413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Law enforcement should continue to aggressively investigate trafficking cases online. Efforts should be
undertaken to overcome traffickers’ tactics to elude law enforcement detection through the use of code
language.
Finding 9: Although interviews with offenders did not uncover elements
of organized crime, interviews with law enforcement suggest that the
level of “organized crime” and degree of criminal network involvement
varies by UCSE venue.
Criminal justice stakeholders had extensive knowledge about the pimp networks in online or street-based
sex work, and only limited knowledge about the offenders that run brothels, erotic massage parlors, and
other indoor UCSE venues. This is due, in part, to the success investigators and prosecutors have had
bringing these cases forward.
Stakeholders and offenders described pimps that primarily facilitate street and internet sex work as
networked socially, rather than through traditional organized crime structures. Pimps use these social
networks to facilitate their criminal behavior by giving tips about local markets, sharing advertising space
or websites, lending money, and sharing, trading, or selling victims. While pimps and traffickers are
competitive, they are not usually violent in their competition with one another.
Higher levels of organized crime were suspected by law enforcement within erotic Asian massage parlors,
strip clubs, and Latino brothels, although these suspicions remain largely unconfirmed in most cities due
to resource limitations and the challenges of investigating organized crime. Law enforcement from all
study cities cited the presence of Asian massage parlors operating as fronts for prostitution and potential
sex trafficking, and almost all study cities 86 noted the presence of Latino brothels. Law enforcement in
Dallas and Miami suspected that some strip clubs and bars were fronts for prostitution and sex
trafficking.
Law enforcement also explained that specific circuits were used to place employees in UCSE
establishments. For example, law enforcement respondents from Dallas, San Diego, Seattle, and
Washington, DC all reported that Asian massage parlors were connected to networks based out of New
York or California. Law enforcement respondents from Miami and San Diego stated that brothels were
often located within migrant camps or sex workers were transported through the United States along with
migrant farm workers. The possible connection between smuggling and trafficking in these cases was not
always fully understood, but warrants additional investigation.
Policy Implications
As noted in finding 4, federal-local partnerships to investigate cases that cross state and country lines
should continue to be funded. 87 Agreements should be developed with countries linked to cases in the
United States to help dismantle syndicates, and overseas undercover resources should be dedicated to
tracking and dismantling networks that originate in foreign countries.
In addition, states should allow law enforcement the use of wiretaps to investigate human trafficking
offenses. At present, at least 14 states have enacted statutes that authorize law enforcement personnel to
intercept electronic communications in the investigation of sex trafficking. 88 Given the challenges of
investigating UCSE venues that may be operated by organized crime syndicates, wiretaps are a critical
investigative tool that should be available to law enforcement.
86 Kansas City and Seattle did not report Latino brothels.
87 These include the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking , Bureau of Justice Assistance and
Office of Victims of Crime human trafficking task forces, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Innocence Lost and Internet Crimes
against Children Task Forces, and the Department of Justice’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Teams.
88 The 14 states that have authorized law enforcement to use wiretaps in sex trafficking investigations are Arizona, Arkansas,
Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.
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