Paulino Ramirez-Granados, 39, was one of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) 10 most wanted human traffickers before he was arrested in Tenancingo, Mexico, some 100 km southwest of Mexico City, in March 2015, according to ICE.
Tenancingo is known as the pimp capital of the world, where trafficking women has been the most lucrative family business for generations.
The defendant, working with other members of the Granados family, promised romance and marriage to young Mexican women to convince them to move to the U.S. but once they did, the traffickers used threats and violence to force them to work as prostitutes in the New York City area.
The victim, identified as Jane Doe, described in court "the extreme abuse" she experienced "at the hands of" Ramirez-Granados, according to a transcript of her statement published by New York Daily News.
She said her then-partner Antonio Robles — who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2014 — introduced her to Ramirez-Granados when she was 22 years old.
"Paulino and Antonio made promises that we would escape poverty if I worked in prostitution. But, I never did. My family never did," the victim said. "Women who are forced into prostitution never do. Paulino and Antonio were the ones who escaped poverty through the sexual slavery of me and other women."
She said Robles and Ramirez-Granados "physically forced" her to have sex with up to 60 clients in one day, often seven days a week. The clients used to hit her, insult her and threatened her life.
Ramirez-Granados was also sentenced to five years supervised release and was ordered to pay US$ 1,229,760 to Jane Doe.
Since 2009, U.S. and Mexican authorities have worked together in a "Bilateral Human Trafficking Enforcement Initiative" to dismantle human trafficking networks, which has resulted in the prosecution of more than 50 defendants, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
