Shameful Obsession - Chicago and George Ryan's ties to Costa Rican Prostitution

February 9, 2004 — ABC7's I-Team uncovers how Chicago men are feeding the exploitation of women and children who are bought and sold for sex. Watch part two of "The Shameful Obsession" Tuesday at 10 p.m. on ABC 7 News.

For years, Chicago men who didn't want to indulge their shameful obsession close to home, would travel to countries such as Thailand. The I-Team takes you to a much closer destination-- Costa Rica, where teenagers are plentiful for a price.

Night and day, American men cram into bars where prostitutes offer services that are illegal back home. Here there is both anonymity and impunity because prostitution is allowed, as long as the woman is at least 18 years old. But local investigators estimate there are 3,000 underage girls working as prostitutes in Costa Rica. Many of them were brought against their will from Nicaragua, Colombia, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.

"You cannot really sometimes see the difference between a seventeen-year old girl or a nineteen-year-old girl. So that it's there that we have this age line that will permit for sometimes that younger girls be exploited and it's hard to know," said Rosalia, Gil, C.R. children's affairs minister.

About 2,500 miles from Chicago, an intersection in downtown San Jose Costa Rica is what many male American tourists refer to affectionately as ground zero, the baseline for their sexual holidays. Within a few blocks of here are dozens of nightclubs, massage parlors and one hour hotels that feature prostitutes of all ages.

Michelle was one of the prostitutes ABC7 News met while working undercover in San Jose who admitted being underage. However, many working girls appeared to be younger than 18.

"If you can imagine 11, 12, 13 year old girls and what they are put through. It pretty much ruins their life," said Mark Cullinane, U.S. Embassy-Costa Rica.

U.S. diplomats here warn American tourists not to hire underage prostitutes and pledge to help local police prosecute American violators. Nevertheless, American patrons the I-Team met seemed to have convinced themselves that barroom prostitutes are of legal age.

Bar patron: "They are all over 18 or else they wouldn't be here. Make sure they are."

ABC7 News met those Chicagoans who had come here on an expedition organized by the owner of Emmit's Pub, a well-known Irish tavern in West Town.

"One girl I had last year, her husband was killed, she brought her two kids here, she makes $600 a week and only works 2 days, she says that's all I need. She does three tricks a night."

He told us the Costa Rica contingent included a Chicago policeman and a Chicago fireman.

"Some of these firemen have been doing this for 18 years...it just grows every year and it gets more fun. You've got to love this, it's unbelievable, its so safe...I want to be comfortable, I want to feel safe," said Ronald Halverson, Costa Rica visitor.

Costa Rica's slogan is "pura vida," which means pure life. It is one of the world's greatest eco-centers, with cashmere beaches, lush rain forests, volcanoes and tropical animals. But for thousands of American men, the pure life that draws them is human wildlife.

Among them: Scott Fawell, the now-imprisoned aide to ex-governor George Ryan. Fawell and several other former Illinois officials were treated to Costa Rican prostitutes by then-state lobbyist Roger "The Hog" Stanley in exchange for government contracts. Stanley-- also now in prison-- owned a home here in San Jose, has a child here, and operated a travel agency that catered to Americans.

"Costa Rica has been sold out in the United States on the Internet as a sex paradise and we are trying to stop it," said Rosalia Gil.

Many of the Chicago men who take these trips write vivid reports on their conquests and post them on some of the 70 websites devoted to Costa Rican sex tours. They call themselves "Chicago Mongers."

Popular websites feature still photos of very young-looking girls. In some cases, there is also videotape shot in San Jose hotel rooms, along with consumer ratings for each girl's hygiene and performance.

Last month trafficking experts from Chicago and Central America met in Costa Rica to devise a battle plan. This month in San Jose taxi drivers are being trained to identify and turn in sex violators. Costa Rica cops are stopping street prostitutes who appear underage and checking birthdates on their government ID cards. They're also delivering a message to American men.

"They can enjoy our nature, our country, but this is not a place to come for sexual exploitation."

The best deterrent is probably the possibility of time in a clammy Costa Rican jail. Authorities invited the I-Team to see what horrid accommodations await American tourists arrested for child sex.

"We make investigation. We make arrests. In 2003 we arrested nine persons involved with crimes against children in Costa Rica," said Dir. Paul Chavez, Costa Rica Police.

But none of nine arrested last year was American, even though more sex tourists visit Costa Rica from the U.S. than anywhere else. Chavez says police need more money for undercover work. At the American embassy, Mark Cullinane has a more simple deterrent.

"I think we should ask those gentlemen if they have wives and daughters and how they would feel if their loved ones were victimized by their activities?" said Cullinane.

Since word got out that the I-Team was doing this story, internet chat rooms that cater to Costa Rica sex tourists have been buzzing.

Tuesday 10p.m., the I-Team looks at the women caught up in Chicago's shameful obsession and the men who keep them there.

You can see the ABC7 report by clicking on the video icon above. You will need Real Player 8 to view this video. You can get it FREE by clicking here. NOTE: Video clips will only be available for 10-days from the date they were created.NOTE: Security updates available for Real Player.

Shameful Obsession: Part 2

Federal agents tell the I-team that at least 50-thousand women and children are trafficked into the U.S. every year, most of them forced into prostitution on the streets of Chicago, New York, LA, and other big cities.

Commercial sex is a supply and demand business…no different than the illegal drug trade or unlawful gambling.

The traditional method of controlling all those rackets has been the same: stop the supply.

The I-Team looks at the "Shameful Obsession" of the customers...who create the demand.

"I felt like a slave and I was a slave. I got beat when I was good and I got beat when I was bad," said Betty Prevo, a former prostitute.

And then, sometimes, they are arrested. In Chicago, police spend about $10-million dollars a year on prostitution enforcement. Most of the money is spent arresting the prostitutes themselves. In district 14, which has the city's highest number of prostitution arrests, almost 90-percent of those charged are the prostitutes. Only ten percent of the arrests are the customer or "john" and hardly any suppliers or "pimps" are ever arrested.

"You can see a huge disproportion that should not be. That should not be that way," said Andy Kim of the Chicago Coalition For The Homeless.

Many prostitutes are homeless women and children...and so the Chicago Coalition For The Homeless is pressing city officials to be more aggressive against the suppliers and the customers of prostitution.

"There's no one demanding for the people who are profiting off the sex activities...there's no one demanding that they be accountable for what they are doing. No, they're not targeted," said Sasha Simonitch, a former prostitute.

First: the "johns". Just who are these men?

"Pretty much anybody. They are psychologists, newscasters, researchers, construction workers, most often married, they are from all races," said Melissa Farley of the Prostitution Research Center.

"Demand is the customer is anyone. It is your brother, your father, your uncle," said Sandra Hunnicutt of Captive Daughters.

"I've dated a judge. I've dated a lawyer. It's all kinds," added former prostitute Betty Prevo.

"One of the oddest experiences I've had was being called, sent out on a call to a hotel and there was an Evangelical Christian conference for ministers going on and I went up to the room and you know, there was a minister," said former prostitute Sasha Simonitch.

"I've saw priests turns tricks, schoolteachers, women," said a man we'll call "Homer", a former pimp.

In a not-so-common case of a "john" caught in the act, consider a 21-year old Westside plumber. He has a girlfriend and a one-year-old son. This police report has him having sex with a prostitute in his car. He claims it was a misunderstanding but pleaded guilty anyway. He could've received a year in jail but got just 3 months supervision. "I just wanted to get out from under it," he said.

"The acceptance of prostitution is based on the mistaken notion in the US that it will always be here, that boys will be boys. I think that is the equivalent of saying that wife beating is inevitable; that incest is inevitable; rape is inevitable," said Melissa Farley of the Prostitution Research Center.

There are at least 25-thousand working prostitutes in metro Chicago according to several recent studies. Researchers say more than a third of them start turning tricks before they're sixteen-years-old.

"Traffickers and kidnappers and pimps look for discontented adolescents and street children and Chicago has a huge problem here," said Sandra Hunnicutt of Captive Daughters.

Karen Clark was only 16 when she began a 30-year prostitution career in Chicago...most of them working for pimps.

"It's like trading stock, buying stock. That's what it is-women to pimps are just like going to the meat market," Clark said.

"I caused a lot of pain and I received a lot of pain..." said Homer, a former pimp.

One man, who asked us not to use his last name, says he too was just 16 when he started pimping prostitutes in Chicago...a career that lasted more than 25-years before he says he got out.

"I think that everybody who's been in for a while wants out. They just don't know how to get out," Homer said.

Now, he says gentleman's clubs and escort services owned by profitable companies are replacing the independent street pimps. "It's corporate business now um, the street pimp is probably almost non- existent anymore, he's almost a dinosaur," Homer said.

There have been several prostitution raids by police here the Skybox gentlemen's club in south suburban Harvey. Also in Harvey, in 2000 the Cherry Club and Arnie's were raided. And in Palatine, Dancer's nightclub was raided and women were arrested on prostitution charges.

And when there are big attractions in Chicago such as the current auto show, city police detectives say sex traffickers import extra women.

"The agencies would have different operations in different cities and so different cities would be more active at different times of the year depending on conventions and stuff like that, so we would travel we would move with that, with the trend," said Sasha Simonitch, a former prostitute.

"Slavery, human trafficking and sexual servitude are crimes that wretch our hearts," said U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

The Justice Department says it's a priority. The number of human trafficking investigations has tripled in three years.

"These crimes extend beyond the bounds of the law. They are an affront to human dignity. They are an assault on the nation's core beliefs. The nations laws are based on the belief that every human life is precious," said Dereck Ellerman of the Polaris Project.

Human trafficking is the third largest criminal industry in the world after drugs and arms dealing. It is a multi-billion dollar industry around the world and huge in the United States as well.

Homer, the former pimp, sums it up simply by saying, "lust is big business."

More Information:

* The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) organizes and advocates to prevent and end homelessness based on our belief that housing is a human right in a just society. The toll-free number is 800-940-1119.

* The Center for Impact Research (CIR) is a Chicago-based not-for-profit organization that works towards the elimination of poverty through grass-roots research.

* Sisters Speak Out: The Lives and Needs of Prostituted Women in Chicago have released a report documenting the experiences and needs of 222 women in prostitution in the Chicago metropolitan area.
Center for Impact Research
926 N. Wolcott
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 342-0630

* Young Women's Empowerment Project's mission is to offer safe, respectful, free of judgment spaces for girls and young women impacted by the sex trade and street economies to recognize and develop their goals, dreams, and desires - this work is personal to us, it is about our lives.
2334 W. Lawrence Ave., Suite 209
Chicago, IL 60625
Phone Number: 773.728.0127

* Individuals with information about instances of sex trafficking, forced labor, or involuntary servitude should call the Trafficking in Persons & Worker Exploitation Task Force complaint line at 1-888-428-7581. Operators have access to translation services for non-English speaking callers. For more information about the Justice Department's efforts to combat human trafficking can be found on the DOJ website: http://www.usdoj.gov/trafficking.htm.

You can see the ABC7 report by clicking on the video icon above. You will need Real Player 8 to view this video. You can get it FREE by clicking here. NOTE: Video clips will only be available for 10-days from the date they were created.NOTE: Security updates available for Real Player.

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