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| NEWS > 09 March 2006 |
Other related articles:
Plainfield chief faces new inv
PLAINFIELD -- The Police Commission Wednesday approved a separate investigation into Police Chief Gary Sousa's professional ethics, after residents filed formal letters of complaint with the Plainfield Police Internal Affairs office last week.
The newest investigation of Sousa comes as the Police Commission, an elected board, continues a separate investigation of allegations of harassment against the chief.
The commission approved the latest investigation at a special meeting and has allowed Deputy Chief Robert Hoffman time off from his duties to conduct it. Hoffman... Read more
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New York Times - United States
09 March 2006
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Late Wednesday, agents raided
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2 Police Officers Accused of T
It's one of the oldest forms of police corruption: taking money to look the other way. And that's what the two veteran police officers were doing in Flushing, Queens, federal authorities said today — they looked the other way while a bustling brothel brought in more than $1 million a year from customers who streamed in from shiny late-model cars double-parked outside.
Inside a stucco house, across from a cemetery, more than a dozen young women, who officials believe paid thousands of dollars to come to the United States from Korea and China, toiled behind windows obscured by pink or maroon satin fabric.
The two police officers are accused of taking little in the way of bribes. One accepted several hundred dollars, the other the discounted services of the house on two occasions, according to court papers. And they did more than just look away: Prosecutors charge that they helped shut down the brothel's competitors, essentially using the information they gleaned in an illicit relationship with one criminal enterprise to burnish their reputations as police officers by shutting down others.
But unknown to them, another officer was in their midst — an undercover vice detective who received more than $120,000 from the brothel operators during the 10-month investigation, the authorities said. It was during that sting operation that the authorities learned that the two officers, assigned to the 109th Precinct, were on the take.
Today, the F.B.I., the police, the United States Attorney in Brooklyn and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents announced the arrests of the two officers, Dennis Kim, 29, and Jerry Svoronos, 30; the woman and man accused of running the brothel, Gina Kim, and Geeho Chae, both 37; and 16 young women believed to have worked as prostitutes.
Late Wednesday, agents raided the three-story brothel at 57-24 164th Street, and the home shared by Ms. Kim, who was not related to the arrested police officer, and Mr. Chae at 149-24 Roosevelt Avenue, the officials said. At the home and in the couple's car, the authorities recovered roughly $800,000 that they believe were the fruits of the brothel's operation.
The arrests and the raid in a quiet residential section of Flushing opened a window on what some called a thriving community of brothels in the largely Chinese and Korean community of Flushing. One man who said he was a client of the shuttered establishment said that the existence of brothels was well known in the area and that each had its own traditions, regulations and pricing systems, like charging Korean customers more than Chinese customers.
The trade is decidedly lucrative, according to an affidavit in support of the arrest warrants sworn out by F.B.I. Special Agent Won Yoon. In a secretly recorded conversation, Ms. Kim told the undercover detective that on the day the brothel opened, May 18, 2005, she had 20 customers who each paid $200 — earning $4,000 that single day. The brothel first started up at 43-53 162nd Street, and later moved to 164th Street, the affidavit said.
The undercover detective met with the brothel operators 17 times in Queens, at diners, a Starbucks, a Dunkin Donuts and in parking lots, and they paid him twice monthly payments of $6,000, plus additional money for raiding their competitors, according to the affidavit.
But the bribes, it seems, were just a cost of doing business in the sex-trafficking trade; Agent Yoon estimated that the brothel earned more than $1.1 million over the 41 weeks it was in operation.
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