Sex Shops: Coming to a Neighborhood Near You
by Tiffany Elliott and Carolyn James

The "hair salon" in West Babylon opened quietly in a strip mall on Sunrise Highway last summer. It was an unusual location, one customer reported, but it was open on a Monday, a day when most salons were closed, so she stopped in for a haircut. She sensed, immediately, that something was wrong.

The salon was sparsely furnished, with only one beautician on staff. More unusual- a man sat at the rear of the facility as if guarding the place.

"There was definitely something amiss," said the woman. "But I just couldn't put my finger on it."

Two weeks later, she read that police had raided the so-called beauty salon, charging two women there with prostitution. The "hair salon" was one of a growing number of illegal establishments that are part of an underground network cropping up in communities throughout Nassau, Suffolk and Queens. No sooner do police close one site down, however, than does another open in the same, or neighboring community.

Since 2005, there have been at least 20 raids on these illegal massage parlors by Suffolk Police in the First Precinct area, with additional raids in eastern Suffolk and Nassau County, including Massapequa and Seaford. In most of those incidents, the parlors were located in store fronts, leased on a month-tomonth basis to landlords who police said are all too eager to ignore what is taking place on their premises in the interest of making some quick money.

In Nassau County's 7th and 8th precincts, which cover the Town of Oyster Bay, there were 37 incidents since May, 2004.

While police have been unable to find any direct link between the cases, more than 90 percent of the women arrested are of either Korean or Chinese descent and list home addresses in Flushing, a coincidence that is not lost on police and other law enforcement officials.

Police in Nassau, Suffolk and Queens have conducted several investigations into these incidents to determine if there is a connection between the cases, but to date have not been able to find any link, nor establish whether the women are part of a larger, organized human trafficking case or criminal conspiracy.

"One of the problems in finding out whether these incidents are related, is that the women we arrest are not cooperative," said S.C. Det. Ed Reilly, who led a special task force to look into these illegal cases in eastern Suffolk. Reilly added that his investigation revealed that most of the women arrested in Suffolk are Chinese. Prior to that, many were Korean, he said. With very few exceptions, however, all from the Flushing area, he acknowledged.

"At present, we have not been able to come up with the evidence we need to prove human trafficking or an organized conspiracy, but I would couch that by saying it does exist," said Reilly.

Efforts to reach out to the owners of the properties in which these illegal massage parlors were operating show that few are willing to discuss the incidents. One who did talk to a reporter said he was approached to lease his site by someone who paid for three months rent, up front, in cash. In one incident in Amityville, the owner of a building at 116 Broadway, said he was shocked when police told him what was taking place at his storefront building.

"I was down there several times and never saw anything that would lead me to believe anything like this was going on," said the owner. "I was totally unaware, thinking that this was a legitimate massage parlor."

Reilly said that by renting their properties under these suspicious conditions, makes the landlords part of the problem.

Landlords whose properties are used for this kind of illegal activity, knowingly or unknowingly, do face some consequences under zoning and building codes, however.

In the Town of Oyster Bay, where numerous cases have been reported, Town Supervisor John Venditto said the Town attempts to curb these incidents by getting the word out to landlords that leasing their properties to those who run these sex shops face scrutiny at the Town level.

"Our approach is to deal with them through our building codes," said Venditto. "When these facilities are raided by police, the Town sends in building inspectors who investigate and summons the landlord for any building violations that may exist."

A review of some of the previous incidents in that Town shows, however, that such inspections rarely take place. Out of six locations in which a sex shop was shut down by police, only one was inspected by the Town, and the landlord was issued summonses for having illegal construction, blocked exits and unlit hallways. Venditto said that is likely because the Town was not notified by the police of the incidents.

"We would prefer that the police take the lead in situations like this," he said. "We stand by ready and waiting to help, however."

Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone said that incidents such as this, that impact on the quality of life within communities are monitoried by the Town's Quality of Life Task Force.

"We work closely with police, notifying them when we find a suspicious location and working with them when they make arrests," said Bellone.

In one case that came before the courts this month, the Town heaved a $25,000 fine on the landlord for building violations.

"The only way to address this is to have a consistent, concerted effort and to hold the landlord responsible so that we get the message out," said Bellone. "If you hit them in the pocketbook, then it does not become profitable and that is the only way landlords will stop leasing to these types of illegal establishments."

Police are efficient in closing down many of these sites, but the problem is that as soon one location is shuttered, another one opens up. Nassau Police reported last month that three people, Cairong Sun, 42, of 45 Ave., and Yon Shi, 45 of 41 Ave., both of Flushing and Limei Ren, 44 of 207 St., Bayside, were arrested in a sting operation at 898 Broadway, Massapequa for offering sex for a fee to undercover officers at an illegal massage parlor.

In a Suffolk County sweep last year, Operation Traffic Stop, 24 women were arrested for prostitution, a misdemeanor, and for giving illegal massages, a violation of the New York State Education law. When they can, police generally charge with the women with giving illegal massages because, unlike prostitution which is a misdemeanor, violations of the education law are felonies.

In addition, the investigation looked into a connection between the women and the individuals who bailed them out, again with limited results to prove a connection, said police.

But questions persist as to whether these operations are part of a larger conspiracy, and are connected. Most law enforcement officials said they do not believe that it is simply a coincidence that the women are all from the same area in Flushing.

"Our investigation showed that they are 'loosely' organized and include an informal network of women who move in and out of the area," said Sgt. David O'Brien of the Suffolk County First Precinct where 68 search warrants were conducted over an 8-month period. "We often find out months later that the women we arrested have been arrested again in other states."

O'Brien said there are other things that police can investigate to determine if there is a connection that could reach the threshold of a criminal conspiracy. "Who is renting the locations, modifying the buildings, hiring the carpentry crews, driving the women out here and purchasing the furniture and equipment?" he said. "Those can only be answered by peeling back the layers of the cases and it becomes an issue of resources and how much the departments are willing to devote to this kind of work."

In the numerous raids on the illegal massage parlors on Long Island over the past three years, police have found cash, massage tables and various prostitution paraphernalia. In many instances, police also reported sleeping accommodations in the rear of these businesses.

"I would be very surprised if there was not a connection between these cases," said Ken Franzblau, of the Division of Criminal Justice Services for New York State.

Franzblau, who investigates human trafficking cases said that the businesses advertise in the newspapers, on Craig's list and offer exotic services. Many post signs on their doors telling customers to call a telephone number for "massage" services, thus reducing the possibility of the unsuspecting customer who is actually looking for a legal massage, stumbling upon the scheme, such as the women who stumbled into the West Babylon location for a haircut.

Human trafficking is a federal law, and on Nov. 1, 2007, New York State passed a similar statute. Human sex trafficking is defined as anyone who "recruits, harbors, transports or retains a person, or who uses force or coercion," on women for purposes of sex.

Even if the cases do not reach the legal threshold of human trafficking, where coercion and force is used on women to have them enter into prostitution, operators face other charges.

"Anyone who puts together an operation or illegal enterprise can for any reason can still be charged with conspiracy," said Reilly. "The problem for police is being able to prove it."

"Many of the women who are arrested come from countries where there is corruption within police departments so they are very distrustful of the police and will not talk to us," said Det. Lt. Andrew Fal, of the Nassau County Narcotics-Vice Squad.

In one case that came before the New York City Police, an investigation did prove that the defendants "conspired to induce and entice women to travel across state and international lines to engage in prostitution." In November of 2007, five defendants were convicted in an investigation that began in August, 2006. More than 30 individuals were charged as part of a wide-ranging human trafficking ring operating throughout the northeast. Other than the five defendants convicted in November, all others pleaded guilty before trial.

The criminal operation smuggled women fromSouth Korea into the United States and placed those women at various prostitution businesses, including those owned, operated and managed by the defendants, Sun Daneman, Hyang Ran, Seng Hee Reilly, Jae Shim and Tae Nam Thompson, who owned salons in various locations and used a network of drivers to deliver Korean women to work at their businesses as prostitutes.

"They generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual income at their businesses by charging customers "house fees" to have sex with the women to whom the defendants paid no wages or salaries, said the United States Attorney's Office which put the case together with the assistance of U.S. Homeland Security and U.S.immigration and Customs Enforcement. The women were also required to pay the defendants up to $800 a week form the money they made for offering sex for a fee.

The trial evidence showed that the women were typically required to sleep inside the defendants' businesses and follow "house rules" that barred them from going outside or refusing customers. Several of the women testified at trial about witnessing and experiencing sexual assaults inside the businesses owned and managed by the defendants.

Prostitution and violating the education laws by giving illegal massages are not, obviously, violent crimes. They don't, therefore, attract the law enforcement dollars that cases such a murder or terrorism might attract, those close to these cases admit.

"We get our little victories by displacing these establishments," said one police officer.

"It just seems as if as quickly as we close them up another one opens," said one Fal."But that does not mean that we give up trying."

"Regardless of whether they are organized or not, and whether these women are doing this willingly or not, these establishments do not belong in our communities," said Reilly.

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