“As alleged, the schemes in which these defendants participated ran the gamut of criminal activity—from racketeering and extortion, to immigration and marriage fraud. And the defendants themselves had one thing in common—the desire to turn the women they allegedly helped enter this country illegally into their personal profit centers,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara at a news conference. “Today’s arrests have brought an end to their illicit activities.”
James Hayes, special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the “arrests bring to an end a long-standing criminal enterprise operated by colluding organized crime entities that profited wildly through a combination of extortion and fraud. As alleged, the defendants controlled their business and protected their turf through intimidation and threats of physical and economic harm. Today, that business model has been extinguished.”
The defendants recruited women though newspaper ads and Facebook to work as strippers in New York City. The authorities said that the defendants received help from Russian mob. Sixteen of the defendants were charged with providing the women with fake job offers for summer waitressing jobs. While these job offers enabled the women to obtain visas for the US, visa regulations prohibit them from working in the adult entertainment industry.
In order to keep the women in the country, the defendants “arranged for many of the women to enter into sham marriages with U.S. citizens” according to the US Attorney’s Office. Female emissaries were sent to find single, young men in upstate New York, who would agree to marry the foreign dancers for US$5,000.
Hayes said recruiters were even sent to the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City to look for women arriving from Eastern European countries to work as nannies and summer camp counselors. “When they saw someone that would be a good draw for the club, they would approach them,” he said. Commenting on why the clubs were trying to obtain dancers from overseas, Hayes said that “Based on what we’ve learned, they were particularly marketable.”
The seven defendants who are associated with the Gambino and Bonanno crime families have been charged with extortion. As a part of the services that they provided in exchange for extorted “protection” payments, the defendants allegedly settled disputes between club owners over allocation of the women.
While the indictment did not name any clubs, a federal law enforcement official stated that nine New York strip clubs were involved, among them Gallagher’s, The Scene, L.I., Rouge, Perfection, and Cheetah’s.
The case is assigned to Federal District Judge Victor Marrero. All of the suspects pleaded not guilty and were released on bond.
