Commercialized Prostitution in New York City

or lawless people congregate, and also give notice in writing to the owner, lessee or occupant, that such room or building is so used, and that such use constitutes a misd

. If a house is under suspicion of being disorderly or is so in fact, the officer on the beat is required to restrain acts of disorder, prevent soliciting from windows, doors, or on the streets, and to arrest

disorderly; against these, they made 542 complaints. Seven complaints were made against one place in the 5th precinct, 46 against

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. Reports N

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180

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places reported according to the cha

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hs and precincts these re

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Mar. Apr. May June

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th after month; in the 18th, 11 houses are reported during five of the 6 month

s course, our investigators reported 429 parlor houses, massage parlors, furnished room houses and hotels; and 379 s

GATORS'

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Hotels

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aces allied with prostitution were d

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65, twenty-six of them saloons, etc.; in the 21st, the police gave 6, our agents 37, seventeen of them saloons, etc.; in the 22nd, the police report 10, our agents 118, forty-five of them saloons; in the 26th, 15 and 133 respectively, 61 of the latter be

e arranged side by side in tabular form, all fo

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they had made 153 arrests,-65 of these arrests in two precincts, the 13th and the 15th; from 247 other sources, the department learned of 211 addresses: in all, 349 separ

incts; the tenement house reports cover the entire year (January-December 31

USE DEPARTM

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one-half,-308-were found disorderly; in addition to which, 91 miscellaneous places of a disorder

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h precinct, 174 were found,-29 parlor houses, 17 massage parlors, 102 tenement resorts, 10 furnished room houses, 16 hotels; in the 22nd

self. Among themselves, as has already been pointed out, owners, madames and women talk freely. The conversations overheard are not staged, nor are they exceptional in character. Our agents participated in and reported in the form of affidavits frequent conversations and discussions, in which the relations between

ore every week. To-day my receipts are $1,500 a week, but see,-thirteen plain clothes men[234] get $10 a month each; one of them, a tough proposition, gets $25; two patrolmen get $2 each a day; the lieutenant

with his mates on March 21, 1912. "They are all transferred, not one of them is here," he announced in reference to the plain clothes men. It subse

out was in progress at a well-known establ

d one of the men, as he

e that it will keep up. There's a new style nowadays. The 'c

ked the questio

he reply. "Do I ask you w

one of the wits present. A week later, however, the situation was more squally. It had begun to be whispered that "the police would take no protection money on the first of the coming month." It was recalled that on a previous occasion 12 houses in a certain block had each paid $500 on Monday and that on the following Saturday, the houses were smashed up. "The same thing might happen here," remarked an anxious proprietor. On the day that payment was to be made, August 1, to be precise,

er to engage in calculations involving the sale of a third-interest in a house in West 25th Street. The memorandum was subsequently obtained by our agent. Six different accounts figured in the calculation of income, expenses, profits, etc. In th

d. On March 18th, 1912, it was reported that a uniformed officer[238] called at a well-known disorderly house[239] asking for a notorious owner;[240] he explained his errand in these words, written down from memory shortly afterwards: "I'm broke. He hasn't s

treet, 100 feet from the station house; when a few moments later the plain clothes men started to go on duty, one[242] of them beckoned to

n, and that the patrolman[249] is paid nightly. An individual who has been publicly accused of being a vice graft collector[250] entered a disorderly flat in West 58th Street[251] on June 15, 1912, for the purpose of perfecting arrangements in regard to protection. The madame[252] expressed herself as satisfied with the way in which she was being treated.[253] She stated, however, that her neighbor downstairs "had a scrap with the collector for the police[254] over protection and that he had refused to take her money any more. The result is that every one of the 'underdogs' (i. e., plain clothes men) comes running to her every night with a different compl

hy a district such as Seventh Ave

ur agent that she was going to open a house in West 40th Street,[257] but admitted that she would have to be careful, because cheaper resorts would not be permitted in that vi

mes-so it is alleged-in order to keep the owners and their madames in line so that they will be sure to pay the protection money. The police know who the owner or madame is without even entering the house, and warrants are declared to be sworn out in many instances without any evidence at all. It is understood between operators and real estate agents that when a house is opened the owner must "stand for" an occasional "collar," though the latter sometimes protests vehemently. For i

and cigars in the rear room of a similar resort on Columbus Avenue.[262] On March 9 a man, accompanied by a street walker, entered a hotel in West 35th Street.[263] In the hall, a police officer[264] in full uniform, was standing with a bottle of beer in his

re optimistic: "It's only a question of two or three days," he declared, "and we've got to expect these things." The owners therefore continued in many instances to pay rent for their now empty houses. Early in October, the impression got abroad that conditions were once more propitious: About 2 P. M., October 4, a group of owners held a meeting on Second Avenue,[271] later adjourning to Sixth Avenue,[272] where they again went into "executive session." Several important persons were present.[273] On the strength of a report that the houses could open slowly it was decide

her customers, she sends one of the women to an appointed place. Thus there is no violation of the law on the premises, and the police are unable to "cover" the situation. But a number of low-priced houses have opened in the old way on a smaller scale: March 12, 1913, three resorts, one each in Sixth Avenue,[282] West 28th Street[283] and West 40th[284] were operating with two or three inmates each, all wearing street clothes. The third inspection district was at this time declared to be free from police molestation. Current talk in the district explains this immunity on the ground that police and owners were so involved with each other, that effective action on the part of the former was prevented by fear that the latter would turn on the light. "They are all opening up," remarked one own

with their madames and girls left the city and others betook themselves to flats and hotels. For three years, the business was timid, quiet, unobtrusive, gradually feeling its way back. By January, 1911, the promoters had all returned, keen to recoup; by the succeeding year, they had restored their former prosperity. Now once more their schemes have been disorganized. The tide is turning against them. But they

] "He had understood that judges were not giving 'prison,' as several such cases had been lately discharged." He instanced one from West 28th Street,[295] another from West 25th Street.[296] "You know what it costs to discharge a case," he added feelingly. On August 30, 1912, three men met at Eighth Avenue and 28th Street; one of them bitterly reviled an official in the criminal court building. "He has no right to do this. Why, didn't we once pay him $4,000,-$150 for each house, to keep out of the district? There were no more raids then,-but now!

tanding. A former magistrate, who has an office on Broadway, charges $100 for appearing in Special Sessions. He has latterly succeeded in securing the acquittal of the madame of a West 28th

evening of the day on which she was sentenced, the lawyer who had appeared for her came to a resor

u show fight?"

to say, 'Your Honors, we will make this bargain day. There are four charges against this woman. What will you do? Unless you are lenient, I will fight you and take up your time.' The fi

court, they hire by preference a lawyer[301] who lives on West 10th Street.[3

man to bail her o

the lawyer's

arresting officer

to have the case adjourned for two days, which means no less than $15 for bail. During the two-days' adjournment, the lawyer "feels out" the plain clothes man who "picked up" the girl. If the detective falls, he usually gets $15 from the lawyer's fee. If the detective insists on prosecuting, the lawyer has a man ready to swear that it was he who was in conversation with the woman at the time she was arrested

n Manhattan, the actual number of convictions

use cases were tried in Special Sessions. Twenty-five pleas of guilty were e

court from January 1, 1912, to October 1, 1912, was 180, and

ts were found guilty or pleaded guilty

sente

being 3 month

ne

amount bei

rage fine

ed sent

f employees, the prevailing rules of evidence ma

sulted in the denial of the privilege of traffic in liquor for one year in only 6 cases. During the same period, the Commissioner brought 143 acti

n 150 of the Tenement House Law. Of these, 36 were discharged and 123 convicted. Eighty-four of those convicte

the inspector was: returned the same day, 5 cases; from 1 to 5 days, 55 cases; 6 days to 2 weeks, 139 cases; 15 days to 1 month, 38 cases; and over 1 month, 9 cases and one unknown. The average number of days which elapsed between the receipt of the complaint and the final report of the T

to bad laws impossible of enforcement, to the instructions emanating from superior officials, to inefficiency, to corruption, to the existence of evils with which no official machinery can cope, or finally to all these causes operating togeth