Thailand, sure... but could Chicago/Cook County be next?
i have talked to providers after an arrest and they tell me of seeing their best customers in uniform when taken to the station.
[quote=fumfn69]lets not forget that vip on milwaukee was shut down for having cameras all over the place.[/quote]
sex tycoon exposes police corruption
thailand gripped by revelations of bribery, **** prostitution and kidnapping
* john aglionby in bangkok
* the observer, sunday 2 november 2003 00.13 gmt
dressed up to the nines and sitting in a brightly lit, glass-fronted room off the copa cabana massage parlour's ostentatious lobby, 20 beautiful women waiting to be selected by customers looked anything other than political party activists.
whenever a man - no women patronise this type of massage parlour - arrived in the lobby, the masseuses hurriedly fixed into place their seducing grins, fluttering eyelids and tastefully sexy dresses. once the chosen one, or sometimes two or three, had left the 'goldfish bowl', the remainder returned to gossiping, examining their fingernails or just staring glumly ahead.
what caught the eye, though, were the rows of empty red velvet benches between the clusters of masseuses. the room could, and until a few weeks ago usually did, accommodate a couple of hundred masseuses. the sofas to the side of the room, reserved for the establishment's star performers, were conspicuously empty.
it is the cause of these empty seats that is pushing some of these fine-featured women to follow their boss, chuwit kamolvisit, into swapping bangkok's sex industry for the equally grubby world of politics.
provoked by what he describes as 'back-stabbing and ungrateful' police officers who 'ignored the rules and tried to sacrifice me to save their own skins', chuwit has recruited some of his staff for his ton trakun thai (thai ancestry) party, which he declared himself leader of last weekend.
his progress from thailand's foremost sex tycoon, employing thousands of women in palatial and labyrinthine massage parlours, to leader of the country's newest political party has exposed police corruption in an unprecedented fashion.
in a twisting plot, thais have been gripped by a tale of years of ubiquitous police graft, under-age prostitution, kidnapping, a floundering government, and detectives having sex with masseuses during investigations. it pits a suave, fast-talking showman who says he will stop at nothing, including selling his businesses, to correct practices that for years he participated in but now brands as 'evil injustice', against the might of the establishment that reaches up to the prime minister.
almost 100 officers have been suspended, transferred or investigated, but significantly none has been prosecuted. chuwit, 43, is facing two charges, of employing under-age masseuses and trespassing on his own land. he says simple economics has forced his hand.
'i have no choice because fewer customers are coming because they are afraid about the police checks,' he said. 'and the girls are afraid to work with me.'
the 'checks' escalated in recent weeks to what local media call a 'get-laid-and-raid' sting. officers posed as clients, had a massage, had sex and then arrested the women for prostitution.
unfortunately for the officers, they needed witnesses and so, when the girls denied the charges, they were released. the police declined to comment beyond saying investigations into chuwit and the alleged corruption were continuing.
chuwit, one of the city's biggest condom distributors, admits sex goes on in the rooms that contain a bed, bath and erotic posters of western women on the walls
'i accept that they are selling sex every night,' he said. 'but society needs its releases. we work all the time, we need to relax. i didn't kill anyone. i didn't force anyone to come and work with me at my place.
'i might be a sex tycoon, but i help the poor people. what will happen to the poor people if they don't work with me? how can they live? do you want them to steal? i've helped 20,000 women over 10 years.'
customers pay 2,000 baht (£30) for a two-hour massage and bath with one woman, of which the masseuse takes 60 per cent. sex is extra and negotiable. chuwit reckons he was making one million baht profit a night before his world caved in.
the crisis was triggered by the destruction of dozens of small bars in january on land chuwit owned but had leased to a massage customer, chalee kanngern. the police took 10 hours to arrive to investigate and, failing to find chalee, turned on chuwit. despite a total lack of evidence, chuwit was held in police custody for a month, emerging determined to clear his name.
'they broke the rules because they had to extract themselves out of the mess of the demolition,' he said. 'they did not care about me, even though i had been looking after them for years.
'looking after', he claims, involved paying officers 12 million baht a month over a decade. binbags full of cash and trays of rolex watches were delivered to police stations. he built 75 air-conditioned kiosks for traffic police that cost 20 million baht. senior officers would be given complimentary massages. everyone seemed happy.
the prime minister, thaksin shinawatra, talked tough but refused to meet chuwit, while the police chief, general sant sarutanond, did the minimum needed to assuage public anger.
when the demolition-related charges failed to stick, officers found three masseuses who had worked for him while they were still 17. more charges ensued and chuwit became even more irate. 'i can't check the id of every girl who works for me,' he said. 'why didn't they go after the woman who made the false ids and reported me?'
chuwit says he was then kidnapped for 30 hours. the truth about this is murky, but the police's two main witnesses say they were coerced into saying that the tycoon fabricated the story.
in a further fit of spite, chuwit then published two books, the golden bath, on the massage parlour business, and my confession (one day i will commit suicide) that delved deeper into police corruption.
chuwit boldly claims that he will win up to 20 seats at the next election, which is due within the next 18 months.
others are not convinced. suwaroj palang, an mp from the opposition democrat party, says the sex tycoon has garnered a lot of sympathy, but that it is unlikely to translate into votes.
'he is certainly the lesser of two evils,' he said. 'but thais don't think one man will be able to eradicate police corruption. it's going to be with us for decades.'
26th & Wells is Elegant Beauty Salon
I've been there and the ladies were always old. So I tried yesterday based on Magooski's review. Apparently our taste varys completey. Yes they were all wearing dresses but still all old. They may look more attractive with the lights off and viewing the top of their heads. I shoulda walked out but I could have used a good massage so I opted for the $35 for 30 mins. I got Amy in her 50's easily. All of them were. The massage itself was ok and seemed promising with the light touch. On the flip she quoted me $ for a french lesson. I told her your nuts thats way too much. She got pissed and I told her just to proceed with massage. She was noteably upset and stormed out the door after my massage was done to get me a hot towel to clean off the oil. She left the door wide open while she got the towel and then right after she was done. I got up and slammed the door. I wont put up with that shit again. I wont be back ever again. I didnt leave her shit as far as a tip was concerned maybe she got the message.
[QUOTE=Magooski]I stopped off at Alices to get another stamp on the card and they were not open yet. They must have been running behind as if was well after 10 am. So, I decided to try this place with no name along 26th street that is always on CL. Very nice place! The room was rather small, but had a very large shower. If was 50 for 1 hour. The ladies were all pretty attractive and wear dresses. Nice touch. I had a very nice massage. We had the usual talk, which led to an even more pleasing flip. $ CFS. Worth repeating even if I was in and out in about 45 mn.[/QUOTE]
