As most of you know, I'm totally against the Asian massage parlors (AMP) because they're basically just fronts for the mob. These are not happy little women practicing an "ancient chinese secret" for massage, and this is NOT a normal way of life for them.
Below is an article from the local newspaper about the recent police raids on 2 of the AMPs in my neck of the woods. I don't normally post other peoples stuff, but this thing just made my blood run cold and I wanted all you guys out there to read it.
CJ
Sex slavery in Berks County massage parlors
South Korean women are brought into the country and forced into prostitution at massage parlors here, according to investigators trying to crack down on the practice.There is slavery in Berks County.
They're sex slaves, working in massage parlors that are fronts for prostitution.
And the sex slave trade has prompted investigations leading to a series of raids on area Asian massage parlors in the past few months, according to the lawmen involved.
One federal investigator, an expert in Asian crime organizations, said several such gangs have been operating about a dozen Asian massage parlors as fronts for prostitution in Berks.
The investigator, who requested anonymity, said the local sex slave operations were controlled by South Korean organized crime rings operating out of the Flushing section of Queens, N.Y.
"This is modern-day slavery," the investigator said. "If people knew what goes on in these places and what is behind them, they would be outraged."
According to federal investigators:
Many of the women who work in these massage parlors were tricked and coerced into working as prostitutes.
They typically come from an impoverished region of South Korea and most have only a basic education and few economic prospects.
Criminals lure them with promises of legitimate jobs in the United States and quick cash.
The rings charge the women or their families about $25,000 to smuggle them into the United States from Korea. Often smugglers themselves will loan them the fee at outrageous interest rates.
The slavers typically fly the women through rogue nations such as Libya and often bring them across the Mexican border using passports purchased or stolen from South Koreans who are in the U.S. on legitimate tourist visas.
Tourists who sell their passports to slavers report the documents stolen a few days later and get new ones to return home.
Once in the U.S., the sex slaves are shuttled to Flushing, home to the nation's largest South Korean community.
The women are sent to work in massage parlors in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other nearby states.
When the women arrive in Berks County, they are told they owe the driver $500 for the trip from New York.
Older South Korean women who run the parlors typically offer to pay for the ride, making the women indebted to them.
The older manager, or madam, then explains how the business works. The madam arranges for room and board and deducts those costs from any tips the slaves make from having sex with customers.
The ring maintains its hold over these women by keeping them in debt.
Slavers take the women's passports and identification. The women are told that if they are discovered, they will be thrown in jail and deported and will still owe the ring the $25,000 loan for bringing them to the U.S. in the first place.
The women have sex with a dozen or more men a day, and at the end of the week - after paying for their room and board and interest on the smugglers loan - end up with nothing or only a small amount, perhaps $80.
The rings move the women around frequently. This keeps them from forming bonds with other sex slaves and makes them easier to control.
The women often have a small child or other family back in South Korea, whom the criminals can use to threaten an uncooperative sex slave.
The slavers also use sleep deprivation to make the women easier to control.
Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams said his office is committed to investigating any complaints of suspected prostitution, adding that it is difficult to investigate because workers typically won't cooperate.
"When we receive complaints about those types of establishments, we investigate," Adams said. "I can't comment on which of these places are legitimate and which are not."
Adams said his office will continue to work with federal investigators looking into possible ties to organized crime.
"We are concerned that this is part of a larger ring," he said. "However, we have not received cooperation from the workers, and it is difficult to determine what is going on.
"We suspect that there is much more behind these businesses and we will continue to work with federal authorities in these matters."
The problem with human trafficking and sexual exploitation goes beyond South Korea, according to federal investigators.
Chinese gangs typically operate their rings in big cities with large Chinese populations. Chinese workers in restaurants, garment shops and elsewhere are their customers.
Mexican gangs operate prostitution rings in communities with large populations of migrant workers.
And the list goes on.
Kevin Bales, an expert in slave trafficking and president of the Washington-based nonprofit group Free The Slaves, said human trafficking from South Korea to the U.S. really picked up in the past 10 to 15 years.
Officials from the South Korean Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Investigators said people from all walks of life are customers of the Asian massage parlors.
"I've talked to people who patronize these businesses and I have asked them why they go there," a federal agent recalled. "One guy said something that really struck me.
"He said he sees the women in the massage parlor as less than human because they do not look like his wife, or his sister, or his mother.
"But they are mothers, sisters and children. And they don't have the option to leave."
Reading Criminal Investigator Pasquale Leporace of the vice and narcotics division said he has worked on four massage parlor cases, and he believes law enforcement has done a good job keeping the places from operating in Reading.
"I don't know of any that are currently open in the city," Leporace said. "If they do pop up again, we will act on it quickly."
