Louis Theroux s01e30 Episode Script
Dark States: Trafficking Sex
You know about this place on the internet? Yes, it's called Seven Spa.
They've got a write-up on a place called Backrub.
com or Oh, Rubmaps.
You pull up the reviews.
It says Mia has breast size C.
She's clean-shaven.
Nice and round.
That's her butt.
Posterior.
Posterior.
And all of a sudden, it goes into a narrative of what they actually did.
"Handed me the towel and takes me to the table shower.
"I think she may do Greek.
"She told me to get on top, and I worked her mish," which is going to be missionary style.
Straight up, regular sex.
"But then I felt her finger go up my ass, "and that made me blast deep into the cover.
" I don't know what that means, but I'm pretty sure that your imagination what that is.
Do you think these women are working against their will? Sometimes they are, sometimes they can go and come as they please, depending on the provider.
I was in Houston, Texas, on the trail of prostitutes and their pimps.
As you see it, she's making that choice for what reason? Some women are just hoes.
You know, they're just prostitutes.
And that's all they're going to be.
At a time when the internet has made the sale of sex easier than ever before, I was in one of America's epicentres of sex trafficking You OK, Nikki? You OK? .
.
getting to know the working women, and hoping to understand a lifestyle in which the line between choice and force isn't always clear.
It makes me sick how much he can control me.
And I fall for it every time.
At an hourly motel in the south-west of Houston, I'd arranged a rendezvous using a website called Backpage.
"Hi, guys.
I'm Nikki.
Looking for the best of the best? "Silky brunette hair, sexy amazing curves, great woman, "outgoing personality, discreet visits.
"Really, really addicting.
"Brunette Italian.
26.
Call me.
" Are you 26? Hell, no! How old are you? How old do you think I am? 27? No, not even close.
I think you're 30-something, aren't you? Italians age very nicely, though, don't we? I'm 37 years old.
Do you get a lot of business through that? I get a lot of calls, but I screen everybody.
If you text me, "Hey, are you available?" Or something like that I'll show you.
I have pre-set messages.
"Hey, sweetie.
How are you? "Did you want to schedule a session with me?" And then I have one for my prices.
What are your prices? They need 150 for a half an hour, because the room's 20.
I get the rest.
And then 200 for the hour - 20 for the room, I get the rest.
I don't rent rooms, because Houston has hourly rate rooms everywhere.
Do you pretend to enjoy it? I try to enjoy it.
I mean, if I'm going to have sex, I want to get off, but I don't always do it.
Sometimes I get really good looking men, though, that are, like, very successful, good guys, you know? And they want to "Do you want to stop what you're doing and come live with me?" I'm like, "No.
" If I wanted a relationship, I'd be normal.
And I'm not even Loud! Do you need to get that? Who was that? Um Do you call in to your pimp? I update him on every move I make.
The person that you're with is supposed to keep you on point, make sure you're mentally stable.
Make sure you're fed, you've got a room, you're taken care of, at any means possible.
You know what I mean? Like, that's my daddy.
He takes good care of me.
He's like your corner man? He knows where I'm at, what room I'm in.
Like, I give him every information, because my safety's on the line.
If I make a mistake it could cost me my life.
Do you live with him? No.
You have a separate.
.
An apartment where you stay? Mm-hm.
Which he pays for? You give him all your money? Mm-hm.
All the money you make? 100%.
100%? Mm-hm.
So you must have made tens of thousands for him.
I've made him a lot of money, yes.
And, if you Probably over, like, 150,000 total.
When you're with a pimp, anything you want, you have to ask for permission, and if they say, "No," it's no.
And if you go against them, there's consequences.
If you violate the rules, there's consequences.
And they're not, like, minor consequences.
He's physical? He can be, yeah.
If you're out of line, if you're disrespectful, if you disobey him.
Why not go with a softer one? Who wants a weak ass dude protecting you? What you going to do? If I can handle my business and you can't, why am I with you? Like, what are you doing for me? Had you been working, doing sex work, before you got with him? Yeah.
He didn't, like, force me to do what I'm doing.
I was already doing it.
He didn't turn you out? Uh-uh.
But you He was the first And I don't want people to misunderstand.
Like, I'm not forced to do what I'm doing.
People have, like, built this whole human trafficking thing.
Yes, human trafficking is real, but it's not realistically happening like they make it out to be.
I like spending time with people.
I like meeting new people.
I love sex.
I love money.
And I love to travel, so I've got the best job in the world.
Hello? Hi, sweetie.
How are you? I'm fine.
Are you wanting to come see me? Yeah.
OK.
What is your age and race, baby? You're from the Virgin Islands? Houston is home to some of America's most notorious areas for illegal sex work.
The nation's fourth-largest city, at the crossroads of two interstates, it is a magnet for both prostitutes and pimps.
Hey.
Hey.
Where you at? I'm at Hillcroft and 59th.
OK, so Are you ready? Yeah, we just got to Bissonnet.
On a Friday night, I was with recovery coach Kim Isaacs.
She was doing outreach in one of the city's hotspots.
OK, you got all the condoms? You've got enough condoms? OK, let me get this girl real quick.
Hi, mama.
I used to be out here.
Can I offer you some free condoms? No.
You want some free condoms? Where are we? We are on Bissonnet, which is a hub for human trafficking on the south-west side of Houston.
Most of the people that come here have gone through Louisiana, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and then they come to Houston.
The girls out here are not out here alone.
They are working for someone, which they call families, compiled of a pimp, and then anywhere from two to five to seven girls.
They can't work out here without a pimp? On this particular track, no.
The thing is that the veteran girls out here will spot a what they call renegade, which is a girl that's just out here on her own, and either physically attack her or try and coerce her into, you know, coming into their family.
Renegades really don't make it very long out in a place like this because of the brutality of the pimps, also.
You were in the life.
I was.
When I started out here, I was 12 years old.
Did you ever have a pimp? Yes, I did.
What were your feelings for the pimp? It felt good for someone to tell me that I was a pretty girl.
You didn't view him in a negative way? Not at all.
Even when I was out there with an umbrella, and it's storming raining, and I'm freezing, and I'm hungry, and I have to wait until I get my quota to go and get a hamburger, I still couldn't wait to put that money in his hand, because I knew I was going to be praised.
How do you see him now? I see him now as a parasite.
It's like a plague, almost.
Kim and her colleagues work out of Santa Maria Hostel, a shelter offering treatment to women with drug problems.
Among them are a number of ex-prostitutes, some of whom have had pimps in the past.
Are you working with cops, Dee? Yes.
You're taking your medications as prescribed? No.
One of the newest arrivals was 18-year-old Savannah.
She was doing a one-month review of her progress with Counsellor Tonia Granger.
It's not just the drugs and alcohol that drives you, and I think you know that.
Your validation comes from all them folks that want you.
All them Johns, all them pimps that are out there fighting for you, because you're worth a tonne of money to them.
That's where that attention seeking comes in.
Right? Mm-hm.
What was the lifestyle that you were in before you were here? I was selling myself.
The fast life of being in that life was exciting to me.
I always had something to do.
I always .
.
had money.
I always had clothes.
I had someone who was obsessed with me.
Was that your pimp? Yes.
You felt he was obsessed with you? It seemed to you that he was obsessed? Not obsessed Yeah, obsessed.
In what way? He would show me more attention than my wife at the time.
Your wife at the time? So it was his girlfriend Not his girlfriend.
It was his other girl that he had, but it was called my wife.
So I called her my wife.
You have to understand what the human trafficking family looks like.
A pimp's success is directly related to his top female.
Cos a woman is the only one that's going to be able to deal with a room full of women.
And so that would be the wife, and so if it's his wife, it's her wife.
The pimp seemed more interested in you than in the wife? Yeah, because I could make more money for him.
Mm-hm.
And I knew that.
There were two pimps in Savannah's life - the most recent one, who she still felt attached to, and then there was the man who'd first recruited her age 16, whose street name was Rico Pimping.
Only weeks earlier, she'd taken the brave step of testifying against Rico in court.
He'd been given 35 years.
I was curious how he'd got her into the lifestyle.
How did that go down? You were at a party? We were at a park getting high, and all I remember is coming out of the high, being driven to a hotel.
You were out of it, you were intoxicated, you found yourself being taken to a hotel.
Then what? He Rico explained to me what I was going to be doing.
And at the time To me, it sounded better than what my life was.
He explained to me that I'd be getting cars, and a house, and all the clothes I wanted, and that I didn't have to ever be sad again or be hurt.
So he gave me kind of like a fantasy lifestyle.
And at the time, I was OK with it.
A sales pitch.
Yeah.
Then how soon after that did you turn your first trick? Within an hour.
Really? Mm-hm.
So what happened? He explained to me that the pictures he took were going to be posted on Backpage, and that Backpage.
com? So he took pictures there and then? Mm-hm.
Of you naked? Yes.
And he said, soon after that, that I'd be getting phone calls.
So the calls came in straight away? Mm-hm.
So do you remember the first one? I don't.
Was it that night? Yes.
I had, um .
.
five or six that night.
How did the physical side of it seem to you? I mean, did it seem disgusting? At the time, I was not a virgin, but I had been with only one person.
So, you know, I felt I was degrading myself, in a way, to have to do the job, which only made me do more drugs.
How did you come to leave Rico Pimping? I was already reported as a runaway, so the cops were looking for me.
So I do believe that I made contact with one of the officers.
He was posing as a trick, and he came and he got me and picked me up.
Would you testify against your most recent pimp? Right now, no.
He did traffic you, though? In a sense, it's the textbook definition.
Because he was moving you around the country, um, pimping you out.
Yes.
You still have feelings for this guy? No.
A little bit.
But no.
It makes me sick, how much he can control me.
And I fall for it every time.
Today, Texas' Attorney General announced the arrest of the CEO of Backpage.
com, calling the website a "grotesque form of modern-day slavery.
" In the week of my arrival, authorities had attempted to crackdown on Backpage.
It was said that many of the ads there were placed by pimps.
Increasingly, authorities view prostitutes less as criminals and more as victims of their traffickers.
All right, UC's, y'all are clear to go when you're ready.
At street level, to get a sense of what local law enforcement was doing, I was out with the Harris County Sheriff's Office for a sting operation.
OK, one of the undercovers has a female.
I think that's going to be her right there.
Undercover officers would be attempting to bust the working women by posing as customers.
Near the bell? Yeah, I got her.
I would be listening in with Sergeant Chapper and Lieutenant Diaz.
Is it a typical morning? Does this happen every morning? Oh, yeah, every day.
The last time we did an operation in this area, literally, right at daybreak, I counted eight before our operation even started.
We try to speak to them, get their cooperation, and work on identifying the pimp.
This guy's walking close to our area.
He may see the camera.
Right, there's another one.
It's going to be a black female.
Shorts, pink socks, and a black jacket.
Did she just get out of the car? She got out? She got out.
No deal on that one.
No deal.
She twigged.
How did she know? These girls, they're out here and they do it all the time, all the time.
And, I mean, unfortunately, they start knowing that there's parameters of what an undercover police officer can and can't do.
Once a deal is done and a prostitute is in the undercover car, a patrol cop swoops in.
The women who are arrested would be sent straight to jail.
Repeat offenders could be looking at up to two years.
But it was hard not to feel that the real culprits were getting away.
You made quite a few busts this morning.
None of them were either trafficked or willing to say that they were trafficked, right? What do you think's standing in the way of women .
.
bringing their traffickers to justice? Most of them are likely going to fear the repercussions of it.
I mean, once In order to cooperate with us, that means that they have to stand against them.
Some simply don't want to be labelled as a snitch, and others are going to fear the physical harm that they're going to suffer from that.
And some sense of loyalty? Absolutely.
Absolutely.
There's a sense of loyalty and protection.
My half-hour is 150 and my hour 200.
I'd meet you at an hourly room for in-call, or I can come to you for 200.
There's a hotel called The Pearl.
You can meet me there.
I can send you the address if you want? I was with Nikki.
All right, sweetie.
All right.
I'll send you the information.
All right, bye.
How old was he? You could get, like, 100 to 200 calls a day, and, like, probably only ten of them were legit.
The rest are people playing games.
So it's kind of frustrating sometimes, especially when you're trying to make money and people are playing on the phone, like Who was just calling? My daddy.
I can't answer right now, though.
It will make me, like, really fucked up.
I can't Cos I don't have what he wants, so he's not going to be pleasant about it.
Jesus, um You OK, Nikki? Yeah, I'm good.
I just don't like him being mad at me, I guess.
Why is he mad at you? Because I didn't achieve my quota, because I was not focused on what I was supposed to be doing.
Oh, it's cold! How long have you been doing this kind of work? Well over a year and a half, I think.
Not that long? What did you do before? You had a square job? Yeah, I worked at Kohl's warehouse in the packaging department.
I don't like regular jobs.
I mean, I used to be married.
Where did you grow up? Cincinnati, Ohio.
You got married in Ohio as well? Mm-hm.
But you had led a relatively square life, right? For the first, you know, 30 years or so? 35 years? And then to get into sex work, that's a big step.
And I'm just trying to get a I was having sex before that.
I was just doing it for free! Right, but Now I bank up on it.
Now you bank up on it? I still enjoyed sex before, but it's more exciting when you get money for it.
How did that happen? I'm wondering how that transition happened.
A friend of mine was posting on there and she was telling me about it and telling me what kind of money she was making.
So I just was like, "Let's give it a shot," you know? See what happens.
Had your marriage already ended at that point? Mm-hm, yeah.
It's quite a big step to go from Why do you think that? It's simple.
I posted an ad.
I got a room.
And I screen my calls.
What made you come down to Houston? Cos Houston's where it's at.
The track, Bissonnet, it's the biggest fucking track in America.
And how quickly did you meet Same day, within 24 hours.
Your pimp? Mm-hm.
What was his pitch? Trouble doesn't have a pitch.
I don't think you understand.
Like, I would never go against what he says.
You know what I'm saying? Like, I respect him a lot.
And I make a lot of sacrifices for that man.
You don't really fully understand until you go through some of the things that I've gone through.
And he's rode with me.
He's saved my ass a few times.
Without him, I would have probably been really bad off, you know? Physically, do you mean? Like from dangerous situations? And mentally.
Like, some of the stuff that you go through can really, like, mess with your head, you know? Make you doubt yourself, and that's who .
.
moulded me into a real fucking solid ass female, like It sounds like what you're saying is he gives you focus.
He gives me everything.
I don't associate with anybody other than him.
Other than clients.
He must be quite a special person.
Yeah.
Have you had enough to eat, by the way? I haven't eaten in, like, two days.
Why don't you have a little more to eat? I'm preoccupied.
What is preoccupying you? Um Somebody in my family passed away a few days ago.
And, um It's kind of been on my mind that I couldn't go to the funeral and stuff, and uh It just sucks, you know? Because I have to, like, keep my composure.
I can't, like, show that I'm sad.
I've got to be this peppy, happy little person for my clients, right? Fuck! I think I lost the money.
Maybe it's in the car.
I don't know.
Jesus! At the end of our lunch, Nikki made the awful discovery that her previous night's takings were missing.
I'm going to freak out, man.
He's going to kick my ass! How the fuck did I lose 250 fucking dollars? He's going to think I'm fucking playing with him, that I was fucking off all night.
He's going to be like, "How the fuck you was out all night and ain't got no money?" That's fucking ridiculous.
This dude doesn't just smack you around.
He'll, like, beat the shit out of you.
Her sense of fear was palpable, her dependence and vulnerability suddenly laid bare.
Having heard so much about pimps, I felt I should speak to one.
Human trafficking convictions carry long prison terms.
Men in the lifestyle are understandably wary of publicity.
But I had a lead on Shederick Smith, convicted in 2009 of compelling prostitution by a minor, and now serving a 42-year term in Amarillo, Texas.
How are you doing? Nice to meet you.
His pimp name had been Fancy.
How's it going? I'm all right.
How you doing? I was made to understand that you had been, and perhaps still are, a pimp.
Yes, sir.
Would that be correct? Well, half of it is.
I was a pimp, but I'm incarcerated now, so I'm no longer pimping.
The case that got you incarcerated involved a girl aged 15 Rightwho in the court documents is identified as LD.
Right.
Do you not see that a minor, or a child, is not appropriate? You know, that it's wrong for them to be working in that way? It's totally wrong.
It's totally wrong.
If I'd have known she was 15, it wouldn't I would never even have been involved, got involved with her.
So you You're alleging that you didn't realise she was 15? I didn't know.
She didn't tell me she was 15.
To be honest with you, she told me she was 17.
In the account that she gives, she was more or less recruited by someone called LaPrincess Moore.
She wasn't recruited.
She was discovered on the hoe stroll.
A hoe stroll is a street where women sell pussy at.
She was drafted into your entourage? No, she wasn't drafted.
She was chose to come with LaPrincess.
You put them on Backpage, is that right? Backpage, yes.
That's correct.
In her account, she says there were times she was with you when she wanted to stop working and you would pressure her and say, "You haven't made enough money yet.
" Well, if you read the documents correctly, this chick was only with me for seven days.
So that's hardly enough time for us to even really get acquainted.
You know what I'm saying? Seven days.
I couldn't have been too horrible in seven days.
Do you think it's a good deal for the women? Yeah, it was a good deal.
In what way? Because I'm a good provider.
I'm a good manager.
And as you see it, she's making that choice for what reason? Because she want to.
What makes her want to? Some women are just hoes.
You know, they're just prostitutes, and that's all they're going to be.
It's like a race car driver.
He get a rush when he's going 200mph.
They get a rush when they go up in the room and can manipulate a man out of $700 or $800, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000.
They get a rush out of that.
Did they have to give all the money to you? Of course I'm getting all the money.
Why do you say, "Of course?" I mean, that's just That's how the game goes.
I'm the I'm the I'm the manager.
It's my company.
And if they leave, you give them some money back or not? Yeah, I give them some money back.
How much? Nothing! Do you see why other people on the outside would view pimps as predators? Yeah, because they're ignorant.
Meaning they lack knowledge.
She want a family or team.
So she chose to come over here and mess with Fancy.
And be a part of Fancy's Family.
It's an emotional thing? Is it emotional You think it's emotional? I mean, you know, you could be right.
She might want a father figure.
It's like a little cult, almost.
Is that what it is? Kind of.
Oh, man.
Several weeks had passed, and at Santa Maria, there had been changes.
Savannah had been going in and out of recovery.
During one relapse, she'd gone back to her pimp.
It was also being said that while in treatment, she'd been prostituting.
Are you Jax? Yes.
And there were two new faces, ex-roommates of Savannah's who were said to be romantically linked, Danisha and Jax.
So I understand Savannah's gone? Yes.
She left yesterday.
Like, she snuck out the gate.
What was that about? She's not done.
She's not done.
She relapsed in her mind.
Do you think she was turning tricks while she was here? Yes.
Yes, of course she was.
She was.
She was.
The whole time.
Are you serious? Yes.
When she was on HUD side, the transitional part.
Yes, that's what she does.
Wow, that's quite a shock.
Is it? Why? Because when I was talking to her, she seemed very authentic in her desire for recovery.
She's been talking to these guys from her past.
But she told me he used to beat her and stuff.
But I can't One thing I don't do is I'm not a hypocrite.
Because just as well as she's talking to him, I still talk to the same guy that hit me so hard in my face one time that it looked like I had an extra something growing from it.
In the lifestyle that we live, it's like we I don't know.
Do we find comfort in that? I'm never going to say that it's good to let a man hit me, but that's just something that I like.
All right.
Danisha's pimp, T Money, had been her boyfriend.
Under his influence, she'd first prostituted.
In her room, she had his letters from jail.
OK.
This one is from this month.
He says, "Hey, baby.
"I've been going crazy and stressing like hell since we've been out of "touch, baby.
Since I've been in love with you, I can't stand to go "without seeing nor hearing from you.
"I'm so ready to see you, baby.
It don't make no damn sense.
"That's going to be the happiest day of my life right now.
" What I'm struck by - it's very affectionate, isn't it? It is.
Was that the sort of relationship you had? We did.
What was in it for you? I guess just him.
Him needing me.
You liked giving him your money? I would watch other females doing the same thing I was doing, and they would be happy to pass the cash off to their daddy or their pimp.
They would be happy.
So I just figured it was what I was supposed to do.
Even though when we came to Houston it kind of got worse.
It got bad.
In what way? Because that's when all the physical abuse started happening.
When we were outside, you said that you quite liked that.
I like roughness.
I like to be roughed up.
In general? In general.
In sex, or just in general? Like, if I get into it with my boyfriend and he hit me, that's, like, a turn on to me.
I don't know why.
Don't ask me.
But with T, it was too much.
It was beyond what I liked, my limitations.
Like, I had boundaries to it.
Did that not make you want to leave even more? It did.
It did.
I was afraid.
Like, he's a dangerous man.
Hang on.
But you're still saying you love this guy.
I know, it's complicated.
But, it's You write to him as well, don't you? I do.
And what do you say? I'm not here for you any more.
I can't be that woman you want.
I can't be her.
You've said that to him? Yes.
That's not what I'm getting from his letters.
This is from the third of Like, I think Wait Is that a recent one? "Stop doing me like that, "because I'm starting to think you up to some with that "bullshit.
I mean, done sat there and wrote me a whole letter "about I don't fuck with you.
" "I love you so much, baby.
I miss you too much, "and I'm most definitely not trying to lose you for nothing "nor cut you out, "so stop with that talk.
You're mine.
"You're mine.
" He wants to make you his wife? Yeah.
I don't want to marry him.
That's not the man God intended for me to be with.
We knew what the rules of the lifestyle was.
It's amazing how we follow the rules of the game.
But people got to understand the word "game.
" Games are made to lose.
You do not win the game every time.
So we were gambling and throwing the dice with our life at every turn.
Every car we got in.
Even if you were on Backpage or you were doing phone sex.
Where did it get us? What did you end up having to show for it? Hello.
How are you doing? Nice to see you.
Good.
How are you? A few days after she disappeared, Savannah was back to pick up some of her things.
You sure you don't want to stay? I'm positive.
You know I love you, yes? Yes.
And we gon' fight, no matter what.
But I don't want you to die.
So I'm here.
Oh, man.
I know exactly what she's going to go do.
She's going to go trick.
She's going to go hoe again.
She's going to go use.
She's already I mean, she looked messed up when she came in.
I'm scared for her.
Because of her case, or just because it's a high-risk lifestyle? It's a high-risk lifestyle .
.
and then the case.
Savannah had signed up as an outpatient in the programme, but there was some doubt as to whether she'd follow through.
And either way, being on the outside put her at risk of reprisals from her first pimp, whom she testified against.
Why are you leaving? I'm tired of being here.
So you were turning tricks while you were here? When I got on the HUD side, yes.
And while I've been on treatment side, yes.
Not as much as I was.
How? I'd go and pass like they are now.
Going to the bus stop.
I just wouldn't go to the meeting and go work, and then Go work where? Right here.
How? Just walk.
Wait until somebody comes to pick you up.
Someone you know? No.
Just some random person rolls down the window.
Have you been in touch with your pimp? Your old No, I lost all connections.
Trafficker? I did go back to him.
The reason some women are with pimps is for protection.
I started getting scared that the one that got locked up was going to find me.
I was there for about, like, three days.
Him and his other girl that he had there were constantly fighting, and I have bad PTSD, so when people start yelling around me, I start shaking.
So I told him, "I can't do this.
"I need you to buy me a bus ticket home.
" Are you worried about your safety, given the case, and .
.
your role? He sent death threats out to all the females that testified.
But at the same time .
.
me testifying, I got my power back that he took from me.
And so by me being scared for the rest of my life that he might find me, he might do something to me, that's him also having my power.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Successful recovery at Santa Maria often takes numerous attempts.
In spite of all the training and support, the ties of the old life do not break easily.
The boredom of months of therapy, and limited options in the square world, leading many to go back to what they know.
What I wrote is the thing that we work on in treatment.
We work on your biopsychosocial.
We start with you biologically.
We deal with you psychologically, and then we address you sociologically.
It was Thursday night, and Counsellor Tonia was teaching her weekly family class.
Now, I don't know how many of y'all dropped your family member off to treatment.
And I don't know if you remember what she looked like when she got here.
Right? OK, but she has a very distinct walk.
Let me show you the "I'm coming to treatment" walk.
All right? What's dragging behind me is my plastic bag of clothes.
Among those in the audience were Danisha and a male visitor.
Keith? Keith.
Louis.
Nice to meet you.
How are you doing? Good.
How are you and Danisha connected? I've been knowing Danisha about six months, roughly six months, now.
I left my wife a year and a half ago, and I've been living in a hotel, cos I'm a local truck driver.
And I met her at the hotel I was staying at.
When I found out that, you know, she was, sort of, prostituting, I found her attractive, so I became one of her clients.
Had you used the services of a professional sex worker before? No.
Cos I was married for 13 years.
And you were faithful to your wife? Totally.
Was she with, um .
.
a I was not.
It was after that.
I was wondering what he's about to say.
A pimp? Yes.
No, not at all.
I would never fool with a girl who had a pimp.
Why's that? Pimps are too aggressive and too dangerous.
They'll set you up, rob you, can't be trusted.
If you would beat up a woman, how can I trust you? So, Keith, you knew that Danisha used to have a pimp.
No.
You didn't know that? That's news to you.
Mm-hm.
Are you surprised? Not really.
Not really.
It's a good thing she don't have one no more.
Cos then it's not healthy for her, you know.
I know.
I'm done, like Right.
How did you feel about the relationship Was it even a relationship? I would say no.
What was it? Cos we barely knew each other.
It was just, like, a casual encounter.
A casual hook up.
Over how many Two or three times a week.
For how long? That probably went on for about three weeks to a month? Yeah.
And then? And then she got arrested.
You enjoyed it.
That's why you were paying for it.
Mm-hm.
And did you enjoy it? Yeah, I did.
Do you have to say that, or I did.
I really did.
I didn't show him.
I might have didn't tell him.
But in my head I was like, "Oh, my God.
"This is the best!" Yeah, right.
I'm serious.
Yeah, right.
Mm-hm.
Do you have trouble believing that? Not really.
A little bit.
Sometimes you second-guess.
I'll take her word for it.
Yeah.
I'll be honest, I don't know whether to believe it or not.
Right.
I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt.
Because it could be part of a hustle, right? It's not, though.
I mean, I don't look for satisfaction, but if it's good, it's good.
I just don't let it show or let it be known.
It's strictly business.
So what's your relationship now, then? Just good friends.
Just friends? Mm-hm.
But would you like it to be something more, Keith? You know, I really don't even think about that.
Do you still bring her little gifts? I come every week, give her $30.
You know, to keep in her pocket.
Today, I brought her all kinds of toiletries.
Is it possible you're still being hustled a little bit? How dare you! Probably not.
You didn't like that? No! Why not? Because that's not what's going on.
She calls me at least every other day.
Danisha calls you every other day? Sometimes two, three days in a row.
Just to what? Talk.
Just conversate, have somebody to talk to.
Just check up on him.
So you like him? I do.
For a stranger that I met in my hustle to still stand by my side .
.
I wish there was more people like him in this world.
Thank you for that.
That was quite heart-warming.
You're welcome.
Thank y'all.
You good, baby? You're good, darling.
You're good.
It was the early hours of the morning, and I was back on Bissonnet.
Nikki was on shift, under the ever watchful eye of her pimp.
Hello.
Hi.
Nosey ass nigga.
He's like Bye! How are you doing? Go.
Go right.
You want to go? I just want to get off this area.
I just told him I got picked up so he wouldn't be like, "Where you at?" I don't really look at myself like I'm drop-dead gorgeous, but I know I'm not ugly.
I think you look great.
He said I looked like a rock star today.
I was like, "What!" You do.
He's like, "Now go get some rock star money!" You've got that sort of Joan Jett See, the other thing about a pimp, they have to motivate you and keep you feeling good about yourself.
Because if they're ragging on you all the time, making you feel like shit, then that's how you're going to feel.
Are we good to go? Yeah.
You know, before when we spoke to you and you became distraught, do you remember? You were upset because you'd lost some money.
And you started I was honest with him about that, though.
You got into a tizz.
Do you remember? Yeah, because there's consequences to my actions.
You know what I mean? You were really upset.
You seemed scared.
I mean, nobody likes being punished.
Nobody likes being in trouble.
Is that what it was about? I mean, I was texting, talking shit, the other night.
He pulled up, picked me up and punched me in the mouth cos I was disrespectful.
You know what I mean? They take that shit seriously.
Would you be able to read out some texts to get a flavour of how he talks to you? Um And how you talk to each other? Cos you just said you were being, um, disrespectful.
The first message I have, it says, "I'm your little Italian soldier.
" He said, "Fucking right, bitch.
" And then I was on the track, and I was walking and talking to somebody, and he drove by, and he texted me and said, "This is your first warning.
Stop talking, bitch, and get active.
" I said, "I am, Daddy.
" He said, "Get picked up.
I'm getting pissed.
" Cos I was out there for, like, three or four hours.
I said, "I do good when I'm in good spirits, not a hot mess.
"You feel me?" He said, "Yes, bitch.
" Was that after he'd punched you? Mm-hm.
So you're putting a marker down saying that you don't appreciate him putting his hands on you, right? He knows that, though.
You said you've only been doing this a year and a half? Mm-hm.
But you feel OK with it? Mm-hm.
I love what I do.
I accept it.
I'm not ashamed of it.
Like I feel like in some aspects, I help people.
I mean, pleasure is good.
Who don't like to have sex? Like, come on.
I mean, I hear you.
And at the same time, I've been talking to other women involved in sex work, and almost to a one they've said, "But the pimp thing is not good.
" The pimps are It depends on the way you look at it, though .
.
predatory and parasitic.
.
.
or who you're with.
It just depends on who you're with.
He makes me a better person.
How is he making you better? I'm smarter.
I'm stronger.
And he takes all the money.
He doesn't take it.
I hand it to him.
But if I want anything, I just ask him.
You wouldn't rather have your own money? I'm really bad with money.
I'm not a financial person.
Before, I was married, my husband did all that stuff.
It seems quite precarious if he's got all your money.
In a year, or six months, or ten years, say something happens, right? And you have a falling out, and then you leave, and what do you have to show for it? Not much.
There's no part of you that wants to get away from him? Uh-uh.
Not even a little bit.
Really? I'm devoted and dedicated.
I left convinced of the wrongness of Nikki's choices, but also baffled as to how to break through.
By now I'd realised that for all the women I'd met who'd been trafficked and pimped, there was a pull deeper than the money or the drama, or in some cases the drugs.
A need to feel valued and to show love.
In a role of providing professional intimacy, it struck me that the women were also at the mercy of their own feelings when it came to their pimps.
Perhaps none more so than Danisha.
Caught between her roommate Jax, her old pimp, and Keith.
You know, it was nice meeting Keith.
Was it? What are your feelings for him? I mean I appreciate him, and I I've got love for him.
I wouldn't necessarily say that I could right now, at this point, see myself in a relationship with anybody.
You seem to be in relationships with three people.
Who? Who? I am not in a relationship with anybody.
Of a sort.
Well, there's Keith.
There's also your old pimp who is imprisoned, and then there's Jax.
OK.
I'm not in a relationship with Jax.
Jax is, like, my best friend.
Which one are you most attracted to? Hmm You want me to be honest? The one in jail.
Yeah.
He's the one who's treated you worst, I suppose.
Yeah.
And he pimped you out, right, if that's the right term? Yeah.
He put you out on the track, right? Yeah, you could say that.
And he was physical with you? Yes.
What has he got that you don't get in the other two relationships? When Keith talks to me, Keith talks to me about always wanting to have sex.
"I can't wait till you can leave so I can come and get you "and take you out to eat and, you know, do this and do that.
" But with T, what does he talk to you about? He loves me and he don't want to lose me.
He wants me to be a part of his life.
I'm his life.
You had a physical relationship? Yes.
But it's more emotional now with him.
Do you think that's true of pimps in general? It's What Well, that they are They can push your buttons emotionally, and part of their control is that .
.
you can't manipulate them sexually.
I can, though.
I have.
With T? Yes.
He likes the way I do things in bed.
T does? Yes.
There's not a day we didn't sleep in the bed together that we didn't have sex.
You and T? Yeah.
When you look into your heart and you see that there's a part of you that wants that, right, or wanted it Wanted it.
What is it? Is it just a Sort of an emotional You know, a sense of pleasure that you get in providing for someone? Taking care of business? It is, because it makes me feel like I'm in control.
You can see how looking at it another way, it's almost a kind of servitude, you know, a kind of Being submissive? Mm-hm.
Yeah.
If you know my background, me growing up, I always had to be submissive.
I started being molested at the age of three.
"No, no, I don't want to.
"I don't want to.
" "If you tell, you're going to be in big trouble, "or I'm going to kill you.
" Put fear in me.
Who did it? A lot of people.
A lot of people.
My mom even knows.
It was two of her boyfriends.
I hate for people to try to judge me about my lifestyle.
I really do.
Because no-one knows what I've been through.
No-one knows where I come from.
And I just thought that the person that I loved was the one who was going to save me, rescue me from all of the feelings and emotions that I endured inside of me.
But, now, when I see it and I explain it to you guys, in my head it's like, "No, that's not what was happening.
" Do you mean with T? Yeah.
I was being used.
I'm being used by Keith.
I'm just, like, being used.
I don't know if that's true, you know? I mean, I hope that's not what you think I've been saying.
I think You know, relationships are complicated.
And I think your relationships with Keith and T and Jax, they're all two-way streets, and in your own way, you have been powerful in those relationships.
With my time in Houston nearly up, I had one last appointment.
How's it going? It's going good.
Savannah was now back on her own in the world.
We'd arranged to meet for coffee.
So the sense I had from Santa Maria is that you're at risk out here of relapse into drugs and relapse into sex work.
How does that sit with you, that image, is that accurate? Is it fair? No, I am in recovery.
I do care about my recovery.
I felt like I was going nowhere in Santa Maria.
But out here? What do you feel? Where do you feel you're going out here? I'm getting a job.
Going to start working.
Where? I'm going to go apply for applications tomorrow.
What kind of job? Any job, Subway.
I'm applying a bunch of different places, front desk clerk.
And the going back to the life, I mean, maybe in another person's eyes that would be relapsing, but I never promised that I wouldn't go back and do it.
What is it that is making you think a little bit, like, it's still an option? I don't have a job.
And it's easy? It's easy.
Is it a little bit exciting? Mm-hm.
Oh, it absolutely is.
The rush.
It's like another addiction.
It really is.
Do you think there's a way of doing the sex work in a healthy way? I don't know.
There's a part of me that just completely wants to just stop it, cos I know that I'm better than it.
And that's not what I need to be doing with my life.
And I could absolutely be doing a whole bunch of other things, but then another part of me is like For some reason, doesn't want to let that go.
Why? A big part of me is scared that I'm not going to be successful, that I'm going to fail somewhere.
And that I might as well just stick to doing this .
.
instead of go and fail.
But at the same time, I just I don't know Do you think you'd ever get back with a pimp? No, I don't.
No longer will I allow a man to tell me what to do, or to disrespect me, or to hit me, or .
.
I give my money to them.
I will no longer allow that.
Cos I know when I was out here, I didn't think there was any hope.
I don't either.
I thought the older I got, because I was out here for 21 years I'm going on 13.
I had a baby over on 40th 1/2.
It may be that as long as there are extremes of vulnerability, coerced prostitution will be with us.
Thank y'all for coming to see me! Bye, baby.
Goodbye! In Houston, I'd seen women from backgrounds of abuse meeting the most basic human needs by seeking out what they knew best.
You have a vision.
You just can't see it cos it's too dark out here.
Cruelty that felt comfortable.
What time do I need to pick you up Monday? It had struck me as both bizarre and deeply understandable.
But it was also true that a few were finding their way back to the light.
Got her! I love you.
You're going to be fine.
They've got a write-up on a place called Backrub.
com or Oh, Rubmaps.
You pull up the reviews.
It says Mia has breast size C.
She's clean-shaven.
Nice and round.
That's her butt.
Posterior.
Posterior.
And all of a sudden, it goes into a narrative of what they actually did.
"Handed me the towel and takes me to the table shower.
"I think she may do Greek.
"She told me to get on top, and I worked her mish," which is going to be missionary style.
Straight up, regular sex.
"But then I felt her finger go up my ass, "and that made me blast deep into the cover.
" I don't know what that means, but I'm pretty sure that your imagination what that is.
Do you think these women are working against their will? Sometimes they are, sometimes they can go and come as they please, depending on the provider.
I was in Houston, Texas, on the trail of prostitutes and their pimps.
As you see it, she's making that choice for what reason? Some women are just hoes.
You know, they're just prostitutes.
And that's all they're going to be.
At a time when the internet has made the sale of sex easier than ever before, I was in one of America's epicentres of sex trafficking You OK, Nikki? You OK? .
.
getting to know the working women, and hoping to understand a lifestyle in which the line between choice and force isn't always clear.
It makes me sick how much he can control me.
And I fall for it every time.
At an hourly motel in the south-west of Houston, I'd arranged a rendezvous using a website called Backpage.
"Hi, guys.
I'm Nikki.
Looking for the best of the best? "Silky brunette hair, sexy amazing curves, great woman, "outgoing personality, discreet visits.
"Really, really addicting.
"Brunette Italian.
26.
Call me.
" Are you 26? Hell, no! How old are you? How old do you think I am? 27? No, not even close.
I think you're 30-something, aren't you? Italians age very nicely, though, don't we? I'm 37 years old.
Do you get a lot of business through that? I get a lot of calls, but I screen everybody.
If you text me, "Hey, are you available?" Or something like that I'll show you.
I have pre-set messages.
"Hey, sweetie.
How are you? "Did you want to schedule a session with me?" And then I have one for my prices.
What are your prices? They need 150 for a half an hour, because the room's 20.
I get the rest.
And then 200 for the hour - 20 for the room, I get the rest.
I don't rent rooms, because Houston has hourly rate rooms everywhere.
Do you pretend to enjoy it? I try to enjoy it.
I mean, if I'm going to have sex, I want to get off, but I don't always do it.
Sometimes I get really good looking men, though, that are, like, very successful, good guys, you know? And they want to "Do you want to stop what you're doing and come live with me?" I'm like, "No.
" If I wanted a relationship, I'd be normal.
And I'm not even Loud! Do you need to get that? Who was that? Um Do you call in to your pimp? I update him on every move I make.
The person that you're with is supposed to keep you on point, make sure you're mentally stable.
Make sure you're fed, you've got a room, you're taken care of, at any means possible.
You know what I mean? Like, that's my daddy.
He takes good care of me.
He's like your corner man? He knows where I'm at, what room I'm in.
Like, I give him every information, because my safety's on the line.
If I make a mistake it could cost me my life.
Do you live with him? No.
You have a separate.
.
An apartment where you stay? Mm-hm.
Which he pays for? You give him all your money? Mm-hm.
All the money you make? 100%.
100%? Mm-hm.
So you must have made tens of thousands for him.
I've made him a lot of money, yes.
And, if you Probably over, like, 150,000 total.
When you're with a pimp, anything you want, you have to ask for permission, and if they say, "No," it's no.
And if you go against them, there's consequences.
If you violate the rules, there's consequences.
And they're not, like, minor consequences.
He's physical? He can be, yeah.
If you're out of line, if you're disrespectful, if you disobey him.
Why not go with a softer one? Who wants a weak ass dude protecting you? What you going to do? If I can handle my business and you can't, why am I with you? Like, what are you doing for me? Had you been working, doing sex work, before you got with him? Yeah.
He didn't, like, force me to do what I'm doing.
I was already doing it.
He didn't turn you out? Uh-uh.
But you He was the first And I don't want people to misunderstand.
Like, I'm not forced to do what I'm doing.
People have, like, built this whole human trafficking thing.
Yes, human trafficking is real, but it's not realistically happening like they make it out to be.
I like spending time with people.
I like meeting new people.
I love sex.
I love money.
And I love to travel, so I've got the best job in the world.
Hello? Hi, sweetie.
How are you? I'm fine.
Are you wanting to come see me? Yeah.
OK.
What is your age and race, baby? You're from the Virgin Islands? Houston is home to some of America's most notorious areas for illegal sex work.
The nation's fourth-largest city, at the crossroads of two interstates, it is a magnet for both prostitutes and pimps.
Hey.
Hey.
Where you at? I'm at Hillcroft and 59th.
OK, so Are you ready? Yeah, we just got to Bissonnet.
On a Friday night, I was with recovery coach Kim Isaacs.
She was doing outreach in one of the city's hotspots.
OK, you got all the condoms? You've got enough condoms? OK, let me get this girl real quick.
Hi, mama.
I used to be out here.
Can I offer you some free condoms? No.
You want some free condoms? Where are we? We are on Bissonnet, which is a hub for human trafficking on the south-west side of Houston.
Most of the people that come here have gone through Louisiana, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and then they come to Houston.
The girls out here are not out here alone.
They are working for someone, which they call families, compiled of a pimp, and then anywhere from two to five to seven girls.
They can't work out here without a pimp? On this particular track, no.
The thing is that the veteran girls out here will spot a what they call renegade, which is a girl that's just out here on her own, and either physically attack her or try and coerce her into, you know, coming into their family.
Renegades really don't make it very long out in a place like this because of the brutality of the pimps, also.
You were in the life.
I was.
When I started out here, I was 12 years old.
Did you ever have a pimp? Yes, I did.
What were your feelings for the pimp? It felt good for someone to tell me that I was a pretty girl.
You didn't view him in a negative way? Not at all.
Even when I was out there with an umbrella, and it's storming raining, and I'm freezing, and I'm hungry, and I have to wait until I get my quota to go and get a hamburger, I still couldn't wait to put that money in his hand, because I knew I was going to be praised.
How do you see him now? I see him now as a parasite.
It's like a plague, almost.
Kim and her colleagues work out of Santa Maria Hostel, a shelter offering treatment to women with drug problems.
Among them are a number of ex-prostitutes, some of whom have had pimps in the past.
Are you working with cops, Dee? Yes.
You're taking your medications as prescribed? No.
One of the newest arrivals was 18-year-old Savannah.
She was doing a one-month review of her progress with Counsellor Tonia Granger.
It's not just the drugs and alcohol that drives you, and I think you know that.
Your validation comes from all them folks that want you.
All them Johns, all them pimps that are out there fighting for you, because you're worth a tonne of money to them.
That's where that attention seeking comes in.
Right? Mm-hm.
What was the lifestyle that you were in before you were here? I was selling myself.
The fast life of being in that life was exciting to me.
I always had something to do.
I always .
.
had money.
I always had clothes.
I had someone who was obsessed with me.
Was that your pimp? Yes.
You felt he was obsessed with you? It seemed to you that he was obsessed? Not obsessed Yeah, obsessed.
In what way? He would show me more attention than my wife at the time.
Your wife at the time? So it was his girlfriend Not his girlfriend.
It was his other girl that he had, but it was called my wife.
So I called her my wife.
You have to understand what the human trafficking family looks like.
A pimp's success is directly related to his top female.
Cos a woman is the only one that's going to be able to deal with a room full of women.
And so that would be the wife, and so if it's his wife, it's her wife.
The pimp seemed more interested in you than in the wife? Yeah, because I could make more money for him.
Mm-hm.
And I knew that.
There were two pimps in Savannah's life - the most recent one, who she still felt attached to, and then there was the man who'd first recruited her age 16, whose street name was Rico Pimping.
Only weeks earlier, she'd taken the brave step of testifying against Rico in court.
He'd been given 35 years.
I was curious how he'd got her into the lifestyle.
How did that go down? You were at a party? We were at a park getting high, and all I remember is coming out of the high, being driven to a hotel.
You were out of it, you were intoxicated, you found yourself being taken to a hotel.
Then what? He Rico explained to me what I was going to be doing.
And at the time To me, it sounded better than what my life was.
He explained to me that I'd be getting cars, and a house, and all the clothes I wanted, and that I didn't have to ever be sad again or be hurt.
So he gave me kind of like a fantasy lifestyle.
And at the time, I was OK with it.
A sales pitch.
Yeah.
Then how soon after that did you turn your first trick? Within an hour.
Really? Mm-hm.
So what happened? He explained to me that the pictures he took were going to be posted on Backpage, and that Backpage.
com? So he took pictures there and then? Mm-hm.
Of you naked? Yes.
And he said, soon after that, that I'd be getting phone calls.
So the calls came in straight away? Mm-hm.
So do you remember the first one? I don't.
Was it that night? Yes.
I had, um .
.
five or six that night.
How did the physical side of it seem to you? I mean, did it seem disgusting? At the time, I was not a virgin, but I had been with only one person.
So, you know, I felt I was degrading myself, in a way, to have to do the job, which only made me do more drugs.
How did you come to leave Rico Pimping? I was already reported as a runaway, so the cops were looking for me.
So I do believe that I made contact with one of the officers.
He was posing as a trick, and he came and he got me and picked me up.
Would you testify against your most recent pimp? Right now, no.
He did traffic you, though? In a sense, it's the textbook definition.
Because he was moving you around the country, um, pimping you out.
Yes.
You still have feelings for this guy? No.
A little bit.
But no.
It makes me sick, how much he can control me.
And I fall for it every time.
Today, Texas' Attorney General announced the arrest of the CEO of Backpage.
com, calling the website a "grotesque form of modern-day slavery.
" In the week of my arrival, authorities had attempted to crackdown on Backpage.
It was said that many of the ads there were placed by pimps.
Increasingly, authorities view prostitutes less as criminals and more as victims of their traffickers.
All right, UC's, y'all are clear to go when you're ready.
At street level, to get a sense of what local law enforcement was doing, I was out with the Harris County Sheriff's Office for a sting operation.
OK, one of the undercovers has a female.
I think that's going to be her right there.
Undercover officers would be attempting to bust the working women by posing as customers.
Near the bell? Yeah, I got her.
I would be listening in with Sergeant Chapper and Lieutenant Diaz.
Is it a typical morning? Does this happen every morning? Oh, yeah, every day.
The last time we did an operation in this area, literally, right at daybreak, I counted eight before our operation even started.
We try to speak to them, get their cooperation, and work on identifying the pimp.
This guy's walking close to our area.
He may see the camera.
Right, there's another one.
It's going to be a black female.
Shorts, pink socks, and a black jacket.
Did she just get out of the car? She got out? She got out.
No deal on that one.
No deal.
She twigged.
How did she know? These girls, they're out here and they do it all the time, all the time.
And, I mean, unfortunately, they start knowing that there's parameters of what an undercover police officer can and can't do.
Once a deal is done and a prostitute is in the undercover car, a patrol cop swoops in.
The women who are arrested would be sent straight to jail.
Repeat offenders could be looking at up to two years.
But it was hard not to feel that the real culprits were getting away.
You made quite a few busts this morning.
None of them were either trafficked or willing to say that they were trafficked, right? What do you think's standing in the way of women .
.
bringing their traffickers to justice? Most of them are likely going to fear the repercussions of it.
I mean, once In order to cooperate with us, that means that they have to stand against them.
Some simply don't want to be labelled as a snitch, and others are going to fear the physical harm that they're going to suffer from that.
And some sense of loyalty? Absolutely.
Absolutely.
There's a sense of loyalty and protection.
My half-hour is 150 and my hour 200.
I'd meet you at an hourly room for in-call, or I can come to you for 200.
There's a hotel called The Pearl.
You can meet me there.
I can send you the address if you want? I was with Nikki.
All right, sweetie.
All right.
I'll send you the information.
All right, bye.
How old was he? You could get, like, 100 to 200 calls a day, and, like, probably only ten of them were legit.
The rest are people playing games.
So it's kind of frustrating sometimes, especially when you're trying to make money and people are playing on the phone, like Who was just calling? My daddy.
I can't answer right now, though.
It will make me, like, really fucked up.
I can't Cos I don't have what he wants, so he's not going to be pleasant about it.
Jesus, um You OK, Nikki? Yeah, I'm good.
I just don't like him being mad at me, I guess.
Why is he mad at you? Because I didn't achieve my quota, because I was not focused on what I was supposed to be doing.
Oh, it's cold! How long have you been doing this kind of work? Well over a year and a half, I think.
Not that long? What did you do before? You had a square job? Yeah, I worked at Kohl's warehouse in the packaging department.
I don't like regular jobs.
I mean, I used to be married.
Where did you grow up? Cincinnati, Ohio.
You got married in Ohio as well? Mm-hm.
But you had led a relatively square life, right? For the first, you know, 30 years or so? 35 years? And then to get into sex work, that's a big step.
And I'm just trying to get a I was having sex before that.
I was just doing it for free! Right, but Now I bank up on it.
Now you bank up on it? I still enjoyed sex before, but it's more exciting when you get money for it.
How did that happen? I'm wondering how that transition happened.
A friend of mine was posting on there and she was telling me about it and telling me what kind of money she was making.
So I just was like, "Let's give it a shot," you know? See what happens.
Had your marriage already ended at that point? Mm-hm, yeah.
It's quite a big step to go from Why do you think that? It's simple.
I posted an ad.
I got a room.
And I screen my calls.
What made you come down to Houston? Cos Houston's where it's at.
The track, Bissonnet, it's the biggest fucking track in America.
And how quickly did you meet Same day, within 24 hours.
Your pimp? Mm-hm.
What was his pitch? Trouble doesn't have a pitch.
I don't think you understand.
Like, I would never go against what he says.
You know what I'm saying? Like, I respect him a lot.
And I make a lot of sacrifices for that man.
You don't really fully understand until you go through some of the things that I've gone through.
And he's rode with me.
He's saved my ass a few times.
Without him, I would have probably been really bad off, you know? Physically, do you mean? Like from dangerous situations? And mentally.
Like, some of the stuff that you go through can really, like, mess with your head, you know? Make you doubt yourself, and that's who .
.
moulded me into a real fucking solid ass female, like It sounds like what you're saying is he gives you focus.
He gives me everything.
I don't associate with anybody other than him.
Other than clients.
He must be quite a special person.
Yeah.
Have you had enough to eat, by the way? I haven't eaten in, like, two days.
Why don't you have a little more to eat? I'm preoccupied.
What is preoccupying you? Um Somebody in my family passed away a few days ago.
And, um It's kind of been on my mind that I couldn't go to the funeral and stuff, and uh It just sucks, you know? Because I have to, like, keep my composure.
I can't, like, show that I'm sad.
I've got to be this peppy, happy little person for my clients, right? Fuck! I think I lost the money.
Maybe it's in the car.
I don't know.
Jesus! At the end of our lunch, Nikki made the awful discovery that her previous night's takings were missing.
I'm going to freak out, man.
He's going to kick my ass! How the fuck did I lose 250 fucking dollars? He's going to think I'm fucking playing with him, that I was fucking off all night.
He's going to be like, "How the fuck you was out all night and ain't got no money?" That's fucking ridiculous.
This dude doesn't just smack you around.
He'll, like, beat the shit out of you.
Her sense of fear was palpable, her dependence and vulnerability suddenly laid bare.
Having heard so much about pimps, I felt I should speak to one.
Human trafficking convictions carry long prison terms.
Men in the lifestyle are understandably wary of publicity.
But I had a lead on Shederick Smith, convicted in 2009 of compelling prostitution by a minor, and now serving a 42-year term in Amarillo, Texas.
How are you doing? Nice to meet you.
His pimp name had been Fancy.
How's it going? I'm all right.
How you doing? I was made to understand that you had been, and perhaps still are, a pimp.
Yes, sir.
Would that be correct? Well, half of it is.
I was a pimp, but I'm incarcerated now, so I'm no longer pimping.
The case that got you incarcerated involved a girl aged 15 Rightwho in the court documents is identified as LD.
Right.
Do you not see that a minor, or a child, is not appropriate? You know, that it's wrong for them to be working in that way? It's totally wrong.
It's totally wrong.
If I'd have known she was 15, it wouldn't I would never even have been involved, got involved with her.
So you You're alleging that you didn't realise she was 15? I didn't know.
She didn't tell me she was 15.
To be honest with you, she told me she was 17.
In the account that she gives, she was more or less recruited by someone called LaPrincess Moore.
She wasn't recruited.
She was discovered on the hoe stroll.
A hoe stroll is a street where women sell pussy at.
She was drafted into your entourage? No, she wasn't drafted.
She was chose to come with LaPrincess.
You put them on Backpage, is that right? Backpage, yes.
That's correct.
In her account, she says there were times she was with you when she wanted to stop working and you would pressure her and say, "You haven't made enough money yet.
" Well, if you read the documents correctly, this chick was only with me for seven days.
So that's hardly enough time for us to even really get acquainted.
You know what I'm saying? Seven days.
I couldn't have been too horrible in seven days.
Do you think it's a good deal for the women? Yeah, it was a good deal.
In what way? Because I'm a good provider.
I'm a good manager.
And as you see it, she's making that choice for what reason? Because she want to.
What makes her want to? Some women are just hoes.
You know, they're just prostitutes, and that's all they're going to be.
It's like a race car driver.
He get a rush when he's going 200mph.
They get a rush when they go up in the room and can manipulate a man out of $700 or $800, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000.
They get a rush out of that.
Did they have to give all the money to you? Of course I'm getting all the money.
Why do you say, "Of course?" I mean, that's just That's how the game goes.
I'm the I'm the I'm the manager.
It's my company.
And if they leave, you give them some money back or not? Yeah, I give them some money back.
How much? Nothing! Do you see why other people on the outside would view pimps as predators? Yeah, because they're ignorant.
Meaning they lack knowledge.
She want a family or team.
So she chose to come over here and mess with Fancy.
And be a part of Fancy's Family.
It's an emotional thing? Is it emotional You think it's emotional? I mean, you know, you could be right.
She might want a father figure.
It's like a little cult, almost.
Is that what it is? Kind of.
Oh, man.
Several weeks had passed, and at Santa Maria, there had been changes.
Savannah had been going in and out of recovery.
During one relapse, she'd gone back to her pimp.
It was also being said that while in treatment, she'd been prostituting.
Are you Jax? Yes.
And there were two new faces, ex-roommates of Savannah's who were said to be romantically linked, Danisha and Jax.
So I understand Savannah's gone? Yes.
She left yesterday.
Like, she snuck out the gate.
What was that about? She's not done.
She's not done.
She relapsed in her mind.
Do you think she was turning tricks while she was here? Yes.
Yes, of course she was.
She was.
She was.
The whole time.
Are you serious? Yes.
When she was on HUD side, the transitional part.
Yes, that's what she does.
Wow, that's quite a shock.
Is it? Why? Because when I was talking to her, she seemed very authentic in her desire for recovery.
She's been talking to these guys from her past.
But she told me he used to beat her and stuff.
But I can't One thing I don't do is I'm not a hypocrite.
Because just as well as she's talking to him, I still talk to the same guy that hit me so hard in my face one time that it looked like I had an extra something growing from it.
In the lifestyle that we live, it's like we I don't know.
Do we find comfort in that? I'm never going to say that it's good to let a man hit me, but that's just something that I like.
All right.
Danisha's pimp, T Money, had been her boyfriend.
Under his influence, she'd first prostituted.
In her room, she had his letters from jail.
OK.
This one is from this month.
He says, "Hey, baby.
"I've been going crazy and stressing like hell since we've been out of "touch, baby.
Since I've been in love with you, I can't stand to go "without seeing nor hearing from you.
"I'm so ready to see you, baby.
It don't make no damn sense.
"That's going to be the happiest day of my life right now.
" What I'm struck by - it's very affectionate, isn't it? It is.
Was that the sort of relationship you had? We did.
What was in it for you? I guess just him.
Him needing me.
You liked giving him your money? I would watch other females doing the same thing I was doing, and they would be happy to pass the cash off to their daddy or their pimp.
They would be happy.
So I just figured it was what I was supposed to do.
Even though when we came to Houston it kind of got worse.
It got bad.
In what way? Because that's when all the physical abuse started happening.
When we were outside, you said that you quite liked that.
I like roughness.
I like to be roughed up.
In general? In general.
In sex, or just in general? Like, if I get into it with my boyfriend and he hit me, that's, like, a turn on to me.
I don't know why.
Don't ask me.
But with T, it was too much.
It was beyond what I liked, my limitations.
Like, I had boundaries to it.
Did that not make you want to leave even more? It did.
It did.
I was afraid.
Like, he's a dangerous man.
Hang on.
But you're still saying you love this guy.
I know, it's complicated.
But, it's You write to him as well, don't you? I do.
And what do you say? I'm not here for you any more.
I can't be that woman you want.
I can't be her.
You've said that to him? Yes.
That's not what I'm getting from his letters.
This is from the third of Like, I think Wait Is that a recent one? "Stop doing me like that, "because I'm starting to think you up to some with that "bullshit.
I mean, done sat there and wrote me a whole letter "about I don't fuck with you.
" "I love you so much, baby.
I miss you too much, "and I'm most definitely not trying to lose you for nothing "nor cut you out, "so stop with that talk.
You're mine.
"You're mine.
" He wants to make you his wife? Yeah.
I don't want to marry him.
That's not the man God intended for me to be with.
We knew what the rules of the lifestyle was.
It's amazing how we follow the rules of the game.
But people got to understand the word "game.
" Games are made to lose.
You do not win the game every time.
So we were gambling and throwing the dice with our life at every turn.
Every car we got in.
Even if you were on Backpage or you were doing phone sex.
Where did it get us? What did you end up having to show for it? Hello.
How are you doing? Nice to see you.
Good.
How are you? A few days after she disappeared, Savannah was back to pick up some of her things.
You sure you don't want to stay? I'm positive.
You know I love you, yes? Yes.
And we gon' fight, no matter what.
But I don't want you to die.
So I'm here.
Oh, man.
I know exactly what she's going to go do.
She's going to go trick.
She's going to go hoe again.
She's going to go use.
She's already I mean, she looked messed up when she came in.
I'm scared for her.
Because of her case, or just because it's a high-risk lifestyle? It's a high-risk lifestyle .
.
and then the case.
Savannah had signed up as an outpatient in the programme, but there was some doubt as to whether she'd follow through.
And either way, being on the outside put her at risk of reprisals from her first pimp, whom she testified against.
Why are you leaving? I'm tired of being here.
So you were turning tricks while you were here? When I got on the HUD side, yes.
And while I've been on treatment side, yes.
Not as much as I was.
How? I'd go and pass like they are now.
Going to the bus stop.
I just wouldn't go to the meeting and go work, and then Go work where? Right here.
How? Just walk.
Wait until somebody comes to pick you up.
Someone you know? No.
Just some random person rolls down the window.
Have you been in touch with your pimp? Your old No, I lost all connections.
Trafficker? I did go back to him.
The reason some women are with pimps is for protection.
I started getting scared that the one that got locked up was going to find me.
I was there for about, like, three days.
Him and his other girl that he had there were constantly fighting, and I have bad PTSD, so when people start yelling around me, I start shaking.
So I told him, "I can't do this.
"I need you to buy me a bus ticket home.
" Are you worried about your safety, given the case, and .
.
your role? He sent death threats out to all the females that testified.
But at the same time .
.
me testifying, I got my power back that he took from me.
And so by me being scared for the rest of my life that he might find me, he might do something to me, that's him also having my power.
Good luck.
Thank you.
Successful recovery at Santa Maria often takes numerous attempts.
In spite of all the training and support, the ties of the old life do not break easily.
The boredom of months of therapy, and limited options in the square world, leading many to go back to what they know.
What I wrote is the thing that we work on in treatment.
We work on your biopsychosocial.
We start with you biologically.
We deal with you psychologically, and then we address you sociologically.
It was Thursday night, and Counsellor Tonia was teaching her weekly family class.
Now, I don't know how many of y'all dropped your family member off to treatment.
And I don't know if you remember what she looked like when she got here.
Right? OK, but she has a very distinct walk.
Let me show you the "I'm coming to treatment" walk.
All right? What's dragging behind me is my plastic bag of clothes.
Among those in the audience were Danisha and a male visitor.
Keith? Keith.
Louis.
Nice to meet you.
How are you doing? Good.
How are you and Danisha connected? I've been knowing Danisha about six months, roughly six months, now.
I left my wife a year and a half ago, and I've been living in a hotel, cos I'm a local truck driver.
And I met her at the hotel I was staying at.
When I found out that, you know, she was, sort of, prostituting, I found her attractive, so I became one of her clients.
Had you used the services of a professional sex worker before? No.
Cos I was married for 13 years.
And you were faithful to your wife? Totally.
Was she with, um .
.
a I was not.
It was after that.
I was wondering what he's about to say.
A pimp? Yes.
No, not at all.
I would never fool with a girl who had a pimp.
Why's that? Pimps are too aggressive and too dangerous.
They'll set you up, rob you, can't be trusted.
If you would beat up a woman, how can I trust you? So, Keith, you knew that Danisha used to have a pimp.
No.
You didn't know that? That's news to you.
Mm-hm.
Are you surprised? Not really.
Not really.
It's a good thing she don't have one no more.
Cos then it's not healthy for her, you know.
I know.
I'm done, like Right.
How did you feel about the relationship Was it even a relationship? I would say no.
What was it? Cos we barely knew each other.
It was just, like, a casual encounter.
A casual hook up.
Over how many Two or three times a week.
For how long? That probably went on for about three weeks to a month? Yeah.
And then? And then she got arrested.
You enjoyed it.
That's why you were paying for it.
Mm-hm.
And did you enjoy it? Yeah, I did.
Do you have to say that, or I did.
I really did.
I didn't show him.
I might have didn't tell him.
But in my head I was like, "Oh, my God.
"This is the best!" Yeah, right.
I'm serious.
Yeah, right.
Mm-hm.
Do you have trouble believing that? Not really.
A little bit.
Sometimes you second-guess.
I'll take her word for it.
Yeah.
I'll be honest, I don't know whether to believe it or not.
Right.
I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt.
Because it could be part of a hustle, right? It's not, though.
I mean, I don't look for satisfaction, but if it's good, it's good.
I just don't let it show or let it be known.
It's strictly business.
So what's your relationship now, then? Just good friends.
Just friends? Mm-hm.
But would you like it to be something more, Keith? You know, I really don't even think about that.
Do you still bring her little gifts? I come every week, give her $30.
You know, to keep in her pocket.
Today, I brought her all kinds of toiletries.
Is it possible you're still being hustled a little bit? How dare you! Probably not.
You didn't like that? No! Why not? Because that's not what's going on.
She calls me at least every other day.
Danisha calls you every other day? Sometimes two, three days in a row.
Just to what? Talk.
Just conversate, have somebody to talk to.
Just check up on him.
So you like him? I do.
For a stranger that I met in my hustle to still stand by my side .
.
I wish there was more people like him in this world.
Thank you for that.
That was quite heart-warming.
You're welcome.
Thank y'all.
You good, baby? You're good, darling.
You're good.
It was the early hours of the morning, and I was back on Bissonnet.
Nikki was on shift, under the ever watchful eye of her pimp.
Hello.
Hi.
Nosey ass nigga.
He's like Bye! How are you doing? Go.
Go right.
You want to go? I just want to get off this area.
I just told him I got picked up so he wouldn't be like, "Where you at?" I don't really look at myself like I'm drop-dead gorgeous, but I know I'm not ugly.
I think you look great.
He said I looked like a rock star today.
I was like, "What!" You do.
He's like, "Now go get some rock star money!" You've got that sort of Joan Jett See, the other thing about a pimp, they have to motivate you and keep you feeling good about yourself.
Because if they're ragging on you all the time, making you feel like shit, then that's how you're going to feel.
Are we good to go? Yeah.
You know, before when we spoke to you and you became distraught, do you remember? You were upset because you'd lost some money.
And you started I was honest with him about that, though.
You got into a tizz.
Do you remember? Yeah, because there's consequences to my actions.
You know what I mean? You were really upset.
You seemed scared.
I mean, nobody likes being punished.
Nobody likes being in trouble.
Is that what it was about? I mean, I was texting, talking shit, the other night.
He pulled up, picked me up and punched me in the mouth cos I was disrespectful.
You know what I mean? They take that shit seriously.
Would you be able to read out some texts to get a flavour of how he talks to you? Um And how you talk to each other? Cos you just said you were being, um, disrespectful.
The first message I have, it says, "I'm your little Italian soldier.
" He said, "Fucking right, bitch.
" And then I was on the track, and I was walking and talking to somebody, and he drove by, and he texted me and said, "This is your first warning.
Stop talking, bitch, and get active.
" I said, "I am, Daddy.
" He said, "Get picked up.
I'm getting pissed.
" Cos I was out there for, like, three or four hours.
I said, "I do good when I'm in good spirits, not a hot mess.
"You feel me?" He said, "Yes, bitch.
" Was that after he'd punched you? Mm-hm.
So you're putting a marker down saying that you don't appreciate him putting his hands on you, right? He knows that, though.
You said you've only been doing this a year and a half? Mm-hm.
But you feel OK with it? Mm-hm.
I love what I do.
I accept it.
I'm not ashamed of it.
Like I feel like in some aspects, I help people.
I mean, pleasure is good.
Who don't like to have sex? Like, come on.
I mean, I hear you.
And at the same time, I've been talking to other women involved in sex work, and almost to a one they've said, "But the pimp thing is not good.
" The pimps are It depends on the way you look at it, though .
.
predatory and parasitic.
.
.
or who you're with.
It just depends on who you're with.
He makes me a better person.
How is he making you better? I'm smarter.
I'm stronger.
And he takes all the money.
He doesn't take it.
I hand it to him.
But if I want anything, I just ask him.
You wouldn't rather have your own money? I'm really bad with money.
I'm not a financial person.
Before, I was married, my husband did all that stuff.
It seems quite precarious if he's got all your money.
In a year, or six months, or ten years, say something happens, right? And you have a falling out, and then you leave, and what do you have to show for it? Not much.
There's no part of you that wants to get away from him? Uh-uh.
Not even a little bit.
Really? I'm devoted and dedicated.
I left convinced of the wrongness of Nikki's choices, but also baffled as to how to break through.
By now I'd realised that for all the women I'd met who'd been trafficked and pimped, there was a pull deeper than the money or the drama, or in some cases the drugs.
A need to feel valued and to show love.
In a role of providing professional intimacy, it struck me that the women were also at the mercy of their own feelings when it came to their pimps.
Perhaps none more so than Danisha.
Caught between her roommate Jax, her old pimp, and Keith.
You know, it was nice meeting Keith.
Was it? What are your feelings for him? I mean I appreciate him, and I I've got love for him.
I wouldn't necessarily say that I could right now, at this point, see myself in a relationship with anybody.
You seem to be in relationships with three people.
Who? Who? I am not in a relationship with anybody.
Of a sort.
Well, there's Keith.
There's also your old pimp who is imprisoned, and then there's Jax.
OK.
I'm not in a relationship with Jax.
Jax is, like, my best friend.
Which one are you most attracted to? Hmm You want me to be honest? The one in jail.
Yeah.
He's the one who's treated you worst, I suppose.
Yeah.
And he pimped you out, right, if that's the right term? Yeah.
He put you out on the track, right? Yeah, you could say that.
And he was physical with you? Yes.
What has he got that you don't get in the other two relationships? When Keith talks to me, Keith talks to me about always wanting to have sex.
"I can't wait till you can leave so I can come and get you "and take you out to eat and, you know, do this and do that.
" But with T, what does he talk to you about? He loves me and he don't want to lose me.
He wants me to be a part of his life.
I'm his life.
You had a physical relationship? Yes.
But it's more emotional now with him.
Do you think that's true of pimps in general? It's What Well, that they are They can push your buttons emotionally, and part of their control is that .
.
you can't manipulate them sexually.
I can, though.
I have.
With T? Yes.
He likes the way I do things in bed.
T does? Yes.
There's not a day we didn't sleep in the bed together that we didn't have sex.
You and T? Yeah.
When you look into your heart and you see that there's a part of you that wants that, right, or wanted it Wanted it.
What is it? Is it just a Sort of an emotional You know, a sense of pleasure that you get in providing for someone? Taking care of business? It is, because it makes me feel like I'm in control.
You can see how looking at it another way, it's almost a kind of servitude, you know, a kind of Being submissive? Mm-hm.
Yeah.
If you know my background, me growing up, I always had to be submissive.
I started being molested at the age of three.
"No, no, I don't want to.
"I don't want to.
" "If you tell, you're going to be in big trouble, "or I'm going to kill you.
" Put fear in me.
Who did it? A lot of people.
A lot of people.
My mom even knows.
It was two of her boyfriends.
I hate for people to try to judge me about my lifestyle.
I really do.
Because no-one knows what I've been through.
No-one knows where I come from.
And I just thought that the person that I loved was the one who was going to save me, rescue me from all of the feelings and emotions that I endured inside of me.
But, now, when I see it and I explain it to you guys, in my head it's like, "No, that's not what was happening.
" Do you mean with T? Yeah.
I was being used.
I'm being used by Keith.
I'm just, like, being used.
I don't know if that's true, you know? I mean, I hope that's not what you think I've been saying.
I think You know, relationships are complicated.
And I think your relationships with Keith and T and Jax, they're all two-way streets, and in your own way, you have been powerful in those relationships.
With my time in Houston nearly up, I had one last appointment.
How's it going? It's going good.
Savannah was now back on her own in the world.
We'd arranged to meet for coffee.
So the sense I had from Santa Maria is that you're at risk out here of relapse into drugs and relapse into sex work.
How does that sit with you, that image, is that accurate? Is it fair? No, I am in recovery.
I do care about my recovery.
I felt like I was going nowhere in Santa Maria.
But out here? What do you feel? Where do you feel you're going out here? I'm getting a job.
Going to start working.
Where? I'm going to go apply for applications tomorrow.
What kind of job? Any job, Subway.
I'm applying a bunch of different places, front desk clerk.
And the going back to the life, I mean, maybe in another person's eyes that would be relapsing, but I never promised that I wouldn't go back and do it.
What is it that is making you think a little bit, like, it's still an option? I don't have a job.
And it's easy? It's easy.
Is it a little bit exciting? Mm-hm.
Oh, it absolutely is.
The rush.
It's like another addiction.
It really is.
Do you think there's a way of doing the sex work in a healthy way? I don't know.
There's a part of me that just completely wants to just stop it, cos I know that I'm better than it.
And that's not what I need to be doing with my life.
And I could absolutely be doing a whole bunch of other things, but then another part of me is like For some reason, doesn't want to let that go.
Why? A big part of me is scared that I'm not going to be successful, that I'm going to fail somewhere.
And that I might as well just stick to doing this .
.
instead of go and fail.
But at the same time, I just I don't know Do you think you'd ever get back with a pimp? No, I don't.
No longer will I allow a man to tell me what to do, or to disrespect me, or to hit me, or .
.
I give my money to them.
I will no longer allow that.
Cos I know when I was out here, I didn't think there was any hope.
I don't either.
I thought the older I got, because I was out here for 21 years I'm going on 13.
I had a baby over on 40th 1/2.
It may be that as long as there are extremes of vulnerability, coerced prostitution will be with us.
Thank y'all for coming to see me! Bye, baby.
Goodbye! In Houston, I'd seen women from backgrounds of abuse meeting the most basic human needs by seeking out what they knew best.
You have a vision.
You just can't see it cos it's too dark out here.
Cruelty that felt comfortable.
What time do I need to pick you up Monday? It had struck me as both bizarre and deeply understandable.
But it was also true that a few were finding their way back to the light.
Got her! I love you.
You're going to be fine.