Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller (2020) s01e05 Episode Script
Pimps
1
GOTTI: I wake up, make sure
my sons are in school,
and then drive
all over creation,
looking at these
young, pretty girls.
MAN: Train stations.
MAN: Instagram.
WOMAN: Instagram.
MAN: Facebook.
MAN: County jail.
All-night Denny's.
MARIANA:
First comes the seduction.
Then comes the reality.
LADY P: After a couple of days
of drinking and smoking,
now you got to walk the street.
MARIANA:
This is a story about pimps.
How they work, how they think,
and what they'll do
to grab their share
of the billion-dollar market
for illicit sex in America.
(knocking)
JACK KNIFE: I'm not saying
what I do is right,
but I'm a wolf out here
to survive on these streets.
Because I'm not
gonna be no sheep.
(sirens)
♪
♪
(siren)
MICHELLE: The very first time
I ever did it,
it was a complete rush.
And then you just kind of
start to get used to it.
MARIANA: What is it like when
you're, when you're out there?
MICHELLE: It's cold.
It's really cold.
This is a good amount
of clothes.
We've seen girls out there in
just like a bra and underwear.
MARIANA: In the winter?
MICHELLE: In the winter,
in the rain.
A lot of them can't leave
until they are told
that they can come back in.
MARIANA: By their pimps?
MICHELLE: Yeah. Pimps.
MARIANA: Is it dangerous?
MICHELLE:
Oh, it's extremely dangerous.
Vehicles pull up to us
that you don't know if
they're just gonna roll by
and just start shooting at you.
Like a rival pimp,
that you're working for someone,
and that's technically
their enemy,
so instead of going
after the pimp,
they're gonna go
after the girls.
MARIANA: How often are you
approached by pimps?
MICHELLE: Almost every time
we're out there.
MARIANA: And you've been doing
this for how long?
MICHELLE: I've been doing this
for around three years.
MARIANA: Was it soon after you
joined the police department or?
MICHELLE: Um, it was a good
chunk of time after.
MARIANA: Michelle,
as we'll call her,
is one of two
Oakland police officers
who will be going undercover
tonight as decoys.
So how do you
MICHELLE: We have people
very close.
MARIANA: Watching?
MICHELLE: Mm-hmm.
MICHELLE: And we do have
our firearms on us also.
MARIANA:
Oh, you take a gun with you?
MICHELLE: Yeah.
MARIANA: Where?
MICHELLE:
We just, we make it work.
MARIANA: Sex trafficking has
become front-page news recently,
thanks to high-profile cases
like that of multi-millionaire
Jeffrey Epstein.
NEWSCASTER: For several years,
Epstein was operating
a sex trafficking ring.
MARIANA: Not long ago,
sex trafficking was thought
to be largely
a transnational problem,
with criminal networks
smuggling undocumented women
across borders
to work as sex slaves,
but there's a far more
common variety,
happening in every U. S. City,
big and small,
that sees Americans
exploiting other Americans.
No state reports more cases
than California.
And by all accounts,
Oakland is a hot spot.
POLICE OFFICER: Thanks,
everyone, for being here,
we're doing
a decoy operation today.
It's very dangerous
for the decoys.
Stay out of sight. Keep close.
If we do arrest a pimp,
we're gonna call a Code 3
response for an arrest.
MARIANA: The goal of the
operation is to disrupt business
around one of California's most
notorious prostitution tracks,
International Boulevard
in East Oakland.
It's a place where pimps
have long been known
to sell underage girls.
You guys used to go after
mainly the women
working on the streets,
and you've since shift,
and are now going
after the traffickers
and the johns,
the demand as well.
When did that happen?
JIMMY BEERE:
October of last year. Yeah.
MARIANA:
Just October of last year.
JIMMY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Pretty recent change.
JIMMY:
Yes, pretty recent change.
And we want to target
what's fueling the demand
here in Oakland.
We want to go after
the exploiters,
the ones that are victimizing
our young women.
So by attacking the demand
and making people know
that Oakland's not a place
that's gonna tolerate
forcing people
into prostitution.
MARIANA: Lieutenant Jimmy Beere
is the commander
of the vice unit and
my guide for the evening.
JIMMY: When a john pulls up,
they pull up real slow,
kind of to check out the girls,
see how they look.
Window shopping, I hate to say.
Pimp, on the other hand,
they want to make it known
they're the big dog
in this neighborhood.
So, they usually swoop up
onto the corner really fast.
Anything intimidating,
like do a burnout
and take off at
a really high rate of speed.
MAN: Got a male Hispanic on foot
talking to the girls right now.
JIMMY: Swoop signal on the dude
with the bald head.
(siren)
MAN: He just got into a white
'80s model Toyota pickup truck.
JIMMY: Yeah, that's it
right there. Positive ID.
MARIANA: It's happening,
you see that?
JIMMY: Yeah, they're
arresting him right now.
MARIANA: The decoys move
several blocks away
and start working
on another corner.
Within minutes, a car pulls up.
JIMMY: He's hauling ass
to get out of here.
MARIANA: Yeah.
That's him.
What do you find with
the majority of these johns?
What's sort of the profile?
JIMMY: As you see already,
it's been, like, one male Asian,
one male Hispanic,
one male Black.
Typically, there'll be
a male white next,
you know, if I'm gonna,
if I'm gonna bet.
MARIANA: And young, old,
married, single?
JIMMY: All of that. All of that.
Yeah, there's no real
profile of a john.
WOMAN: There's a male in a Lexus
hanging out the window
with a gun.
JIMMY: Oh, (bleep).
Might have a guy pointing guns
at the prostitutes.
(siren)
MARIANA: Quickly,
it becomes clear
that they could arrest johns
all night long.
(siren)
But it's not the johns
they're really after.
JIMMY: We're trying
to draw the pimp out.
Lure him out from
behind the shadows.
Try to get them to actually
recruit one of our girls
and then we go after him.
MARIANA: Do you think they're
making more money as pimps
than they are if they
were selling drugs?
JIMMY: Yes. MARIANA: Why?
JIMMY: There's more of it.
There's more demand.
You don't have to buy
the product,
so I don't have to come
out-of-pocket.
I don't have to package it.
I'm not being at risk
for holding on to it.
Renewable product
that never expires
as long as she's still alive.
And if she's alive,
she better be making money.
MARIANA: The challenge is
actually finding them,
or getting them.
JIMMY: That's it.
BARACK OBAMA: Our fight
against human trafficking
is one of the great human rights
causes of our time.
And the United States
will continue to lead it.
DONALD TRUMP: We will not rest
until we've stopped
every last human trafficker and
liberated every last survivor.
MARIANA: The fight against
trafficking seems to be
one of the few issues
that transcends politics.
But all of that attention
hides an ugly truth,
that busting sex traffickers
is extremely difficult,
in part because their victims
are often afraid to testify.
JIMMY: It's more difficult
to solve these cases,
I would venture to say,
than murder charges.
MARIANA: For these pimps, that
means the risk is relatively low
and the profits sky high,
a combination that
must be irresistible,
which is exactly why
I want to find one.
(rapping)
Cash, cash, cash, cash ♪
I will not stop
till I'm filthy rich ♪
I made a dollar
out of 50 cents ♪
I made the track
over 50 bricks ♪
.22 on me like ♪
My search begins on Instagram.
That's where I learn that pimps
have their own ecosystem
of hashtags.
There's this one hashtag, 3-0-4.
If you turn around 304,
it actually spells "hoe."
Can't show a lot of these faces,
but #GameRelated,
#PGO, Pimp Game On,
#HGO, which means Ho Game On,
#IZM, which is, like,
the swagger.
More jewelry, more diamonds.
This display of
wealth and power.
These stacks of cash.
All of this is just a way
to show these women
what their lives could be like
if they were working for them.
I have no idea if
any of these guys
are actually pimps
or just playing the part.
But for some, it certainly feels
like their social media feed
is the marketing arm
of their operation.
Doesn't seem like
they're very ashamed
or trying to hide what
they're doing at all.
In fact, they want
to show it off.
Over several weeks, I message
countless guys and a few women,
asking if any of them
would be up for talking.
I get mostly silence.
Then finally, a breakthrough.
I stumble upon a genre of book
I didn't know existed:
The pimp memoir.
That's how I found Mickey Royal.
Sure enough,
the author of The Pimp Game
agrees to meet me at a motel
in the heart of
South Central Los Angeles.
I'm hopeful that Mickey
will be the key
to finding my way inside
his former profession.
How are you?
MICKEY ROYAL: Alright.
MARIANA: Mariana.
MICKEY: Mickey Royal.
At your service.
MARIANA: Hi, Mickey,
so nice to meet you.
MICKEY: Same here. Likewise.
I didn't really start
really pimping
until I was about 19 or 20.
I came from a drug and gang
background,
so I always thought of that
particular life as being weak,
you know, because if
it didn't involve a pistol,
I wasn't interested.
But it was something
about the allure of it.
It just sucks you in,
and I fell in love with it.
DREXL SPIVEY: I know I'm pretty.
MARIANA: The allure of pimping
is no secret.
GOLDIE: I want you to
get yourself together
and get back out there
and get me my money.
MARIANA: From movies
to music videos
50 CENT:
That I'm a ---- P-I-M-P ♪
MARIANA: to Seinfeld.
(laughter)
Very few underworld figures
have gotten as much love
from pop culture as the pimp.
But I want to know
how the business of pimping
really works.
Mickey offers
to take me for a tour
of the most infamous track
in L. A.
Where are we heading?
Where are we going?
MICKEY: We're headed
to Figueroa.
It's referred to as
the track, the blade.
It's been around since the '60s.
We're talking about 95 blocks.
MARIANA: Wow.
MICKEY: 95 blocks.
MARIANA: How dangerous is it,
do you think?
MICKEY:
It's extremely dangerous.
You got the tricks
you have to worry about.
You have upsetting the pimp
you have to worry about.
Kidnapping, stabbings,
shootings, plenty of them.
You're talking about
a profession
where sexual assault and rape
are just occupational
daily hazards.
MARIANA: So, I've lived in
Los Angeles for over 10 years,
and I know Figueroa,
but I have never seen
any of this till tonight.
MICKEY: That's why I call it
the Shadow World.
It exists at night
and broad daylight.
She's working to the right.
MARIANA:
Oh, she's wearing a bikini.
MICKEY: Yeah.
MARIANA: It's also freezing.
It's 46 degrees outside.
MICKEY: I mean,
you got to understand,
if they have pimps or whatever,
they can make extra money
by being seen from a distance,
they're not even allowed
to wear jackets.
See how they both were naked?
More than likely,
they have the same pimp.
MARIANA: Was that a thing?
Where your girls that worked
with you dressed the same?
MICKEY: Yeah, 'cause
it's easier to shop
for all of them
at the same time.
MARIANA: So all these
three girls have the same shoes.
Does that mean that they work
for the same pimp?
MICKEY: More than likely.
MARIANA: She was so young.
She looked like she was
like 15 or something.
Did you see that?
MICKEY: Yeah. You'll see
a lot of those.
MARIANA: I mean, it's dozens
and dozens and dozens of women
that we've seen so far in, what,
in about 20 blocks, right?
MICKEY: Right.
You should see them on
Friday and Saturday night.
It's like a concert.
(siren)
MARIANA: So where would you be?
Imagine a girl
would be on this corner.
Where would you be?
MICKEY: Sitting in the car
not far away.
MARIANA: Oh, watching her.
MICKEY: Yeah. MARIANA: Why?
MICKEY: To make sure she's okay.
And I figured that was my job.
MARIANA: And if you had
more than one girl,
how do you do that?
MICKEY: You cruise around.
You might sit here for about 10
minutes until she gets a date,
see where it goes, and then
you cruise up to see this one.
Pull up on one,
you collect your money.
But she's not gonna
get any dates
while you're sitting there.
MARIANA: We've been circling
the same stretch of blocks
several times when
Mickey gets spooked.
MICKEY: Okay, that's, uh,
we got to go somewhere else.
MARIANA: What happened?
MICKEY: That's them.
MARIANA: Why? What happened?
MICKEY:
It's starting to get hot.
MARIANA: What do you mean?
What'd he do?
MICKEY: Once we got made,
as far as the cameras,
what'll happen is they'll start
telling everybody what they saw
and pointing out the car.
MICKEY: You don't
want to do that.
No. You want to call it a night
right now, trust me.
MARIANA: I follow
Mickey's advice,
but I'm still hopeful he can
connect me to an active pimp.
So, we've been working on
this story for a long time,
and it's been really hard
to get people to talk to us,
especially people who are
currently in the game.
MICKEY: Yeah,
you won't get that.
MARIANA: I mean, if you were
currently doing it,
would you even admit it to us?
MICKEY: No.
You hopping out
with the cameras,
you're better off
pulling guns on me.
No.
Guns I'll challenge,
the camera I'll just run.
No.
MARIANA: Why not?
MICKEY: Because if you want
to get away with a crime,
it has to be a secret.
Simple as that.
MARIANA: After our interview,
Mickey pulls me aside.
He gives me a name, a number,
and a promise.
One phone call later,
doors begin to open.
(phone ringing)
NINA: Hello?
MARIANA: Hi, it's Mariana here.
How are you?
NINA: I'm fine.
MARIANA: Mickey gave me
your number
and said that you'd be
willing to talk to us.
We'd love to meet with you at
a place somewhere in Inglewood
if you're available.
NINA: Yes.
MARIANA: Okay. And you're
bringing some people
that work with you, right?
NINA: Right.
MARIANA: That hotel, is that
the place you want to meet?
NINA: Right. Yeah.
MARIANA: Have you worked
out of there?
NINA: Yeah.
MARIANA: So, we've rented
this motel room.
It's a place that they've said
they've worked at before.
We were supposed to meet here
an hour ago.
They still haven't showed up.
But we're, you know,
we're hoping they will.
It's been really hard
to get people to talk to us,
so it sounded really positive,
and I'm hoping that
they will show up tonight.
MARIANA: Oh, hi.
NINA: Nice to meet you.
MARIANA: I'm Mariana.
How are you?
NINA: I'm fine.
MARIANA: Come on in.
Thanks for meeting us here.
'Cause I know you want us
to disguise your identities.
So, we actually got all
these masks here for you.
BEE: That's more me.
MARIANA:
That's a real pretty one.
It's funny because
when I looked at them
and I was trying to figure out
which one I would wear
if it was me,
I changed my mind
about three times.
WOMAN: Right.
BEE: Perfect.
WOMAN: A little bit,
here, over the
BEE: Uh-uh. I like this.
MARIANA: So, we're very close
to Figueroa,
which is one of the most famous
tracks or blades in Los Angeles.
Have you guys
ever been out there?
NINA: I have. BEE: Yeah.
MARIANA: Do you think that a lot
of the women that are working
out on the blade, the track,
they all have pimps?
BEE: I say 80% of them do.
NINA: Yeah. HONEY: I say, yeah.
MARIANA: Did you have a pimp?
NINA:
When I first started out, no.
I was just,
"Hey, let's get away."
You know what I mean?
But I did try it out.
Like, guys wanted me
to be they ho.
And, you know,
I'll hang around them
or kick it with their female
and see how
their environment was,
and it just wasn't for me.
It was a lot of violence.
It was a lot of jealousy.
I didn't see where
the money was going.
MARIANA: Why do you think
other women do it, then?
NINA: Daddy issues.
Seeking attention,
might've been molested.
Might feel that they need
to be valued by a man
and not really know
they value for they self.
HONEY: Yeah,
there's a lot of people
that grow up in broken homes.
Not having that father figure
is like a huge part
in a young girl's life.
When you don't seek and get
that love that you deserve,
it pushes you to
a whole 'nother state
that you can't really
explain or describe.
You just feel the pain.
MARIANA: Do you think that
the pimps know that
and they exploit that?
They go after those
HONEY: Yeah, that's how
they abuse you.
That's how they get you
to never leave.
And that's why most girls
that's my age,
they get stuck and they live
like that for a very long time.
MARIANA: The more we talk,
the more I realize
how many different ways women
are pulled onto the streets.
This is a woman we'll call Bee.
Prostitution is not her day job;
Just something she does
after her shifts as a nurse.
BEE: Paying for school.
So it was, like,
I'm doing it anyway.
Why not?
I mean, I'm not ashamed,
I'm not ashamed of it.
So it's like it ain't
no need to be ashamed.
Everybody having sex.
Don't you ever fantasize
about being a stripper?
MARIANA: Yeah, see, this is
the part where I'm not sure
if I should be nodding or not.
BEE: Exactly. (Laughs)
MARIANA: Honey says she works
primarily with clients
from the business world.
HONEY: I'm very high priced.
I mean, I make a lot of money
doing what I'm doing.
MARIANA: She says she can make
as much as $20,000 a week.
But all that money comes
at a high personal cost.
HONEY: So I had a friend,
and her father, he was
a drug dealer and a pimp.
My mother was never around,
so, you know,
I always spent a lot of time
at her house.
And her dad, you know, he would
always hit on me and touch me.
But, I never told anyone,
I didn't have anyone around, so.
MARIANA: How old were you?
HONEY: Um, I was 12.
MARIANA: I'm sorry if
I'm gonna ask you this,
and tell me if
you don't want to answer
or if you don't even
want the question,
we can take it out,
but did he rape you?
HONEY: Yes, he did.
MARIANA: When you were 12?
HONEY: Yes.
MARIANA: And then how did it
progress from there?
HONEY: He told me like,
"It's okay if you do it for me.
I'm not gonna judge you.
No one's gonna judge you.
Don't tell anybody."
So, you know, I always
kept it a secret,
like no one ever knew
what I did.
MARIANA: And how did
he convince you
that you should be selling
your body out to other men?
HONEY: I didn't have a mother
and a father around,
so I grew up thinking
that it was okay,
you know, to sell my body.
I was young, I was naive,
like, you tell me it's okay
and I just believed you.
MARIANA: He was a pimp.
HONEY: Yes.
MARIANA: He had several women
working for him?
HONEY: Yes. MARIANA: How many?
HONEY: About five of us.
MARIANA: All of them
as young as you?
HONEY: Yeah.
MARIANA: So they were
all between 12
HONEY: 12 to like 15,
no older than that.
MARIANA: After four years,
Honey finally escaped.
Did he do any time
in jail or anything?
HONEY: No. I didn't press any
charges, nothing like that.
I just wanted to get away.
MARIANA: One of the things
that we hear a lot
is how women that have pimps,
even when they're abusive,
that they just don't want to
talk to the police,
they don't want to testify.
They just want to
leave that behind.
HONEY: Snitches get stitches,
so if you tell,
people will put a bounty
on your head,
and they don't care
how much it costs.
MARIANA: Right.
That's what they say?
HONEY: The lingo. Mm-hmm.
MARIANA: Meaning that they will
beat you up if you talk?
HONEY: Right.
And they'll do it,
they'll make sure it get done.
NINA: Once you in it,
it's hard to escape.
It's always gonna
come back to you.
Once you turn a good girl bad,
it's hard to turn back good.
MARIANA: After the interview,
Nina tells me she knows everyone
on the streets, pimps included.
She makes some introductions,
I trade some texts,
and it looks like it's
all about to happen
until it doesn't.
(text message tone)
We've been in three
different locations so far
just today alone, waiting
for these pimps to show up.
(text message tone)
They tell us they're coming,
they tell us
they're on their way.
We get everything set up
and we wait and wait and wait,
and then last minute,
they either don't show up
or they text us telling us
they can't come,
or they're, you know,
unsure whether we're police,
and they don't feel comfortable.
(text message tone)
He just bailed.
He's not coming anymore.
(text message tone)
We actually just got a text
from this one guy
who says he's on
54th and Western.
He's on the corner.
He told us he'd
be waiting for us.
We have no idea what
we're walking into,
who we're meeting with exactly.
But we're hoping that at least
there's somebody there.
The process is frustrating.
I've had easier times
getting access
to gunrunners and drug lords.
But I'm realizing
this black market is different
and darker.
(siren)
Okay. So, this is it.
We're in a parking lot
of a laundromat.
This is where
he told us to meet him.
No surprise, he's not there.
It could be that he's just
looking at us from somewhere
and checking us out to make sure
that we're not cops.
In which case it might be a good
idea if I get out of the car
and just go walk around
and tell him
I'm the woman with the red vest
or something.
What's that?
MARIANA: No, taking pictures
of me. They're filming me.
MARIANA: Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, I think
cameras down for now,
because they're getting
more and more upset.
MAN: Really? MARIANA: Yeah.
(text message tone)
MARIANA: Okay, come around
the corner to 1609, duh duh duh.
Okay, we got an address.
Let's see what happens now.
From Western, we turn into
a residential neighborhood
and make our way to the address.
Finally, after months of trying,
here I am, looking into the dark
shades of a working pimp.
♪
♪
MARIANA: After months of trying,
I'm finally face to face
with a working pimp.
He wants me to call him Chill,
and this is his
business partner, Lady P.
I know that when we were
texting back and forth,
you were, you didn't
want to give us
the right address immediately.
So you weren't sure if
we were police, essentially?
CHILL: Absolutely.
Because of the business
that we're in.
If you're even claiming
that you're in this part
of the business,
they've changed (bleep),
so now instead of just
some regular (bleep)
Where pimping is pimping, no.
What we're doing now is
considered human trafficking,
and that (bleep) is completely
different from what pimping is.
MARIANA: So tell me
what is pimping about.
CHILL: It's about choice.
It's they see the flash,
they see the gold,
they see the money,
they see the cars.
Every time you turn on a radio,
what do you hear?
Oh, it's some rapper dude
talking about
how he got a bunch of bitches
and all this other (bleep).
So what do they want?
They want that rapper dude.
They see the Ferrari, the
Lamborghini, all that (bleep).
They want that (bleep).
What's next to a rapper?
(bleep) A pimp! Why not?
He can get you
everything you want, easy.
Drugs, sex, rock and roll.
That's what it is.
MARIANA: That may be the way
pimps like Chill
view the lifestyle,
but I imagine the reality
is far more complicated
for the women working for him.
How do you find the girls?
LADY P: Clubs.
They see us hanging out.
We're in the VIP section
and we're drinking
and we're having fun.
Of course they don't want to be
sitting over there
with normal people,
they want to come to the VIP.
"Hey, girl, you want to
come back with us?"
MARIANA: Who says that?
LADY P: I do.
They come back.
They see the glitz, the glamour,
the gold, the cars, the bikes.
They want to smoke weed,
do powder, ecstasy.
We have all that around.
Couple of days after
they've been there,
okay, now you got to come up
with some money.
CHILL: Bills got to get
(bleep) paid.
You got a choice at that point.
You can say, "I'm cool.
(bleep) that, I'm out."
99.9% of the time, these young
(bleep) are gonna be like,
"Hey, I got (bleep) weed,
I got ecstasy,
I got every (bleep) thing
I want,
and I can get some money
out of this? Why not?"
MARIANA: Is it really that high,
like, that amount of girls,
the majority?
LADY P: It's not like
you're going out
looking for
the classiest of females,
you know, you want the ones
that are "ahhh," turnt up.
CHILL: Or keeps looking
over at us.
LADY P: Keeps looking over.
You can tell.
CHILL: Just keep on (bleep)
eyeing and watching.
She done already been spotted.
Over here, we just spotted her.
It's a wrap.
At that point
the choice is made.
MARIANA: Chill says
that his women
don't work out on the streets.
They find their customers online
where they can charge
a higher price.
So when people call you a sex
trafficker or human trafficker,
what do you think of that?
CHILL: I think it's (bleep).
If you go talk to my bitches
and ask them what they think,
"Am I sex trafficking?"
They'll be like,
"Yeah, he's trafficking me.
To (bleep) Miami,
to (bleep) Vegas, to Florida."
MARIANA: Do you do that?
Do you transport them?
CHILL: and it's gonna be
like cha-ching!
MARIANA: It's shocking
how little is known
about the underground
sex economy.
One recent study estimates
that illicit sex in the U. S.
Brings in $5.7 billion a year
through street prostitution,
online escort services,
residential brothels,
and massage parlors.
But there's no reliable data
about how many pimps and
traffickers are operating
or how many victims
may be out there.
It's rare to get an inside look
at a pimp's operation,
which is why I want
to see others.
Over the next week,
I connect with two more pimps
who are currently in the game.
At a cheap motel in Inglewood,
I meet Jack Knife,
and after a bit of convincing,
I sit down with Gotti late night
at a bar near the airport.
So these women, that you
meet them on the street
or how do you recruit them?
How do you get them
to work for you?
JACK KNIFE: On the street,
9 times out of 10.
Sometimes Instagram,
you know what I'm saying?
Sometimes Facebook, it depends.
MARIANA: What do you
say to them?
GOTTI: How are you doing,
beautiful?
You mind if I hang out with you
while you shop?
And, uh, we can talk
and get to know each other.
We hang out, become friends,
and talk about how
we can make money,
and if they want to go along
with the situation,
we go do this.
MARIANA: You butter them up?
JACK KNIFE: Of course
I butter them up.
I got to tell them they pretty,
so they can get out there
and get this money.
They got to be out here
with a big head,
so they can get out here
and get this bread.
MARIANA: Is there
a particular kind of girl
that you're looking for?
GOTTI: Someone that's
not showing fear.
Ready to go.
MICKEY: An easy target would be,
let's say Jan Brady.
If you're familiar
with The Brady Bunch,
she's the middle child,
and she's the one that gets
the least amount of attention.
She's the one that feels
the most unattractive.
I would show Jan the majority
of the attention
and point out how Jan is much
prettier than her sister Marcia.
And Jan, when she leaves
my presence,
she goes back to being ugly
in that house.
So her self-esteem,
her sense of empowerment,
her will to be number one, or
the fact that she is number one,
is only present when I'm around.
So, she's gonna be around me
more and more.
MARIANA: I try to pin them down
on the financials of their
business, but they're evasive.
Each admits to working
a certain number of women.
LADY P: I'd say about seven.
JACK KNIFE: Six is the lowest,
eight or nine at the most.
GOTTI: Right now, I got four.
MARIANA: These four girls
work full-time for you?
GOTTI: Yes. They're only for me.
MARIANA: And each takes
a certain percentage
of the earnings.
Do they keep the majority or
do you guys keep the majority?
LADY P:
No. We keep the majority.
MARIANA: You guys
keep the majority?
LADY P:
If I'm taking care of you,
I have to keep the majority.
CHILL: Absolutely.
MARIANA: Can you tell me
what the percentage is?
Is it a higher percentage
for them or for you?
GOTTI: For me.
JACK KNIFE: It's my money.
It's our money.
This is a "our" thing.
So, yeah, of course,
you gonna get some money.
I'm gonna break you off
something.
Or I'm gonna go buy you
something or whatever.
But you ain't gonna get no money
every single time.
MARIANA: It's crazy to me;
A woman sells her body,
and these pimps feel
entitled to the profits.
And we're talking
serious money here.
A Justice Department study
found that pimps can make
between $5,000
and $30,000 a week.
It's no surprise how
some of them maintain control.
Have you ever beat your women?
GOTTI: Uhh
Next question.
MARIANA: I'll take that
as a yes, then.
What leads a person to do that?
What led you?
GOTTI: My case,
money was stolen.
JACK KNIFE:
If they get out of line,
if they look like they
finna say something stupid,
knack-knack, slapped up,
you might get punched up,
whatever.
(bleep) might cut you, whatever.
MARIANA: Have you done that?
JACK KNIFE: Me?
Female ran away, once or twice,
I cut the bottom of her foot.
MARIANA: You cut, with a knife?
JACK KNIFE: The bottom of her
foot. Nah, not with no knife.
I cut the bottom of her foot
with a razor.
MARIANA: With a razor?
JACK KNIFE: What is you
running away for?
What is you doing?
You got my money and all that.
What you trying to do, rob me?
No. What is you doing?
When I did that,
that let all the bitches know.
So, I didn't have
to do that no more.
MARIANA: So if they want to
leave, you don't let them leave?
JACK KNIFE: They can leave.
They can leave.
'Cause I'm not holding you,
I'm not holding you at gunpoint.
MARIANA: You're not,
but you've admitted to
JACK KNIFE: And I don't
have you handcuffed.
MARIANA: You say it's
a choice for them, but
JACK KNIFE: Yeah.
MARIANA: After you just
told me what you did,
I'm sure they're scared
to death of leaving.
JACK KNIFE: She can still leave,
I told her.
I just told her, if you leave,
you gonna remember me, though.
MARIANA: Is she still with you?
JACK KNIFE: Yeah,
she's still with me.
MARIANA:
She still works for you?
JACK KNIFE: To this day.
You understand,
it's either you gonna
(bleep) with me or you not.
MARIANA: So, so, you
JACK KNIFE: Hold on, hold on.
MARIANA: Go ahead.
JACK KNIFE:
There's pimps out her
doing way worse (bleep)
than that.
Killing bitches.
Out here kidnapping bitches,
for real, tying (bleep) up.
"Nah, you can't go nowhere
against your will."
"Bitch, don't talk to your
family or none of that."
It's bad out here.
MARIANA: The reality is bleak
and all too common,
but there are people out there
trying to make a difference.
Okay, be careful
with the cameras
'cause he's right
in front of us.
(engine revving)
MARIANA: I'm in Los Angeles,
not that far from where I live,
trying to understand how pimps
justify what they do.
I think people listening to this
would say that what you're doing
is exploiting women when they're
at the worst of their worst.
You either stay and
you have a place to stay
and you go out on the street
and sell your body,
or we're gonna kick you out.
Isn't that exploitation?
LADY P: We're not out there
beating on these females,
choking 'em out, getting them
strung out on drugs.
We don't have a white van.
We're not about
to pull up and kidnap you.
You can always leave.
It could be worse.
You could choose worse.
MARIANA: Experts believe that
the majority of the young women
pimps and traffickers recruit,
maybe even as high
as 60% or 70%,
have spent time in
the foster care system.
It's a crime that preys
on the most vulnerable.
MICKEY: Nobody cares about 'em.
They're viewed as the rejected.
And that's what makes it so easy
for a pimp to recruit them.
I love you. I love you.
Your mother doesn't love you
because she put you out.
Your daddy doesn't love you
because he molested you
in the first place.
I love you.
CHILL: If you haven't
had something,
and you're experiencing it
for the first time,
and it's beautiful,
you'll take it;
Even if it's ugly.
MARIANA: Which part of it
is ugly?
CHILL: (bleep), you tell me.
LADY P: Selling your body.
That's the ugly.
That's the ugly.
You're selling your body.
MARIANA: So you do realize
it's ugly, though,
but you're still
asking them to do it?
LADY P: Yeah.
But she still said yes.
CHILL: Again,
it's a (bleep) choice.
MARIANA: I mean,
but is it a choice?
CHILL: It is. It is.
We always have a choice.
Everyone has a choice.
MARIANA: Any prosecutor trying
to bust a pimp like Chill
for sex trafficking
has to prove that he used
force, fraud, or coercion
to induce a woman
into selling her body.
That's a difficult challenge,
especially when pimps like Chill
know where the legal lines
are drawn.
I imagine that's why
he and Lady P
are so fond of
that word, "choice."
Still, these days,
pimps know they have targets
on their backs.
They just might be surprised
by some of the people
trying to hunt them down.
♪
Why don't you want
to be on camera?
JENNA: For security reasons.
We are gathering evidence
against people
who may in fact be criminals
and who may in fact end up on a
district attorney's target list
because of us,
and I wouldn't want them to
come back and try to kill me.
MARIANA: Because these
are dangerous people.
JENNA: These are dangerous
people that we're dealing with.
MARIANA: Jenna,
as I'll call her,
is a successful
tech entrepreneur who lives
in one of Silicon Valley's
wealthiest ZIP codes.
JENNA: I'll say to our donors,
"You know what? We can do this."
We have an established
track record of success.
We can find kids
for under $20,000.
I mean, what would
you rather have?
Another diamond bracelet
on your wrist?
Or would you rather be able
to actually find a girl
who's missing and save her?
MARIANA: That's the mission
of Special Operations,
the non-profit Jenna founded.
There's no shortage
of groups like hers
who have taken up the cause
of sex trafficking.
But Special Operations is
more aggressive than most.
It not only rescues
girls in trouble,
it also goes after
their traffickers.
JENNA: Special Operations is
designed to fill in the gaps
in society in order to solve
sex trafficking crimes.
The way the system works
right now,
the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children
sends law enforcement
half a million tips.
Polaris,
the sex trafficking hotlines,
sends thousands of tips.
They can be months old
by the time they land
in somebody's file folder.
MAN: 10-4, I'm in front
of the hotel, copy.
MARIANA: Jenna has connected me
to her lead investigator,
a former cop named Mike Ferrari.
How long have you been
after this guy?
MIKE FERRARI: It's been
on and off for about a year.
MAN: I only have visual on Mark.
I don't have visual
of the subject.
MARIANA: Mike's team, which
consists of three other
private investigators,
each in their own car,
is currently working a case
involving a man we'll call Ray.
MIKE: He has a history
of trafficking minors.
We know this guy is
a serial predator.
We've been trying to develop
a pattern on him
to find a location where there
are certainly other victims.
Because each time
there was an arrest made,
there was more than one victim.
MARIANA: How many girls
is it believed
that he has working for him?
MIKE: We know of three discreet
victims that we've spoken with,
um, but each one of them has
talked about multiple girls.
One time, when one of
the 15-year-olds was recovered,
there were three other girls
that time.
MARIANA: As is so often
the case, though,
the victims were too scared
to testify against him.
MAN: Sir, he's gonna exit
another way.
MIKE: I've got
the back entrance.
When he does, somebody
get on foot to let us know
which way he goes
out of the courtyard.
MARIANA: Ray is expected
to appear in court today
for an unrelated charge.
(radio chatter)
Assuming he shows up,
Mike and his team will use the
opportunity to hop on his tail.
Mike is convinced that Ray
is still trafficking,
but they need evidence.
MIKE: Any new information
of this guy will help.
Part of the purpose of our
organization is to work on guys
that do slip through the cracks.
MAN: Courtyard north,
that's you.
MARIANA: So they have eyes on
him, we're heading there now.
MAN: Hey, Mark's got direct
visual. Do you have visual?
He's out on the street
right now with his attorney.
Um, across the street.
MARIANA: Okay, here he is.
That's him right there
on that corner.
Be careful with the cameras.
MIKE: Yeah.
MARIANA: Discreet, discreet.
But he didn't see us.
MAN: I got you, Mike.
Walking down Fuller Street.
MAN: Who has visual?
MAN: Yes, Mark has eyes.
MIKE: Yes, Mark's to your right.
MARK: I'm here. I got him.
He's about to drive past me.
MARIANA: Running through
red lights, left and right here.
MAN: Hold on, trying to keep us
flagged, give me a second.
MAN: I'm behind the subject.
MAN: I saw him one mile.
MIKE: Okay. Stay with him.
MAN: Mark, in number four lane.
MIKE: Okay. Stay with him.
MAN: Mike, too much traffic
on the
MARIANA: I'm in the Bay Area,
embedded with a team
of private investigators,
chasing a suspected trafficker.
From the get-go,
he's acting suspicious,
flying down the highway.
Okay, be careful
with the cameras,
because he's right
in front of us.
Weaving through neighborhoods.
MIKE: Man, I need somebody
here now, guys.
MAN: Behind you, coming up.
MARIANA: He finally pulls
into a house
not far from Stanford University
that the PIs know well
from previous surveillance.
MIKE: He's at Grandma's house.
Grandma's house.
Grandma's house.
MARIANA: The day is spent
keeping track of his movements.
Where does he go?
Who does he see?
Who else might he
be working with?
MIKE: Already there's a new car
that we haven't seen before,
so it looks like
we got some activity.
MARIANA: Traffickers are known
to move victims
between different counties
and even states
to keep them disoriented and to
keep law enforcement guessing.
MIKE: This guy, he reports
one address in the county
across the bay,
one address in the South Bay.
He acquires the victims
in another county,
so you've got multiple
jurisdictions involved.
MAN: You can have
something happening
on one side of the bay,
and then really,
what, maybe four or five miles
between the two?
But there's no communication
between law enforcement
and sometimes
the judicial system itself.
MARIANA: So that makes it really
hard to catch guys like this?
MAN: Yes.
MARIANA: Building a real case
against Ray
will take more missions
like this one.
If successful, Mike will then
hand over his findings
to law enforcement
with the hopes they'll open
their own investigation.
But there's no guarantee.
And all of this
is to try and stop
just one of the countless pimps
and traffickers out there.
Still, Jenna is convinced.
JENNA: This is a crime
that money and a good network
can actually solve.
MARIANA: Maybe that's a bit
of Silicon Valley optimism.
Or maybe it's the truth.
But in thinking about
money and resources
and the ugly business
of trafficking,
there are other truths
to consider, too.
MICKEY: As crazy as these pimps
and prostitutes are,
they don't cross King Boulevard.
Once you cross King Boulevard,
you cross into money.
MARIANA: To the north of King
lies the campus of USC,
with its nearly
$6 billion endowments.
To the south of King,
it gets rough quick.
MICKEY: That look like someone
had dropped a bomb on it,
like it looked war-torn.
MARIANA: For Mickey, this divide
explains everything
about where you end up in life;
Geography as destiny.
JACK KNIFE: We growing up
in a certain area
where we ain't got no
(bleep) resources.
We ain't got nothin'.
We can't do this and that
like certain other races can
in their areas.
There ain't no jobs around.
You got a whole community
that's not getting hired,
and you got a lot of (bleep)
that's like, "What we gonna do?"
CHILL: I grew up around
gangbangers, pimps.
At 15, you're not thinking
about it like that,
but then now it's in your face
and you're like,
"(bleep) it, why not?"
LADY P: My brother was a pimp.
MARIANA: And so you
just grew up
LADY P: I grew up with it. Yup.
GOTTI: There was a lot
of pimpin' going on.
MARIANA: People in your family?
GOTTI: A couple guys
in my family were pimps.
MARIANA: So you think if you
grew up in another neighborhood,
in another place
JACK KNIFE:
It'd be totally different.
MARIANA: Another city,
you'd be different?
JACK KNIFE:
It'd be totally different.
I grew up with
everybody around me.
Pimps, gangbangers, thieves,
murderers, jackers,
all these (bleep),
it's like one boiling pot.
It's (bleep) real out here.
I grew up with (bleep)
I thought that was right.
(bleep) I'm seeing
as I'm growing up,
I'm a kid, what the (bleep)?
And I got people
telling me it's wrong,
but they got the money, though.
Well, how can I get this money?
It's a (bleep) up situation,
but it's a hustle.
MARIANA: I make no excuses
for these pimps.
But I understand
Jack Knife's frustration.
It must be hard growing up
adjacent to so much wealth
and having so few options.
But what makes pimping different
than other hustles
is that people's lives
are in the balance.
Most often young women
coming from their own
difficult circumstances.
So I'm actually surprised when
Chill agrees to let me sit down
with one of the women
who works for him.
When did you start escorting?
CANDY: About when I was 15,
and I fell into the wrong guy.
And it was horrible.
And then I met Chill at a bar
and he just seemed
like a nice guy.
He was so sweet, honorable.
He's always a man of his word.
He does exactly what
he said he's gonna do.
He believed in my dreams.
And he was just like,
"Oh," like, "I can help you."
And he just started helping me.
MARIANA: I quickly realize
that something feels off.
CANDY: He never judged me,
and he just kind of took me in.
MARIANA: It's the most
glowing review of a pimp
you could ever imagine.
Do you give him part
of your money, though?
CANDY: Just, like, as if you
would take your card out
and make a withdrawal.
Only mine is not a card,
it's a person.
MARIANA: So he's your pimp?
CANDY: I wouldn't
call him my pimp.
Because he's sweet.
He's very honorable.
MARIANA: You don't like
to call him pimp?
What do you call him?
CANDY: My friend.
MARIANA: And I realize
I have no idea
how many of these
details are true.
And how many of them
are simply talking points
to please her boss who spends
the entire interview
looming over us with
a pool stick in his hand.
That's the tricky thing
about doing these
sex trafficking stories.
When you drive down a street
like Figueroa or
International Boulevard,
and you see the women working,
it's impossible to know
their realities.
Some of them are
out there by choice,
but some of them are not.
Some of them are like Honey.
Do you ever get angry knowing
that there's men, right now,
all over the city,
all over the country,
doing to women
what your pimp did to you?
HONEY: Yes.
In my case,
a 12-year-old, for one,
they don't know what's best
for them at the time.
I'm looking at an adult
who can potentially guide me
in the right direction,
but I was guided
in the wrong direction.
So it always crosses my mind,
like, if I never got introduced
to this type of lifestyle,
how would I be living?
Or what would my life be like?
Or how would I be?
Would I be different?
Would I still be the same?
Like, I just feel sorry
for the females out there
who has to go through
the same thing,
because it's like, it's just
destroying a woman's whole life.
Uh-oh!
Go get it.
Now, I'm like to the point
where I have a child of my own,
and I have to make sure that
I have more than enough for her.
Because I want to
give her the world,
you know, 'cause
she deserves it.
You know, she didn't ask
to be here, I brought her here.
MARIANA: So I've been
reading your book
and I've been taking
some notes here.
"A ho to a pimp
is worth nothing.
She's actually
worth everything."
"You take away
everything she has
then give her what she needs.
You, the pimp, are the cause
as well as the solution
to all her problems.
"You give her the poison
and sell her the cure."
So this is something you
MICKEY: That's actually true.
Pimpin' is premeditated.
You know exactly
what you're doing
and you know
the long-term effects of it.
You have to be a sadist,
because you have to enjoy
what you're doing,
and you know good and well
what you're doing.
You know good and well
what you're doing.
Captioned by
Side Door Media Services
GOTTI: I wake up, make sure
my sons are in school,
and then drive
all over creation,
looking at these
young, pretty girls.
MAN: Train stations.
MAN: Instagram.
WOMAN: Instagram.
MAN: Facebook.
MAN: County jail.
All-night Denny's.
MARIANA:
First comes the seduction.
Then comes the reality.
LADY P: After a couple of days
of drinking and smoking,
now you got to walk the street.
MARIANA:
This is a story about pimps.
How they work, how they think,
and what they'll do
to grab their share
of the billion-dollar market
for illicit sex in America.
(knocking)
JACK KNIFE: I'm not saying
what I do is right,
but I'm a wolf out here
to survive on these streets.
Because I'm not
gonna be no sheep.
(sirens)
♪
♪
(siren)
MICHELLE: The very first time
I ever did it,
it was a complete rush.
And then you just kind of
start to get used to it.
MARIANA: What is it like when
you're, when you're out there?
MICHELLE: It's cold.
It's really cold.
This is a good amount
of clothes.
We've seen girls out there in
just like a bra and underwear.
MARIANA: In the winter?
MICHELLE: In the winter,
in the rain.
A lot of them can't leave
until they are told
that they can come back in.
MARIANA: By their pimps?
MICHELLE: Yeah. Pimps.
MARIANA: Is it dangerous?
MICHELLE:
Oh, it's extremely dangerous.
Vehicles pull up to us
that you don't know if
they're just gonna roll by
and just start shooting at you.
Like a rival pimp,
that you're working for someone,
and that's technically
their enemy,
so instead of going
after the pimp,
they're gonna go
after the girls.
MARIANA: How often are you
approached by pimps?
MICHELLE: Almost every time
we're out there.
MARIANA: And you've been doing
this for how long?
MICHELLE: I've been doing this
for around three years.
MARIANA: Was it soon after you
joined the police department or?
MICHELLE: Um, it was a good
chunk of time after.
MARIANA: Michelle,
as we'll call her,
is one of two
Oakland police officers
who will be going undercover
tonight as decoys.
So how do you
MICHELLE: We have people
very close.
MARIANA: Watching?
MICHELLE: Mm-hmm.
MICHELLE: And we do have
our firearms on us also.
MARIANA:
Oh, you take a gun with you?
MICHELLE: Yeah.
MARIANA: Where?
MICHELLE:
We just, we make it work.
MARIANA: Sex trafficking has
become front-page news recently,
thanks to high-profile cases
like that of multi-millionaire
Jeffrey Epstein.
NEWSCASTER: For several years,
Epstein was operating
a sex trafficking ring.
MARIANA: Not long ago,
sex trafficking was thought
to be largely
a transnational problem,
with criminal networks
smuggling undocumented women
across borders
to work as sex slaves,
but there's a far more
common variety,
happening in every U. S. City,
big and small,
that sees Americans
exploiting other Americans.
No state reports more cases
than California.
And by all accounts,
Oakland is a hot spot.
POLICE OFFICER: Thanks,
everyone, for being here,
we're doing
a decoy operation today.
It's very dangerous
for the decoys.
Stay out of sight. Keep close.
If we do arrest a pimp,
we're gonna call a Code 3
response for an arrest.
MARIANA: The goal of the
operation is to disrupt business
around one of California's most
notorious prostitution tracks,
International Boulevard
in East Oakland.
It's a place where pimps
have long been known
to sell underage girls.
You guys used to go after
mainly the women
working on the streets,
and you've since shift,
and are now going
after the traffickers
and the johns,
the demand as well.
When did that happen?
JIMMY BEERE:
October of last year. Yeah.
MARIANA:
Just October of last year.
JIMMY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Pretty recent change.
JIMMY:
Yes, pretty recent change.
And we want to target
what's fueling the demand
here in Oakland.
We want to go after
the exploiters,
the ones that are victimizing
our young women.
So by attacking the demand
and making people know
that Oakland's not a place
that's gonna tolerate
forcing people
into prostitution.
MARIANA: Lieutenant Jimmy Beere
is the commander
of the vice unit and
my guide for the evening.
JIMMY: When a john pulls up,
they pull up real slow,
kind of to check out the girls,
see how they look.
Window shopping, I hate to say.
Pimp, on the other hand,
they want to make it known
they're the big dog
in this neighborhood.
So, they usually swoop up
onto the corner really fast.
Anything intimidating,
like do a burnout
and take off at
a really high rate of speed.
MAN: Got a male Hispanic on foot
talking to the girls right now.
JIMMY: Swoop signal on the dude
with the bald head.
(siren)
MAN: He just got into a white
'80s model Toyota pickup truck.
JIMMY: Yeah, that's it
right there. Positive ID.
MARIANA: It's happening,
you see that?
JIMMY: Yeah, they're
arresting him right now.
MARIANA: The decoys move
several blocks away
and start working
on another corner.
Within minutes, a car pulls up.
JIMMY: He's hauling ass
to get out of here.
MARIANA: Yeah.
That's him.
What do you find with
the majority of these johns?
What's sort of the profile?
JIMMY: As you see already,
it's been, like, one male Asian,
one male Hispanic,
one male Black.
Typically, there'll be
a male white next,
you know, if I'm gonna,
if I'm gonna bet.
MARIANA: And young, old,
married, single?
JIMMY: All of that. All of that.
Yeah, there's no real
profile of a john.
WOMAN: There's a male in a Lexus
hanging out the window
with a gun.
JIMMY: Oh, (bleep).
Might have a guy pointing guns
at the prostitutes.
(siren)
MARIANA: Quickly,
it becomes clear
that they could arrest johns
all night long.
(siren)
But it's not the johns
they're really after.
JIMMY: We're trying
to draw the pimp out.
Lure him out from
behind the shadows.
Try to get them to actually
recruit one of our girls
and then we go after him.
MARIANA: Do you think they're
making more money as pimps
than they are if they
were selling drugs?
JIMMY: Yes. MARIANA: Why?
JIMMY: There's more of it.
There's more demand.
You don't have to buy
the product,
so I don't have to come
out-of-pocket.
I don't have to package it.
I'm not being at risk
for holding on to it.
Renewable product
that never expires
as long as she's still alive.
And if she's alive,
she better be making money.
MARIANA: The challenge is
actually finding them,
or getting them.
JIMMY: That's it.
BARACK OBAMA: Our fight
against human trafficking
is one of the great human rights
causes of our time.
And the United States
will continue to lead it.
DONALD TRUMP: We will not rest
until we've stopped
every last human trafficker and
liberated every last survivor.
MARIANA: The fight against
trafficking seems to be
one of the few issues
that transcends politics.
But all of that attention
hides an ugly truth,
that busting sex traffickers
is extremely difficult,
in part because their victims
are often afraid to testify.
JIMMY: It's more difficult
to solve these cases,
I would venture to say,
than murder charges.
MARIANA: For these pimps, that
means the risk is relatively low
and the profits sky high,
a combination that
must be irresistible,
which is exactly why
I want to find one.
(rapping)
Cash, cash, cash, cash ♪
I will not stop
till I'm filthy rich ♪
I made a dollar
out of 50 cents ♪
I made the track
over 50 bricks ♪
.22 on me like ♪
My search begins on Instagram.
That's where I learn that pimps
have their own ecosystem
of hashtags.
There's this one hashtag, 3-0-4.
If you turn around 304,
it actually spells "hoe."
Can't show a lot of these faces,
but #GameRelated,
#PGO, Pimp Game On,
#HGO, which means Ho Game On,
#IZM, which is, like,
the swagger.
More jewelry, more diamonds.
This display of
wealth and power.
These stacks of cash.
All of this is just a way
to show these women
what their lives could be like
if they were working for them.
I have no idea if
any of these guys
are actually pimps
or just playing the part.
But for some, it certainly feels
like their social media feed
is the marketing arm
of their operation.
Doesn't seem like
they're very ashamed
or trying to hide what
they're doing at all.
In fact, they want
to show it off.
Over several weeks, I message
countless guys and a few women,
asking if any of them
would be up for talking.
I get mostly silence.
Then finally, a breakthrough.
I stumble upon a genre of book
I didn't know existed:
The pimp memoir.
That's how I found Mickey Royal.
Sure enough,
the author of The Pimp Game
agrees to meet me at a motel
in the heart of
South Central Los Angeles.
I'm hopeful that Mickey
will be the key
to finding my way inside
his former profession.
How are you?
MICKEY ROYAL: Alright.
MARIANA: Mariana.
MICKEY: Mickey Royal.
At your service.
MARIANA: Hi, Mickey,
so nice to meet you.
MICKEY: Same here. Likewise.
I didn't really start
really pimping
until I was about 19 or 20.
I came from a drug and gang
background,
so I always thought of that
particular life as being weak,
you know, because if
it didn't involve a pistol,
I wasn't interested.
But it was something
about the allure of it.
It just sucks you in,
and I fell in love with it.
DREXL SPIVEY: I know I'm pretty.
MARIANA: The allure of pimping
is no secret.
GOLDIE: I want you to
get yourself together
and get back out there
and get me my money.
MARIANA: From movies
to music videos
50 CENT:
That I'm a ---- P-I-M-P ♪
MARIANA: to Seinfeld.
(laughter)
Very few underworld figures
have gotten as much love
from pop culture as the pimp.
But I want to know
how the business of pimping
really works.
Mickey offers
to take me for a tour
of the most infamous track
in L. A.
Where are we heading?
Where are we going?
MICKEY: We're headed
to Figueroa.
It's referred to as
the track, the blade.
It's been around since the '60s.
We're talking about 95 blocks.
MARIANA: Wow.
MICKEY: 95 blocks.
MARIANA: How dangerous is it,
do you think?
MICKEY:
It's extremely dangerous.
You got the tricks
you have to worry about.
You have upsetting the pimp
you have to worry about.
Kidnapping, stabbings,
shootings, plenty of them.
You're talking about
a profession
where sexual assault and rape
are just occupational
daily hazards.
MARIANA: So, I've lived in
Los Angeles for over 10 years,
and I know Figueroa,
but I have never seen
any of this till tonight.
MICKEY: That's why I call it
the Shadow World.
It exists at night
and broad daylight.
She's working to the right.
MARIANA:
Oh, she's wearing a bikini.
MICKEY: Yeah.
MARIANA: It's also freezing.
It's 46 degrees outside.
MICKEY: I mean,
you got to understand,
if they have pimps or whatever,
they can make extra money
by being seen from a distance,
they're not even allowed
to wear jackets.
See how they both were naked?
More than likely,
they have the same pimp.
MARIANA: Was that a thing?
Where your girls that worked
with you dressed the same?
MICKEY: Yeah, 'cause
it's easier to shop
for all of them
at the same time.
MARIANA: So all these
three girls have the same shoes.
Does that mean that they work
for the same pimp?
MICKEY: More than likely.
MARIANA: She was so young.
She looked like she was
like 15 or something.
Did you see that?
MICKEY: Yeah. You'll see
a lot of those.
MARIANA: I mean, it's dozens
and dozens and dozens of women
that we've seen so far in, what,
in about 20 blocks, right?
MICKEY: Right.
You should see them on
Friday and Saturday night.
It's like a concert.
(siren)
MARIANA: So where would you be?
Imagine a girl
would be on this corner.
Where would you be?
MICKEY: Sitting in the car
not far away.
MARIANA: Oh, watching her.
MICKEY: Yeah. MARIANA: Why?
MICKEY: To make sure she's okay.
And I figured that was my job.
MARIANA: And if you had
more than one girl,
how do you do that?
MICKEY: You cruise around.
You might sit here for about 10
minutes until she gets a date,
see where it goes, and then
you cruise up to see this one.
Pull up on one,
you collect your money.
But she's not gonna
get any dates
while you're sitting there.
MARIANA: We've been circling
the same stretch of blocks
several times when
Mickey gets spooked.
MICKEY: Okay, that's, uh,
we got to go somewhere else.
MARIANA: What happened?
MICKEY: That's them.
MARIANA: Why? What happened?
MICKEY:
It's starting to get hot.
MARIANA: What do you mean?
What'd he do?
MICKEY: Once we got made,
as far as the cameras,
what'll happen is they'll start
telling everybody what they saw
and pointing out the car.
MICKEY: You don't
want to do that.
No. You want to call it a night
right now, trust me.
MARIANA: I follow
Mickey's advice,
but I'm still hopeful he can
connect me to an active pimp.
So, we've been working on
this story for a long time,
and it's been really hard
to get people to talk to us,
especially people who are
currently in the game.
MICKEY: Yeah,
you won't get that.
MARIANA: I mean, if you were
currently doing it,
would you even admit it to us?
MICKEY: No.
You hopping out
with the cameras,
you're better off
pulling guns on me.
No.
Guns I'll challenge,
the camera I'll just run.
No.
MARIANA: Why not?
MICKEY: Because if you want
to get away with a crime,
it has to be a secret.
Simple as that.
MARIANA: After our interview,
Mickey pulls me aside.
He gives me a name, a number,
and a promise.
One phone call later,
doors begin to open.
(phone ringing)
NINA: Hello?
MARIANA: Hi, it's Mariana here.
How are you?
NINA: I'm fine.
MARIANA: Mickey gave me
your number
and said that you'd be
willing to talk to us.
We'd love to meet with you at
a place somewhere in Inglewood
if you're available.
NINA: Yes.
MARIANA: Okay. And you're
bringing some people
that work with you, right?
NINA: Right.
MARIANA: That hotel, is that
the place you want to meet?
NINA: Right. Yeah.
MARIANA: Have you worked
out of there?
NINA: Yeah.
MARIANA: So, we've rented
this motel room.
It's a place that they've said
they've worked at before.
We were supposed to meet here
an hour ago.
They still haven't showed up.
But we're, you know,
we're hoping they will.
It's been really hard
to get people to talk to us,
so it sounded really positive,
and I'm hoping that
they will show up tonight.
MARIANA: Oh, hi.
NINA: Nice to meet you.
MARIANA: I'm Mariana.
How are you?
NINA: I'm fine.
MARIANA: Come on in.
Thanks for meeting us here.
'Cause I know you want us
to disguise your identities.
So, we actually got all
these masks here for you.
BEE: That's more me.
MARIANA:
That's a real pretty one.
It's funny because
when I looked at them
and I was trying to figure out
which one I would wear
if it was me,
I changed my mind
about three times.
WOMAN: Right.
BEE: Perfect.
WOMAN: A little bit,
here, over the
BEE: Uh-uh. I like this.
MARIANA: So, we're very close
to Figueroa,
which is one of the most famous
tracks or blades in Los Angeles.
Have you guys
ever been out there?
NINA: I have. BEE: Yeah.
MARIANA: Do you think that a lot
of the women that are working
out on the blade, the track,
they all have pimps?
BEE: I say 80% of them do.
NINA: Yeah. HONEY: I say, yeah.
MARIANA: Did you have a pimp?
NINA:
When I first started out, no.
I was just,
"Hey, let's get away."
You know what I mean?
But I did try it out.
Like, guys wanted me
to be they ho.
And, you know,
I'll hang around them
or kick it with their female
and see how
their environment was,
and it just wasn't for me.
It was a lot of violence.
It was a lot of jealousy.
I didn't see where
the money was going.
MARIANA: Why do you think
other women do it, then?
NINA: Daddy issues.
Seeking attention,
might've been molested.
Might feel that they need
to be valued by a man
and not really know
they value for they self.
HONEY: Yeah,
there's a lot of people
that grow up in broken homes.
Not having that father figure
is like a huge part
in a young girl's life.
When you don't seek and get
that love that you deserve,
it pushes you to
a whole 'nother state
that you can't really
explain or describe.
You just feel the pain.
MARIANA: Do you think that
the pimps know that
and they exploit that?
They go after those
HONEY: Yeah, that's how
they abuse you.
That's how they get you
to never leave.
And that's why most girls
that's my age,
they get stuck and they live
like that for a very long time.
MARIANA: The more we talk,
the more I realize
how many different ways women
are pulled onto the streets.
This is a woman we'll call Bee.
Prostitution is not her day job;
Just something she does
after her shifts as a nurse.
BEE: Paying for school.
So it was, like,
I'm doing it anyway.
Why not?
I mean, I'm not ashamed,
I'm not ashamed of it.
So it's like it ain't
no need to be ashamed.
Everybody having sex.
Don't you ever fantasize
about being a stripper?
MARIANA: Yeah, see, this is
the part where I'm not sure
if I should be nodding or not.
BEE: Exactly. (Laughs)
MARIANA: Honey says she works
primarily with clients
from the business world.
HONEY: I'm very high priced.
I mean, I make a lot of money
doing what I'm doing.
MARIANA: She says she can make
as much as $20,000 a week.
But all that money comes
at a high personal cost.
HONEY: So I had a friend,
and her father, he was
a drug dealer and a pimp.
My mother was never around,
so, you know,
I always spent a lot of time
at her house.
And her dad, you know, he would
always hit on me and touch me.
But, I never told anyone,
I didn't have anyone around, so.
MARIANA: How old were you?
HONEY: Um, I was 12.
MARIANA: I'm sorry if
I'm gonna ask you this,
and tell me if
you don't want to answer
or if you don't even
want the question,
we can take it out,
but did he rape you?
HONEY: Yes, he did.
MARIANA: When you were 12?
HONEY: Yes.
MARIANA: And then how did it
progress from there?
HONEY: He told me like,
"It's okay if you do it for me.
I'm not gonna judge you.
No one's gonna judge you.
Don't tell anybody."
So, you know, I always
kept it a secret,
like no one ever knew
what I did.
MARIANA: And how did
he convince you
that you should be selling
your body out to other men?
HONEY: I didn't have a mother
and a father around,
so I grew up thinking
that it was okay,
you know, to sell my body.
I was young, I was naive,
like, you tell me it's okay
and I just believed you.
MARIANA: He was a pimp.
HONEY: Yes.
MARIANA: He had several women
working for him?
HONEY: Yes. MARIANA: How many?
HONEY: About five of us.
MARIANA: All of them
as young as you?
HONEY: Yeah.
MARIANA: So they were
all between 12
HONEY: 12 to like 15,
no older than that.
MARIANA: After four years,
Honey finally escaped.
Did he do any time
in jail or anything?
HONEY: No. I didn't press any
charges, nothing like that.
I just wanted to get away.
MARIANA: One of the things
that we hear a lot
is how women that have pimps,
even when they're abusive,
that they just don't want to
talk to the police,
they don't want to testify.
They just want to
leave that behind.
HONEY: Snitches get stitches,
so if you tell,
people will put a bounty
on your head,
and they don't care
how much it costs.
MARIANA: Right.
That's what they say?
HONEY: The lingo. Mm-hmm.
MARIANA: Meaning that they will
beat you up if you talk?
HONEY: Right.
And they'll do it,
they'll make sure it get done.
NINA: Once you in it,
it's hard to escape.
It's always gonna
come back to you.
Once you turn a good girl bad,
it's hard to turn back good.
MARIANA: After the interview,
Nina tells me she knows everyone
on the streets, pimps included.
She makes some introductions,
I trade some texts,
and it looks like it's
all about to happen
until it doesn't.
(text message tone)
We've been in three
different locations so far
just today alone, waiting
for these pimps to show up.
(text message tone)
They tell us they're coming,
they tell us
they're on their way.
We get everything set up
and we wait and wait and wait,
and then last minute,
they either don't show up
or they text us telling us
they can't come,
or they're, you know,
unsure whether we're police,
and they don't feel comfortable.
(text message tone)
He just bailed.
He's not coming anymore.
(text message tone)
We actually just got a text
from this one guy
who says he's on
54th and Western.
He's on the corner.
He told us he'd
be waiting for us.
We have no idea what
we're walking into,
who we're meeting with exactly.
But we're hoping that at least
there's somebody there.
The process is frustrating.
I've had easier times
getting access
to gunrunners and drug lords.
But I'm realizing
this black market is different
and darker.
(siren)
Okay. So, this is it.
We're in a parking lot
of a laundromat.
This is where
he told us to meet him.
No surprise, he's not there.
It could be that he's just
looking at us from somewhere
and checking us out to make sure
that we're not cops.
In which case it might be a good
idea if I get out of the car
and just go walk around
and tell him
I'm the woman with the red vest
or something.
What's that?
MARIANA: No, taking pictures
of me. They're filming me.
MARIANA: Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, I think
cameras down for now,
because they're getting
more and more upset.
MAN: Really? MARIANA: Yeah.
(text message tone)
MARIANA: Okay, come around
the corner to 1609, duh duh duh.
Okay, we got an address.
Let's see what happens now.
From Western, we turn into
a residential neighborhood
and make our way to the address.
Finally, after months of trying,
here I am, looking into the dark
shades of a working pimp.
♪
♪
MARIANA: After months of trying,
I'm finally face to face
with a working pimp.
He wants me to call him Chill,
and this is his
business partner, Lady P.
I know that when we were
texting back and forth,
you were, you didn't
want to give us
the right address immediately.
So you weren't sure if
we were police, essentially?
CHILL: Absolutely.
Because of the business
that we're in.
If you're even claiming
that you're in this part
of the business,
they've changed (bleep),
so now instead of just
some regular (bleep)
Where pimping is pimping, no.
What we're doing now is
considered human trafficking,
and that (bleep) is completely
different from what pimping is.
MARIANA: So tell me
what is pimping about.
CHILL: It's about choice.
It's they see the flash,
they see the gold,
they see the money,
they see the cars.
Every time you turn on a radio,
what do you hear?
Oh, it's some rapper dude
talking about
how he got a bunch of bitches
and all this other (bleep).
So what do they want?
They want that rapper dude.
They see the Ferrari, the
Lamborghini, all that (bleep).
They want that (bleep).
What's next to a rapper?
(bleep) A pimp! Why not?
He can get you
everything you want, easy.
Drugs, sex, rock and roll.
That's what it is.
MARIANA: That may be the way
pimps like Chill
view the lifestyle,
but I imagine the reality
is far more complicated
for the women working for him.
How do you find the girls?
LADY P: Clubs.
They see us hanging out.
We're in the VIP section
and we're drinking
and we're having fun.
Of course they don't want to be
sitting over there
with normal people,
they want to come to the VIP.
"Hey, girl, you want to
come back with us?"
MARIANA: Who says that?
LADY P: I do.
They come back.
They see the glitz, the glamour,
the gold, the cars, the bikes.
They want to smoke weed,
do powder, ecstasy.
We have all that around.
Couple of days after
they've been there,
okay, now you got to come up
with some money.
CHILL: Bills got to get
(bleep) paid.
You got a choice at that point.
You can say, "I'm cool.
(bleep) that, I'm out."
99.9% of the time, these young
(bleep) are gonna be like,
"Hey, I got (bleep) weed,
I got ecstasy,
I got every (bleep) thing
I want,
and I can get some money
out of this? Why not?"
MARIANA: Is it really that high,
like, that amount of girls,
the majority?
LADY P: It's not like
you're going out
looking for
the classiest of females,
you know, you want the ones
that are "ahhh," turnt up.
CHILL: Or keeps looking
over at us.
LADY P: Keeps looking over.
You can tell.
CHILL: Just keep on (bleep)
eyeing and watching.
She done already been spotted.
Over here, we just spotted her.
It's a wrap.
At that point
the choice is made.
MARIANA: Chill says
that his women
don't work out on the streets.
They find their customers online
where they can charge
a higher price.
So when people call you a sex
trafficker or human trafficker,
what do you think of that?
CHILL: I think it's (bleep).
If you go talk to my bitches
and ask them what they think,
"Am I sex trafficking?"
They'll be like,
"Yeah, he's trafficking me.
To (bleep) Miami,
to (bleep) Vegas, to Florida."
MARIANA: Do you do that?
Do you transport them?
CHILL: and it's gonna be
like cha-ching!
MARIANA: It's shocking
how little is known
about the underground
sex economy.
One recent study estimates
that illicit sex in the U. S.
Brings in $5.7 billion a year
through street prostitution,
online escort services,
residential brothels,
and massage parlors.
But there's no reliable data
about how many pimps and
traffickers are operating
or how many victims
may be out there.
It's rare to get an inside look
at a pimp's operation,
which is why I want
to see others.
Over the next week,
I connect with two more pimps
who are currently in the game.
At a cheap motel in Inglewood,
I meet Jack Knife,
and after a bit of convincing,
I sit down with Gotti late night
at a bar near the airport.
So these women, that you
meet them on the street
or how do you recruit them?
How do you get them
to work for you?
JACK KNIFE: On the street,
9 times out of 10.
Sometimes Instagram,
you know what I'm saying?
Sometimes Facebook, it depends.
MARIANA: What do you
say to them?
GOTTI: How are you doing,
beautiful?
You mind if I hang out with you
while you shop?
And, uh, we can talk
and get to know each other.
We hang out, become friends,
and talk about how
we can make money,
and if they want to go along
with the situation,
we go do this.
MARIANA: You butter them up?
JACK KNIFE: Of course
I butter them up.
I got to tell them they pretty,
so they can get out there
and get this money.
They got to be out here
with a big head,
so they can get out here
and get this bread.
MARIANA: Is there
a particular kind of girl
that you're looking for?
GOTTI: Someone that's
not showing fear.
Ready to go.
MICKEY: An easy target would be,
let's say Jan Brady.
If you're familiar
with The Brady Bunch,
she's the middle child,
and she's the one that gets
the least amount of attention.
She's the one that feels
the most unattractive.
I would show Jan the majority
of the attention
and point out how Jan is much
prettier than her sister Marcia.
And Jan, when she leaves
my presence,
she goes back to being ugly
in that house.
So her self-esteem,
her sense of empowerment,
her will to be number one, or
the fact that she is number one,
is only present when I'm around.
So, she's gonna be around me
more and more.
MARIANA: I try to pin them down
on the financials of their
business, but they're evasive.
Each admits to working
a certain number of women.
LADY P: I'd say about seven.
JACK KNIFE: Six is the lowest,
eight or nine at the most.
GOTTI: Right now, I got four.
MARIANA: These four girls
work full-time for you?
GOTTI: Yes. They're only for me.
MARIANA: And each takes
a certain percentage
of the earnings.
Do they keep the majority or
do you guys keep the majority?
LADY P:
No. We keep the majority.
MARIANA: You guys
keep the majority?
LADY P:
If I'm taking care of you,
I have to keep the majority.
CHILL: Absolutely.
MARIANA: Can you tell me
what the percentage is?
Is it a higher percentage
for them or for you?
GOTTI: For me.
JACK KNIFE: It's my money.
It's our money.
This is a "our" thing.
So, yeah, of course,
you gonna get some money.
I'm gonna break you off
something.
Or I'm gonna go buy you
something or whatever.
But you ain't gonna get no money
every single time.
MARIANA: It's crazy to me;
A woman sells her body,
and these pimps feel
entitled to the profits.
And we're talking
serious money here.
A Justice Department study
found that pimps can make
between $5,000
and $30,000 a week.
It's no surprise how
some of them maintain control.
Have you ever beat your women?
GOTTI: Uhh
Next question.
MARIANA: I'll take that
as a yes, then.
What leads a person to do that?
What led you?
GOTTI: My case,
money was stolen.
JACK KNIFE:
If they get out of line,
if they look like they
finna say something stupid,
knack-knack, slapped up,
you might get punched up,
whatever.
(bleep) might cut you, whatever.
MARIANA: Have you done that?
JACK KNIFE: Me?
Female ran away, once or twice,
I cut the bottom of her foot.
MARIANA: You cut, with a knife?
JACK KNIFE: The bottom of her
foot. Nah, not with no knife.
I cut the bottom of her foot
with a razor.
MARIANA: With a razor?
JACK KNIFE: What is you
running away for?
What is you doing?
You got my money and all that.
What you trying to do, rob me?
No. What is you doing?
When I did that,
that let all the bitches know.
So, I didn't have
to do that no more.
MARIANA: So if they want to
leave, you don't let them leave?
JACK KNIFE: They can leave.
They can leave.
'Cause I'm not holding you,
I'm not holding you at gunpoint.
MARIANA: You're not,
but you've admitted to
JACK KNIFE: And I don't
have you handcuffed.
MARIANA: You say it's
a choice for them, but
JACK KNIFE: Yeah.
MARIANA: After you just
told me what you did,
I'm sure they're scared
to death of leaving.
JACK KNIFE: She can still leave,
I told her.
I just told her, if you leave,
you gonna remember me, though.
MARIANA: Is she still with you?
JACK KNIFE: Yeah,
she's still with me.
MARIANA:
She still works for you?
JACK KNIFE: To this day.
You understand,
it's either you gonna
(bleep) with me or you not.
MARIANA: So, so, you
JACK KNIFE: Hold on, hold on.
MARIANA: Go ahead.
JACK KNIFE:
There's pimps out her
doing way worse (bleep)
than that.
Killing bitches.
Out here kidnapping bitches,
for real, tying (bleep) up.
"Nah, you can't go nowhere
against your will."
"Bitch, don't talk to your
family or none of that."
It's bad out here.
MARIANA: The reality is bleak
and all too common,
but there are people out there
trying to make a difference.
Okay, be careful
with the cameras
'cause he's right
in front of us.
(engine revving)
MARIANA: I'm in Los Angeles,
not that far from where I live,
trying to understand how pimps
justify what they do.
I think people listening to this
would say that what you're doing
is exploiting women when they're
at the worst of their worst.
You either stay and
you have a place to stay
and you go out on the street
and sell your body,
or we're gonna kick you out.
Isn't that exploitation?
LADY P: We're not out there
beating on these females,
choking 'em out, getting them
strung out on drugs.
We don't have a white van.
We're not about
to pull up and kidnap you.
You can always leave.
It could be worse.
You could choose worse.
MARIANA: Experts believe that
the majority of the young women
pimps and traffickers recruit,
maybe even as high
as 60% or 70%,
have spent time in
the foster care system.
It's a crime that preys
on the most vulnerable.
MICKEY: Nobody cares about 'em.
They're viewed as the rejected.
And that's what makes it so easy
for a pimp to recruit them.
I love you. I love you.
Your mother doesn't love you
because she put you out.
Your daddy doesn't love you
because he molested you
in the first place.
I love you.
CHILL: If you haven't
had something,
and you're experiencing it
for the first time,
and it's beautiful,
you'll take it;
Even if it's ugly.
MARIANA: Which part of it
is ugly?
CHILL: (bleep), you tell me.
LADY P: Selling your body.
That's the ugly.
That's the ugly.
You're selling your body.
MARIANA: So you do realize
it's ugly, though,
but you're still
asking them to do it?
LADY P: Yeah.
But she still said yes.
CHILL: Again,
it's a (bleep) choice.
MARIANA: I mean,
but is it a choice?
CHILL: It is. It is.
We always have a choice.
Everyone has a choice.
MARIANA: Any prosecutor trying
to bust a pimp like Chill
for sex trafficking
has to prove that he used
force, fraud, or coercion
to induce a woman
into selling her body.
That's a difficult challenge,
especially when pimps like Chill
know where the legal lines
are drawn.
I imagine that's why
he and Lady P
are so fond of
that word, "choice."
Still, these days,
pimps know they have targets
on their backs.
They just might be surprised
by some of the people
trying to hunt them down.
♪
Why don't you want
to be on camera?
JENNA: For security reasons.
We are gathering evidence
against people
who may in fact be criminals
and who may in fact end up on a
district attorney's target list
because of us,
and I wouldn't want them to
come back and try to kill me.
MARIANA: Because these
are dangerous people.
JENNA: These are dangerous
people that we're dealing with.
MARIANA: Jenna,
as I'll call her,
is a successful
tech entrepreneur who lives
in one of Silicon Valley's
wealthiest ZIP codes.
JENNA: I'll say to our donors,
"You know what? We can do this."
We have an established
track record of success.
We can find kids
for under $20,000.
I mean, what would
you rather have?
Another diamond bracelet
on your wrist?
Or would you rather be able
to actually find a girl
who's missing and save her?
MARIANA: That's the mission
of Special Operations,
the non-profit Jenna founded.
There's no shortage
of groups like hers
who have taken up the cause
of sex trafficking.
But Special Operations is
more aggressive than most.
It not only rescues
girls in trouble,
it also goes after
their traffickers.
JENNA: Special Operations is
designed to fill in the gaps
in society in order to solve
sex trafficking crimes.
The way the system works
right now,
the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children
sends law enforcement
half a million tips.
Polaris,
the sex trafficking hotlines,
sends thousands of tips.
They can be months old
by the time they land
in somebody's file folder.
MAN: 10-4, I'm in front
of the hotel, copy.
MARIANA: Jenna has connected me
to her lead investigator,
a former cop named Mike Ferrari.
How long have you been
after this guy?
MIKE FERRARI: It's been
on and off for about a year.
MAN: I only have visual on Mark.
I don't have visual
of the subject.
MARIANA: Mike's team, which
consists of three other
private investigators,
each in their own car,
is currently working a case
involving a man we'll call Ray.
MIKE: He has a history
of trafficking minors.
We know this guy is
a serial predator.
We've been trying to develop
a pattern on him
to find a location where there
are certainly other victims.
Because each time
there was an arrest made,
there was more than one victim.
MARIANA: How many girls
is it believed
that he has working for him?
MIKE: We know of three discreet
victims that we've spoken with,
um, but each one of them has
talked about multiple girls.
One time, when one of
the 15-year-olds was recovered,
there were three other girls
that time.
MARIANA: As is so often
the case, though,
the victims were too scared
to testify against him.
MAN: Sir, he's gonna exit
another way.
MIKE: I've got
the back entrance.
When he does, somebody
get on foot to let us know
which way he goes
out of the courtyard.
MARIANA: Ray is expected
to appear in court today
for an unrelated charge.
(radio chatter)
Assuming he shows up,
Mike and his team will use the
opportunity to hop on his tail.
Mike is convinced that Ray
is still trafficking,
but they need evidence.
MIKE: Any new information
of this guy will help.
Part of the purpose of our
organization is to work on guys
that do slip through the cracks.
MAN: Courtyard north,
that's you.
MARIANA: So they have eyes on
him, we're heading there now.
MAN: Hey, Mark's got direct
visual. Do you have visual?
He's out on the street
right now with his attorney.
Um, across the street.
MARIANA: Okay, here he is.
That's him right there
on that corner.
Be careful with the cameras.
MIKE: Yeah.
MARIANA: Discreet, discreet.
But he didn't see us.
MAN: I got you, Mike.
Walking down Fuller Street.
MAN: Who has visual?
MAN: Yes, Mark has eyes.
MIKE: Yes, Mark's to your right.
MARK: I'm here. I got him.
He's about to drive past me.
MARIANA: Running through
red lights, left and right here.
MAN: Hold on, trying to keep us
flagged, give me a second.
MAN: I'm behind the subject.
MAN: I saw him one mile.
MIKE: Okay. Stay with him.
MAN: Mark, in number four lane.
MIKE: Okay. Stay with him.
MAN: Mike, too much traffic
on the
MARIANA: I'm in the Bay Area,
embedded with a team
of private investigators,
chasing a suspected trafficker.
From the get-go,
he's acting suspicious,
flying down the highway.
Okay, be careful
with the cameras,
because he's right
in front of us.
Weaving through neighborhoods.
MIKE: Man, I need somebody
here now, guys.
MAN: Behind you, coming up.
MARIANA: He finally pulls
into a house
not far from Stanford University
that the PIs know well
from previous surveillance.
MIKE: He's at Grandma's house.
Grandma's house.
Grandma's house.
MARIANA: The day is spent
keeping track of his movements.
Where does he go?
Who does he see?
Who else might he
be working with?
MIKE: Already there's a new car
that we haven't seen before,
so it looks like
we got some activity.
MARIANA: Traffickers are known
to move victims
between different counties
and even states
to keep them disoriented and to
keep law enforcement guessing.
MIKE: This guy, he reports
one address in the county
across the bay,
one address in the South Bay.
He acquires the victims
in another county,
so you've got multiple
jurisdictions involved.
MAN: You can have
something happening
on one side of the bay,
and then really,
what, maybe four or five miles
between the two?
But there's no communication
between law enforcement
and sometimes
the judicial system itself.
MARIANA: So that makes it really
hard to catch guys like this?
MAN: Yes.
MARIANA: Building a real case
against Ray
will take more missions
like this one.
If successful, Mike will then
hand over his findings
to law enforcement
with the hopes they'll open
their own investigation.
But there's no guarantee.
And all of this
is to try and stop
just one of the countless pimps
and traffickers out there.
Still, Jenna is convinced.
JENNA: This is a crime
that money and a good network
can actually solve.
MARIANA: Maybe that's a bit
of Silicon Valley optimism.
Or maybe it's the truth.
But in thinking about
money and resources
and the ugly business
of trafficking,
there are other truths
to consider, too.
MICKEY: As crazy as these pimps
and prostitutes are,
they don't cross King Boulevard.
Once you cross King Boulevard,
you cross into money.
MARIANA: To the north of King
lies the campus of USC,
with its nearly
$6 billion endowments.
To the south of King,
it gets rough quick.
MICKEY: That look like someone
had dropped a bomb on it,
like it looked war-torn.
MARIANA: For Mickey, this divide
explains everything
about where you end up in life;
Geography as destiny.
JACK KNIFE: We growing up
in a certain area
where we ain't got no
(bleep) resources.
We ain't got nothin'.
We can't do this and that
like certain other races can
in their areas.
There ain't no jobs around.
You got a whole community
that's not getting hired,
and you got a lot of (bleep)
that's like, "What we gonna do?"
CHILL: I grew up around
gangbangers, pimps.
At 15, you're not thinking
about it like that,
but then now it's in your face
and you're like,
"(bleep) it, why not?"
LADY P: My brother was a pimp.
MARIANA: And so you
just grew up
LADY P: I grew up with it. Yup.
GOTTI: There was a lot
of pimpin' going on.
MARIANA: People in your family?
GOTTI: A couple guys
in my family were pimps.
MARIANA: So you think if you
grew up in another neighborhood,
in another place
JACK KNIFE:
It'd be totally different.
MARIANA: Another city,
you'd be different?
JACK KNIFE:
It'd be totally different.
I grew up with
everybody around me.
Pimps, gangbangers, thieves,
murderers, jackers,
all these (bleep),
it's like one boiling pot.
It's (bleep) real out here.
I grew up with (bleep)
I thought that was right.
(bleep) I'm seeing
as I'm growing up,
I'm a kid, what the (bleep)?
And I got people
telling me it's wrong,
but they got the money, though.
Well, how can I get this money?
It's a (bleep) up situation,
but it's a hustle.
MARIANA: I make no excuses
for these pimps.
But I understand
Jack Knife's frustration.
It must be hard growing up
adjacent to so much wealth
and having so few options.
But what makes pimping different
than other hustles
is that people's lives
are in the balance.
Most often young women
coming from their own
difficult circumstances.
So I'm actually surprised when
Chill agrees to let me sit down
with one of the women
who works for him.
When did you start escorting?
CANDY: About when I was 15,
and I fell into the wrong guy.
And it was horrible.
And then I met Chill at a bar
and he just seemed
like a nice guy.
He was so sweet, honorable.
He's always a man of his word.
He does exactly what
he said he's gonna do.
He believed in my dreams.
And he was just like,
"Oh," like, "I can help you."
And he just started helping me.
MARIANA: I quickly realize
that something feels off.
CANDY: He never judged me,
and he just kind of took me in.
MARIANA: It's the most
glowing review of a pimp
you could ever imagine.
Do you give him part
of your money, though?
CANDY: Just, like, as if you
would take your card out
and make a withdrawal.
Only mine is not a card,
it's a person.
MARIANA: So he's your pimp?
CANDY: I wouldn't
call him my pimp.
Because he's sweet.
He's very honorable.
MARIANA: You don't like
to call him pimp?
What do you call him?
CANDY: My friend.
MARIANA: And I realize
I have no idea
how many of these
details are true.
And how many of them
are simply talking points
to please her boss who spends
the entire interview
looming over us with
a pool stick in his hand.
That's the tricky thing
about doing these
sex trafficking stories.
When you drive down a street
like Figueroa or
International Boulevard,
and you see the women working,
it's impossible to know
their realities.
Some of them are
out there by choice,
but some of them are not.
Some of them are like Honey.
Do you ever get angry knowing
that there's men, right now,
all over the city,
all over the country,
doing to women
what your pimp did to you?
HONEY: Yes.
In my case,
a 12-year-old, for one,
they don't know what's best
for them at the time.
I'm looking at an adult
who can potentially guide me
in the right direction,
but I was guided
in the wrong direction.
So it always crosses my mind,
like, if I never got introduced
to this type of lifestyle,
how would I be living?
Or what would my life be like?
Or how would I be?
Would I be different?
Would I still be the same?
Like, I just feel sorry
for the females out there
who has to go through
the same thing,
because it's like, it's just
destroying a woman's whole life.
Uh-oh!
Go get it.
Now, I'm like to the point
where I have a child of my own,
and I have to make sure that
I have more than enough for her.
Because I want to
give her the world,
you know, 'cause
she deserves it.
You know, she didn't ask
to be here, I brought her here.
MARIANA: So I've been
reading your book
and I've been taking
some notes here.
"A ho to a pimp
is worth nothing.
She's actually
worth everything."
"You take away
everything she has
then give her what she needs.
You, the pimp, are the cause
as well as the solution
to all her problems.
"You give her the poison
and sell her the cure."
So this is something you
MICKEY: That's actually true.
Pimpin' is premeditated.
You know exactly
what you're doing
and you know
the long-term effects of it.
You have to be a sadist,
because you have to enjoy
what you're doing,
and you know good and well
what you're doing.
You know good and well
what you're doing.
Captioned by
Side Door Media Services