Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jan 2014
Source: Wichita Eagle (KS)
Copyright: 2014 The Wichita Eagle
Contact: http://www.kansas.com/604
Website: http://www.kansas.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/680
Author: Michael Virtanen,The Associated Press

SUPER BOWL SEX, DRUG ARRESTS UNDERWAY IN NYC

NEW YORK - Police were rounding up 18 people in New York City on
Thursday on allegations they sold "party packs" of cocaine and sex to
high-end clients and texted their customers to advertise ahead of this
week's Super Bowl festivities.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office said the arrests
follow an 11-month investigation by the state Organized Crime Task
Force, the Department of Homeland Security and the New York Police
Department. About half of the 18 suspects had been arrested by 9 a.m.
Thursday and brought to a Manhattan police precinct for processing
before arraignment, a spokesman said.

Authorities said electronic and other surveillance and reviews of
business records show the ring laundered money and credit cards
through clothing, wig, beauty supply and limousine businesses and
targeted wealthy, out-of-town customers, especially during large
events. Prostitutes would bring cocaine to clients who ordered the
so-called party packs.

While authorities say the criminal conspiracy extended to Brooklyn,
Queens, Long Island and the Hudson Valley, the operation was based in
Manhattan. A text to regular customers saying "new sexy & beautiful
girls R in town waiting for u" was sent 10 days before Sunday's Super
Bowl at MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands, which is
expected to draw some well-heeled football fans to the city.

The ring also promoted the suspects' business with advertisements on
the Internet and public access television and sometimes billed for
cocaine as equivalent "hours" of prostitution, authorities said.

They allege that after clients were impaired by drugs, the ring would
flood the room with additional prostitutes and repeatedly charge
clients' credit card, at times more than $10,000 for one night.
Through the front businesses, the group would charge credit cards for
legitimate goods and services that were not provided, according to
investigators.

"Drug trafficking and prostitution are a scourge on communities across
our state," Schneiderman said.
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