Posted on 06/06/2002 11:58:59 AM PDT by Dallas
NEW ORLEANS --
The bordello was in a white Victorian house on a shady boulevard, near a Presbyterian church and miles from Bourbon Street's strip clubs.
The madam ran it with help from her mother; the madam's daughter worked as a prostitute, prosecutors say. New Orleans blue-blood bankers, white-shoe lawyers, businessmen and a former pro football player were said to be among those who paid hundreds of dollars for hourlong trysts with women who had been flown in from New York, Miami and elsewhere.
With its French Quarter cathouses and the legendary, celebrated-in-song House of the Rising Sun, New Orleans has long had a rich reputation for indulging sins of the flesh.
But in this case, what went on behind the curtains of the house of ill repute on Canal Street became known through an extraordinary, six-month wiretap investigation by the FBI.
The case -- and the feds' role -- have raised questions and fueled gossip and debate from here to Capitol Hill. Among the questions:
* Why are the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department investigating the Louisiana skin trade?
* If the prostitutes face federal charges, why aren't their customers being prosecuted?
* Will the customers, who prosecutors say are among the city's elite, ever be identified publicly?
"This case is a real hot potato. I've been practicing law here for 35 years, and I don't remember anything like it," said Arthur A. "Buddy" Lemman III, a New Orleans defense lawyer.
The FBI began investigating the Knock (N) Shop brothel after a Louisiana doctor accused of insurance fraud said he spent more than $300,000 at the bordello from 1994 to 1998. Dr. Howard Lippton pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to cooperate with the FBI, whose investigation ran from April 2001 through September.
Investigators said the house was the center of a nationwide prostitution ring, with outposts in nine cities -- which meant the operation crossed state lines and thereby constituted a federal case.
"We're not only talking about high-priced call girls. We're talking about a house of ill repute in each city," Acting U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said.
Jeannette Maier, the 43-year-old madam, was indicted in March along with her mother, daughter and 12 other people, on federal charges ranging from racketeering to selling marijuana. Maier and her mother, Tommie Taylor, 62, admitted running the brothel and pleaded guilty to prostitution conspiracy.
Some wondered, though, why the FBI and federal prosecutors were so interested in prostitution, a crime normally left to the local district attorney.
"This case is not Ma Barker. This is not major criminal activity," said Harry Rosenberg, a former federal prosecutor. "I think the public normally expects the federal government to be interested in bigger things."
On Tuesday in Washington, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle cited the New Orleans investigation in arguing that the FBI ought to cooperate with lawmakers looking into intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"If the FBI can spend resources investigating whether there is prostitution in New Orleans, they ought to be able to find the resources to investigate what happened in this country prior to 9/11," he said.
No one, however, has used resources to prosecute the brothel's clients, even though the madam offered to identify them.
Letten has said he cannot prosecute the men because there is no federal law against paying someone for sex. He offered his evidence to District Attorney Harry Connick, whose office periodically prosecutes hookers.
But Connick declined the offer this week, insisting it is a federal case, started by the FBI, and it is up to the feds to finish the job.
Letten and Connick's refusal to go after the customers stirred speculation that the men are being protected from embarrassment.
"These are probably some prominent men who have been giving political contributions," New Orleans lawyer William Rittenberg said.
Some of Maier's customers are still worried.
Vinnie Mosca, Maier's lawyer, said several have asked her to keep their names secret. "People have called her up to lobby her," Mosca said.
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
Proof that some people have more money than brains.
Because their customers include federal and state judges, federal and state representatives, cops, and lawyers.
Boy! Is that cynical, or what? ;-)
Let me tell you, I'll certainly sleep better tonight knowing that, thanks to the FEDERAL Bureau of Investigation, there is one less whorehouse in Louisiana.
I am SOOOOOoooooo happy that the FBI now has the increased power and authority they needed to fight terrorism. (those Louisiana whores have always terrified me dontchano)
Wonder what they're probing with.........hmmmmmmm.........
Now, if they can only find out who hired Craig Livingston, or what is is,I'll sleep for a week.
Not too long ago, FBI agents were wasting their time busting vendors selling counterfeit T-Shirts at the swap shop here in Ft. Lauderdale. Um...Isn't that something for the local authorities to handle?
ROTFL (I sure hope they use rubber gloves.)
Apparently the people who ran the brothel and those who patronized it thought that it was a good thing. The people who are complaining are those who claim they didn't have anything to do with it. We'll not find out much about it when the cover up is complete. Too many prominent people are involved in these things.
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