a call girl arrested in Princeton, New Jersey. It was later discovered that she was a police officer's wife operating out of her home. She had an appointment booked for one particular businessman when another steady client requested the exact same time. After she accidently divulged the name of the first client to the second client, there was an altercation involving these two gentlemen, which they both ultimately reported to the police. Of course, neither gentleman disclosed that they were clients of the woman, they simply stated that they had information that she was a prostitute. The police officer, who worked the four to twelve shift, never knew that his wife was out of the house, as every time he called her she answered the phone. She programmed her home phone to forward calls to her cellular phone so that she could pick up the phone wherever she went. She was home during the day when her husband was there but, while he was out on patrol, she was cruising the streets also, in a different type of business.

  Massage Parlors

  The massage parlor has come to be regarded as a type of illegal brothel and is often located within the neighborhood shopping district. Massage parlors are usually relatively inconspicuous. There's not much publicity or advertisement, and the outer facade of the building is not very ostentatious or enticing to the casual shopper. Frequently, these massage parlors advertise through small classified ads in local papers.

  Police employ a method called the duken to close down massage parlors. The duken entails having a plainclothes police detective accost an unsuspecting victim about to enter the parlor. The officer will say something like, "We know who you are and what you are doing here, would you like your wife to find out about it?" Out of fear, the victim will introduce the officer to the employees of the massage parlor as a friend of his who wishes their services.

  Once the detective gains entry, he plays the part of the customer coming in for the first time. The detective cannot carry a gun, identification cards, handcuffs or any object that would make the owner or employees of the massage parlor suspicious. Like the other patrons the officer then receives a massage.

  Smart prostitution houses always tell their clients to go into a room, remove all their clothes, and wait for their girl. This is because most police departments will not allow their officers to remove their underwear when investigating houses of prostitution. And of course these prostitutes know all about this!

  At no time may the detective suggest anything of a sexual nature to the masseuse. There must only be solicitation on the woman's part. The masseuse might attempt to sexually arouse the client while massaging his genitals, but at this point there is absolutely no cause for arrest. As an enticement to get involved in sexual intercourse or oral sex many of these massage parlors will have televisions showing X-rated movies. Only after the masseuse suggests sexual intercourse or oral sex and states a monetary fee is she liable for arrest. At this time the officer may make an arrest even though no actual intercourse or oral sex took place. Massage parlors usually employ only a few women as masseuses. Approximately two women do the massaging and soliciting. Their ages range from the mid-twenties to the mid-forties.

  The Drug Addict Prostitute

  A relatively recent addition to the world of prostitution, particularly in the United States, is the drug-addicted prostitute. Like the male drug addict, the female addict finds that after a time she must turn to an illegal activity to support her expensive drug habit. As males turn to burglary and robbery, women turn to prostitution.

  A large percentage of street walkers are addicts. Call girls are not generally addicted. It is estimated that 90 percent of female addicts engage in prostitution at one time or another because prostitution is a quick source of the funds necessary to support their drug habit and the drug habits of the men with whom they live.

  The Male Prostitute

  In many large cities, particularly New York, male prostitutes have emerged as street walkers competing not for the needs of women seeking men, of course, but for the needs of men seeking men. Unfortunately, these male street walkers are young boys called chicken hawks, sometimes as young as nine or ten. These boys are the throwaway, disposable children of this century. Faced with no way to survive other than selling their bodies, they cruise the streets along with other prostitutes.

  You would expect that these boys would appeal to strange, deviant, weird, homosexual men, however, the opposite is true. As with regular female prostitution, many of the clients for these chicken hawks themselves are married and have children. It is a type of sexual fantasy that they, of course, cannot get within their homes unless they sexually abuse the male children.

  Many male prostitutes dress to appeal to both types of johns. Males cross-dress as transvestites and appear to be female. Depending on the type of john, many of the boys are beaten or sometimes killed when the male client finds out in the middle of the sex act that the prostitute is actually male. These types of injury occur hundreds of times in New York City alone over the course of a year.

  Prostitution and the Mob

  Prostitution is and has always been one of the steady money makers of organized crime. However, the mob has denied any major interest in this field ever since 1936 when Charles "Lucky" Luciano was sent to prison by a crusading New York district attorney. Luciano's operation included over two hundred prostitutes housed in at least ten, four to six bedroom apartments. His neighborhood managers directed the women to locations where the business was heavier than usual on certain nights. His bookers transported them between neighborhoods to achieve the consumer appeal inherent in new faces of prostitutes. His collectors and housekeepers made certain the prostitutes turned over the agreed percentage of their earnings. His icemen paid off in the police stations and court rooms. His strong arm men or enforcers maintained discipline and settled disputes. His bail-bondsmen, attorneys and physicians administered to the needs of the enterprise handling an arrest or ill health. A linen firm, which Lucky had an interest in, supplied the towels and sheets for his prostitution business.

  This enterprise was the first concrete example of wraparound organized crime operations and it made a great deal of money. However, it was also a landmark case that revealed the need to insulate top men from the operations of a criminal enterprise. Luciano, who did not participate in the daily workings of any prostitution house, was convicted because detectives unearthed evidence of his operation of the business and used the theory of conspiracy to prove his guilt.

  It should be noted that prostitutes are frequently excellent informants and are very cooperative in dealing with the police. Since they work on the street, they witness many things and encounter many men over the course of their employment. It is also a bit surprising to find how many men will tell these women secrets they have never told anybody in their life. These prostitutes, like bartenders, are willing to listen and they keep an ear out for anything that may be able to help them should they be arrested by the police.

  In the movies and television some prostitutes are portrayed as warm, loving individuals who can be saved by the right man. This is totally fictional. Our experiences have found that most prostitutes have, by the age of eighteen, lived more in their lives than most women forty to fifty years of age. They are hardnosed businesswomen, know the streets, and know how to survive. Prostitutes are not easily swayed by emotion and sentiment. The longer a prostitute works the streets, the more she realizes that is all she will ever be.

  Whether in brothels or in the streets, under bridges or in automobiles, prostitution remains at the bottom of the social sca
le. It is the most convenient sexual outlet for le-

  gions of strangers, perverts and physically repulsive people in our midst. It performs a role that no other institution performs. In view of the conditions and the continued historical presence of prostitution, it is highly unlikely that it will ever be eliminated as a vice in society.

  There are several organizations actively engaged in efforts to protect prostitutes: COYOTE in San Francisco, which stands for Calling Off Your Old Tired Ethics; PONY, which stands for the Prostitutes of New York; PUMA, which stands for the Prostitutes Union of Massachusetts; and ASP, the Association of Seattle Prostitutes. Prostitution appears to be developing a higher profile.

  Armed robbery occurs when a person commits a theft with the following elements: The offender uses force, causes injury to the victim, or puts the victim in fear of bodily injury by threats.

  The Professional Armed Robber

  The professional robber spends his career striving for ultimate success —the big payoff, a robbery that will earn him enough money so he can live comfortably for the rest of his life. Professional robbers look for establishments with large sums of money readily at hand and a low risk of getting caught. The professional, because he takes pride in his work, will also expect a certain amount of publicity associated with his robbery.

  Planning

  Let's walk through the steps. Prior to the Christmas holidays, the diamond exchanges stock up anticipating holiday gift-giving. A professional may try to find an insider in the diamond exchange to help him plan the robbery. The insider may be a salesperson who will be paid off for his cooperation. Sometimes, the robber himself may apply for a position and work at the diamond exchange while he plans the robbery. This puts the robber in the best position to learn critical information.

  The following questions will need to be answered: What type of security system do they have? Does it have a perimeter alarm? Are there panic buttons? Is there video surveillance? What is the best time to rob the store, that is when will the most merchandise and cash be on hand? Where is the merchandise kept and how it is secured? Is it in a locked safe? Is the safe only open at certain times of the day? Is there more than one place where the merchandise is kept?