Coeur d’Alene’s Mayor and City Council ♥ all things Seattle. Here’s something they should really enjoy.
Feds say prostitution rampant at strip clubs was the headline of staff reporters Mike Carter and Jim Brunner’s article in the June 3, 2008, Seattle Times.
I seriously doubt anyone is shocked to learn there is prostitution in Seattle, but this article and the FBI Special Agent’s 100-page affidavit for search warrant offers some real inight into the business plan and sophistication of an organized criminal activity.
Some readers here might also remember how three Seattle city council members were receiving campaign contributions from the Colacurcio family businesses and friends. It was nicknamed “Strippergate.” The council members had recently voted to allow rezoning of areas where the Colacurcio’s businesses were located. The effect of the rezoning was to allow more customers to come to the strip joints where prostitution was allegedly occurring. The council members all denied guilty knowledge, but two of the three were voted out of office at the next election.
Among some of the most interesting information in the article: Several Seattle-area strip clubs not owned or operated by the Colacurcio family were under surveillance as well. Many of them named in the article were found to be operating lawfully. It was no surprise, however, that those clubs that were allegedly encouraging prostitution were making far more money than those that did not.
(I note that according to the 2006 Crime in Idaho report, there were nine prostitution-related arrests in Idaho. None of those were in Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai County. Zero. Does anyone else find that a bit odd?)
The articles are all worth reading to learn how organized criminal enterprises insinuate themselves into a community. It’s all about the money.
That is some affidavit – 100 pages. I think I will write one. I like the confidential part where the informants are just numbers and they are getting off because they are spilling the beans to the authorities. Hope it works. There are more than just city council folks here in CDA who like Seattle.
Comment by Stebbijo — June 4, 2008 @ 8:12 pm
So what does everyone think about the Bikini Lounge here in CdA? I understand there are high numbers of crime reports from that location, especially in the parking lot, where I hear you can buy any vice possible. True?
Comment by mary — June 4, 2008 @ 8:16 pm
Confirmed:
Comment by Dan — June 4, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
Dan, Is that why they call it a “Vice Squad”?
Comment by mary — June 4, 2008 @ 9:52 pm
Mary,
Don’t worry. The $50-$60K bunker in the park manned by geriatric volunteers will solve all the downtown crime problems.
Talk with the merchants near the Torch Lounge to get some idea of the organic compounds and latex materials they find in the parking lots and around their businesses. But don’t limit your inquiry to the merchants near the Torch Lounge. Remember the news story and affidavit? The FBI and IRS surveillances found several clubs that were operating lawfully, meaning they were doing exactly what they should be doing: Actively discouraging their contractors (dancers) from prostituting in and near the businesses. There are other bars and restaurants downtown. Can you imagine what would hit the fan if some in-custody prostitute or call girl/boy said publicly s/he had been successfully working the downtown night spots frequented by the “pretty people?” The Torch Lounge should not be the only target any more than Colacurcio’s establisments were the only targets of the Seattle investigations.
The zero arrest for prostitution may be an internal policy directive (probably unwritten) to never list “prostitution” as the crime for which the person was arrested. This area depends heavily on tourist dollars, and for Corrupt d’Alene to arrest, charge, and prosecute for prostitution would acknowledge there is prostitution here. So, the solution is to simply arrest for something that doesn’t sound as tawdry to the tourists and the locals. If the City was really interested in clamping down on prostitution, there are effective ways to do it while at the same time reducing the problems inherent in prosecuting what fools and politicians call a victimless crime.
Or, if making an outcall visit to the customer’s expensive hotel room was the only crime and there’s nothing else to arrest the prostitute on, the program might be to not arrest him or her at all. Just encourage him or her to leave the downtown area. Notice I didn’t say leave town, just leave the downtown area. The customer is happy, because s/he is not named in a police report, the hotel/motel is happy because there is no bad publicity, and the call girl/boy is happy because s/he does not get charged with a crime. The Coeur d’Alene Press is happy because it is not forced to write a story that might cast downtown in a bad light (not that the Press would ever even consider publishing the story). The Mayor and City Council and Downtown Association and Chamber of Commerce are happy, because they can continue the illusion that there is nothing bad happening in Corrupt d’Alene.
If they can’t achieve their economic goals near Sherman and Lakeside and Front, where can prostitutes go? Remember that the City of Expedience does not enforce its ordinances against illegal rooming houses. In fact, I understand that the City’s code enforcement officer has been told illegal rooming houses are no longer in his jurisdiction; they will be handled by the City Attorney’s office. So, all some enterprising person has to do is find a rental agency with blinders on and a house for rent, and voila! The prostitution is still here, the contracts may still be negotiated downtown, but the service delivery is not downtown.
At the block watch meeting in May, Chief Longo said, “There’s a subliminal life that exists in town that I think a lot of people don’t know is out there.” He was clearly referring to the below-the-radar criminal culture in Coeur d’Alene. Prostitution is one part, hopefully a very small part, of that culture. But zero? I don’t think so.
Comment by Bill — June 5, 2008 @ 8:26 am
While there is more crime downtown,
because of all this growth,it’s tame compared to Spokane.
Even though there seems to be a criminal element around the ‘Torch’ lounge.It seems laughable to suggest they have a prostitution problem.Why?
Many of these girls make a lot of money at these places,they don’t have to go into the worlds oldest profession.
Kootenai County has been very vigilant through the years against
prostitution.Bill Douglas closed down the stateline brothels back in 1992.There was a couple that tried to run prostitution ring out of their house years ago and were shutdown.Deja Vu’tried to get a license in Post Falls,so they could open a dance club on Seltice in the old chinese restaurant and were denied.
Bill,did you know that in the 1930’s there was a brothel on Sherman Ave.Surprising isn’t it.In fact if you look at the history of
CDA,it’s pretty tame now,compared to back in the old days.
Comment by kageman — June 5, 2008 @ 10:05 am
Also,when the stateline brothels went in back in the late 70’s,the sheriff back then was good ole’Rocky Watson.He made a come back in 1999,when Pierce Clegg retired early and has been there ever since.
Comment by kageman — June 5, 2008 @ 10:21 am
kageman,
Thanks for the comment.
I was not suggesting the Torch Lounge has a prostitution problem. I was responding to Mary’s question, and I was pointing out that while her question was focused on the Torch Lounge (she called it the Bikini Lounge), to fairly assess the presence or absence of prostitution in Coeur d’Alene would require looking at far more downtown night clubs than just the Torch Lounge.
The issue I raised in my comment is the absurdity of Kootenai County and Coeur d’Alene both having zero arrests for prostitution in the year 2006. The implication in the “zero” is that the crime isn’t occurring. We are near Spokane; we are at the intersection of a major east-west interstate and the north-south route through Idaho; and this is a resort community that attracts a lot of people with very large amounts of disposable income and political influence. Given all that, it really stretches common sense to suggest there is no prostitution going on here.
It is likely prostitutes are being arrested here, but their arrests are for associated crimes related to larceny, robbery, battery, or drugs. Those crimes are often the outcomes from the prostitution which facilitated them.
What I was really hoping people would pay attention to in my original post, though, was the link to Strippergate and to the complexity of and time required to effectively investigate an organized criminal enterprise. I also wanted people to see how an organized criminal enterprise insinuated itself into local government to the detriment of the community at large.
Comment by Bill — June 5, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
Bill, I think I mistakenly called it the Bikini Lounge because isn’t that the name of the place in Boise, owned by the same person? I remember when it was coming to CdA and the City tried very hard to keep it from going in downtown. But their old, out of date ordinances could not prevent it.
Comment by mary — June 5, 2008 @ 3:17 pm
Bill,
I asked a cop connected friend today about this. S/he said they do not arrest because Bill Douglas won’t prosecute!
Visit Craigslist for an eyeopener – open advertisments for prostitution in CDA!
Comment by Pariah — June 5, 2008 @ 6:20 pm
Mary,
No, the ones in Boise are Torch 1 and Torch2. The one here is Torch CdA. The generic term for this type of bar is a “bikini bar”, and I believe that’s how the local newspaper referred to it in some of the early articles.
Comment by Bill — June 5, 2008 @ 6:23 pm
Pariah,
Thanks for the clarification. Assuming your source is correct, that will hopefully change when Douglas is no longer the prosecutor. However, prostitution is a tough case when the victim refuses to testify. If the victim was a willing participant and was not arrested, there’s little incentive for him or her to testify.
Comment by Bill — June 5, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
Bill,
I agree. For my money the dogs I want flogged and then beheaded are the %^%^$#$^ pimps. Lowlife slime.
Comment by Pariah — June 5, 2008 @ 6:44 pm
Bill,
Would you care to comment on my questions at post 74 (POST 74!) on the Monday with Christie thread?
Comment by Pariah — June 5, 2008 @ 6:45 pm
Pariah,
I’m not qualified to comment authoritatively. My understanding is that it is a manipulative technique used to break down deep-seated resistance. Because it is a manipulative technique, I was taken aback by the SD 271 Long Range Plan Review Committee meeting minutes of February 25, 2008, when Hazel Bauman was reported to have said they need to “convert” people. That is a very unusual word for a school administrator to use in that context. It is a word more commonly used in the active voice by cult leaders or others who depend on psychological coercion to “win over” or gain control of an opponent or, being unable to do that, at least discredit the opponent. Since I believe Hazel Bauman to be an honorable school administrator who has the best interests of the students at heart, it caused me to wonder if someone advising her and that Committee might have been trying to manipulate her and the Committee members to do something contrary to what they believed to be correct or right or the best course of action.
Comment by Bill — June 5, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
Bill,
I appreciate your reticence on this subject. I have seen, up close, the use of the Delphi Technique in School Districts throughout North Idaho. It is an unethical use of the system and a dishonest perversion of our form of government. It is a regularly taught technique at government school conferences. It is especially useful to those who want to pass bonds or defuse protests. It is a truly sad perversion of a process designed to use an anonymous structure for expert predictive results.
I’d love to see you and others study this issue and report on same here.
Comment by Pariah — June 5, 2008 @ 9:09 pm