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Boston Phoenix loses a steady advertiser
By adamg on Thu, 04/01/2010 - 10:21pm
What Craigslist hasn't killed, federal indictments will: The indictment against five people for running an alleged Asian sex ring shows they were repeat customers of the Boston Phoenix.
For nearly four years, the indictment alleges, two local organizers of the ring regularly bought ads in the Phoenix's "Female Escort" section to advertise the services of prostitutes - some allegedly held against their will - in a network of Boston-area brothels (in addition to using Craigslist):
From April, 2009 through Oct. 2009, defendant Xiang Hua Zhang made ten payments to The Boston Phoenix totaling approximately $13,125 from his Bank of America checking account in payment of advertising for the services of Asian women in The Boston Phoenix, Female Escort section.
The indictment does not specify how much the Phoenix made between December, 2005 and February, 2009, when another alleged ring leader, Jiang Liang Chen, used his credit card to buy ads in the paper.
Meanwhile, if you live in Allston, Quincy, Stoneham, Wellesley, Newton, Woburn, Malden, Peabody, Somerville, Burlington, Watertown or Medford, you can check the indictment to see if you lived next to a brothel - it lists the specific addresses (Ed. note: The indictment mentions Somerville, but doesn't give a specific address).
The entire indictment.
The arrest warrants.
Innocent, etc.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
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Comments
Unfortunately, PDF is not text-searchable
It appears to be a series of scanned-image pages; I cannot select or search for any text string. I was hoping to find out what address in Somerville is listed, but I couldn't find one by just paging through the indictment.
There's PDF and there's PDF
You can save a Word (or OpenOffice) document as a PDF or, as was apparently done here, you can basically post a bloated, unsearchable GIF.
But, you're right. Although the indictment mentions Somerville, and although it lists specific addresses in a number of communities, it doesn't give a specific address in Somerville.
For Somerville, I will bet on
For Somerville, I will bet on 'Lavendar Massage Therapy' just outside of Teele Square. They were closed when I walked by last night (note: walking by was the plan all along).
They operated for at least 8 months nearly directly across the street from the West Somerville satellite police station that is just a couple doors from Rudy's.
Nothing too dodgy at Lavender
Nothing too dodgy at Lavender - I go in for a cheap massage now and then and while I wouldn't be shocked if they offered 'release' to customers who ask I wouldn't say it was a brothel.
I've been saying for years..
Steven Mindich is nothing but a pimp. A miserable person, he's a prime example of a 60's radical type who watched his liberal ideals get washed down the drain by all that flesh money.
what do you expect
Page-long jazz reviews don't come freeeee.
"took a cut"?????
How much of "a cut" did Mr. Hua Zhang's regular coffee shop take? Did he have cable tv at home? Is comcast on the dole with sex money too? I have a feeling this network is larger than we think.
The difference
You're right: Lots of people made money from the ring, from the landlords who rented the apartments to, no doubt, the coffeeshop on the corner. But only the Phoenix helped them grow the business.
Also some Chinese newspapers
according to the indictment. As for Craigslist, it's not clear they made any money, since they don't charge for ads in any category except for some job and real estate ads.
Craigslist
Just as complicit, but, yes, I've taken them out of my reply since they don't charge for those sorts of ads.
aren't "escort services"
aren't "escort services" technically legal though? If not then the Yellow Pages are in on the deal too.
Taking a cut
I changed the wording in the post a bit by removing that specific phrase. After thinking about it, seemed like it was implying the Phoenix was playing a more active role in the alleged ring than taking ads from it.
neighbors
Hey, how about that--I did live next to one of the dens of iniquity! Well, four or five buildings away, but 1078 Fellsway in Medford is where I wait for the bus every morning.
Sex, for money? Shocking,
Sex, for money? Shocking, shocking I say!
Harrumph, harrumph!
What makes the indictment particularly odious
Are the allegations of importing illegal aliens, then basically holding them against their will through intimidation. We're not talking Pretty Woman here.
But is it fair to slam the Phoenix...
...even indirectly for an aspect of the advertiser's business which its editorial (and advertising) staff surely knew nothing about?
Not the editors, certainly
But come on, police have been using Phoenix classifieds as a handy source of referrals for years. At some point, you begin to detect a pattern:
Under the direction of Sgt. Robert Grey, surveillance was set up at a Mass. Ave. hotel after an undercover cop set up an appointment with a woman via Boston Phoenix personals. More.
Doolio testified that Dirk Greineder responded to an advertisement for her escort service that she placed in the Boston Phoenix in June 1999. More.
The federal indictment unsealed July 7 says Evelyn Diaz ran an escort service, Messiah's Adult Entertainment, and placed advertisements on websites, including craigslist, and in the Boston Phoenix and Extreme Magazine. More.
An investigation of ads in Craigslist, an online classified ads site, and The Boston Phoenix, found housewives—many with young children in the home—turning tricks for $100 and up, in locations like Randolph, Canton, Weymouth and Quincy. More
What I mean....
... is that the fact that some of the women involved were not doing the job as a matter of their own free will is not anything Phoenix could have known.
Good point
I'll concede the Phoenix probably did not know about the involuntary servitude.
OK, but would you concede this:
That, given the large number of escort ads in that section, that it's extremely unlikely, bordering on being on a hit-twice-by-a-meteor level of impossible, that some number of these people in these ads were somehow compelled to sell themselves in this manner? And yes, I am talking guilt by association here, but what of it? Do you really think that Mindich can wash his hands of this?
Involuntary Servitude
There are also houskeeping/cleaning services which entrap low-wage, immigrant laborers and hold their papers, etc. so they can't find jobs elsewhere.
Not the same as sex slavery, but still involuntary servitude, advertised in reputable publications.
If it isn't the sex but the slavery, then why is it the cops seem to go after the prostitutes while protecting the johns (at least in Woburn, anyway)? If it isn't the sex, but the slavery, then why no scruitiny of other types of organizations known for abuses - like cleaning contractors?
The bottom line, Mikey, in case you missed it:
Is that Mindich has been, for a long time, profiting from prostitution. Period. End of story. The freaking end. Quit pulling the "free will" argument-- if you, in all seriousness, could open up the Phoenix adult section, look at a few of the ads, and say that Mindich isn't somehow complicit in the women being forced into prostitution, then, well, you're naive and tolerant to the point where you're perpetuating crime. Hope you're proud of yourself. How much is Mindich paying you, anyway?
OK, settle down
Attack the argument, not the person. Don't agree with somebody, fine, explain why; no need to get into lame personal attacks.
I don't hide my identity
Who are you to make such vile accusations, Mr./Mrs./Ms. Anonymous Anonymous (who is not even brave enough to use a pseudonymous identity)?
My only connection with the Phoenix is having read it since the 1970s (albeit with a long gap, between first and more recent acquaintance). As a matter of fact, I don't know Mr. Mindich -- have never met, talked or even (so far as I know) seen him. I have always found the Phoenix's adult section distasteful (even disgraceful) -- but they were (and are) hardly unique in running such material.
For the record, I do not see running such ads as making Phoenix an accomplice to slavery (or any other involuntary servitude).
Re:"I don't hide my identity"
Actually, I kinda wish you would. Who am I? Who I am is irrelevant. I'm just anti-forced labor, and pro-logic. But anyway, to your most egregiously lame "point" above: The Phoenix is not unique: Actually, yes, it pretty much is, at least locally. The Weekly Dig-- that's a publication for the younger folks-- got out of the escort-ad business a while ago. Not sure when, if ever, the other altie newspapers ran such things, but only the Phoenix does an entire SECTION of them. That makes them unique, I think. What you, on the other hand, are spouting is something along the lines of "Oh come now, every respectable paper has a section like that. Free speech and stuff!"
Sure, but
Sure, but come on. I bet I can give you 2 ads from their personals section, one completely legit and one from this particular ring, and you won't be able to tell the difference. It's not like the ads said "Get laid tonight by a girl who's only doing you because she doesn't want us to kill her or ship her back to China!". If the Phoenix was getting lied to (billing a kidnapping/illegal alien prostitution ring as "escort services"), then how were they to know the money was dirty?
What if the past 2 years of posts from me here on UHub were codes for terrorist attacks in Boston? When I get arrested, is it suddenly "UHub loses prolific terrorist commenter, adamg complicit with posting arrangment"?
The difference
I've yet to be charged, formally or otherwise, with providing an online haven for terrorists. In contrast, the Phoenix pops up over and over again in indictments and news reports involving prostitution. Perhaps the Mindiches should change their last name to Renault.
So what to do about it? Not a clue (this lack of all knowingness is a downer, lemme tell ya), because of the First Amendment issues involved. But it's not like somebody is forcing the Phoenix to take these ads.
The Phoenix adult section and West Roxbury
Just curious, Adam ... do you now think this guy was right after all?
Quincy Brothel
Pretty funny that the Quincy brothel is on the same street as the home of the mayor of Quincy, Tom Koch
No, I still think he's a bitter old guy with a grudge
His shtik was that the ads themselves degraded women. And he didn't go after the Yellow Pages or Comcast or even the West Roxbury BPL branch for content that could be perceived as equally degrading. He went after the Phoenix and the one merchant who told him what he could do with himself.
The whole Phoenix/escort services/prostitution angle is nothing new, to be honest. I just thought it was interesting that the indictment mentioned it specifically, and, yes, got me to thinking about it again.
But it's not like somebody is
But it's not like somebody is forcing the Phoenix to take these ads.
In all fairness, prove it. They might be. And then you'd be complicit in the Phoenix's forced advertising, because you did nothing to stop it. In fact, because you're selling ads on this page, you might even say that you're profiting from it.
You're kidding, right?
Somebody is forcing the Phoenix to take ads?
I admit I've been out of the general-interest newspaper business for awhile, but back in the day, the paper where I worked can and did reject ads all the time (especially from people selling fireplace wood - there was just something about that that attracted cheaters and frauds).
Everyone who works at the PHX knows what's up with these ads...
Folks, make no mistakes about it, everyone at the PHX knows what's up...
Matt King, who manages and sells into the "adult section" for the PHX, used to work for me at the Weekly Dig and manage our "adult section" until we killed it in 2005. He knows the industry well, knows how the pimps operate and knows many of the girls are under-age and are likely forced into doing this work. He knows and everyone at the PHX knows because... it's impossible to do business with the pimps, and their industry, and not know.
We all knew at the Weekly Dig what was going on; every employee of mine knew that these ads, and the women who were sold through them, were mistreated and that the industry supported by these ads was deplorable: we had women come into our office with their babies in their arms, high on crack; we dealt with pimps who were armed and clearly telling the women what to do; and we took cash that was clearly earned by forcing many of these women to have sex against their will. It was incredibly sad to see this over and over again, so we got rid of them. The decision was uniformly supported by the staff because none of us could pretend anymore that we didn't know what was going on.
Anyone at the PHX - from the janitor, to the copy editor, to especially Mindich himself - who says they don't know what's going on is a liar. I knew, my staff knew...and they all know. It's that simple.
Final note: the PHX has in the past traded services for some of these ads and used the services of these women to entertain advertisers and/or themselves. I'm not sure if they still do that, but when they did, they clearly saw first-hand what these women were doing, and who the pimps were, who controlled them, delivered them and sold them for sex...
Nice thought, huh?
bravo.
Cheers to Jeff, for telling it like it is, and for getting the Dig out of the biz in '05 (which was also, by the way, a genius PR move). I think we all slept better that night.
Find an alt-weekly anywhere in the country that hasn't profited from sex slavery and I'll eat my own liver. I'm well aware that I've taken paychecks bankrolled partly with cash that at one point came out of the pocket of a pimp, Christ have mercy on me a miserable sinner.
alt-weeklies
There are plenty of alt-weeklies in the US who do not take these ads and do fine. I might even say the majority of them, if not the vast majority at this point. They're bad business, bad for readers and bad for advertisers.
First the craiglist killer and now this. How many bad things need to happen with regard to this insert for it to be properly banned?
So?
So, because the cops decide that it's free and easy to flip through the Phoenix looking for new numbers to call and put a sting on...the Phoenix is dirty and complicit?
Hardly. If the Phoenix didn't run those ads, someone else would and the cops would get a copy of that instead...we could have this whole discussion all over again about how that new source was dirty...they could stop selling adspace to escort services and they'd move on to another location. Pretty soon, we'd be talking about how the Yellow Pages is mobbed up with the Chinese Kidnapping/Prostitution rings...
In the meantime, what about every escort the cops called up and DIDN'T get to have sex with? What are their numbers on those? Are we talking about EVERY ad the Phoenix has ever run led to a bunch of starving Chinese women chained to radiators...or just the 4-5 you've posted about here?
C'mon
Everybody who's ever worked for the Phoenix knows EXACTLY what those ads are for, have seen pregnant hookers dragged in there by their pimps, etc.
The Phoenix explicitly condones the sex trafficking industry. Its the reason they're still in business.
Legalize it Don't criticize
Legalize it
Don't criticize it!
Legalize what, NotWhitey?
Slavery or prostitution?
If prostitution were legal,
If prostitution were legal, it wouldn't be in the hands of illegal alien human trafficers. As with drugs, it's the law that creates the crime. Not only in a literal sense, but in the associated illegal behaviors encouraged by the law. Prohibition didn't just turn honest drinkers into criminals, it created the modern mafia in America, and financed their entry into not just other drug businesses, but into legitimate businesses as well.
Legalize prostitution, and the pimps and human smuggling for sex shrink to insignificance. Sounds like a good thing to me.
Legalize, perhaps....
...but only if extremely strictly regulated.
I deleted a sub-thread here
Those of you who read it know the one. I shouldn't have let the initial comment through since it referred to the Glenn Beck/1990 joke, which is one thing for a public figure, quite another for some commenter on Universal Hub - especially an anonymous one - but the allusion flew right by me.
You should delete the *old* subthread too
the one that was pointed to from here. It's still there.
Still there
Alas.
So I guess Google will continue to give prominence to the original libelous post whenever people Google my name. Some posters here really behave despicalbly -- even when they do operate under pseudonyms (and not wholly anonymously -- though I still think totally anonymous anonymouses are a bad thing).
it's now gone from this site, but the Google cache isn't gone
Compare the two and you'll see. I don't know if there's a way to force Google to invalidate its cache and re-read a modified page, though.
Edit: There is. See http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer... . Click on "The page has changed and I want the outdated information removed".
Thanks Ron, but looks like Adam needs to do this
Or am I not reading things right?
Read it again
Scroll down to "If you don't own the site". Adam has already updated the page to remove the undesired content, so you can now follow the remaining steps to request that Google update its cached copy.
Looks updated now
Or maybe I'm just going blind.
Thanks for the information and guidance. ;~}
I filled out the Google form myself
right after posting the comment here. I don't know how fast they act on these requests. I'm still seeing the unwanted content in their cache right now.
They usually clear their caches in a couple days
At least, for sites they visit frequently, like this one.