138
submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

The former mayor of Harvey, Ill., demanded thousands in monthly payments from a strip club to allow it to stay open, federal prosecutors said.

In 2003, prosecutors said, the mayor of a city in Northern Illinois sent a message to the operators of a local strip club: Pay me or I’ll shut you down.

The mayor of Harvey, Ill., a city of about 18,000 just south of Chicago, knew that the strip club allowed prostitution in a private area of the club, and he demanded $3,000 a month from the business to let it stay open, according to prosecutors.

According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the club yielded to the threat, eventually even acquiescing to a demand from the mayor to double its payment to $6,000 per month. The scheme continued for about 15 years, prosecutors said.

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[-] ButtCheekOnAStick@lemmy.world 31 points 7 months ago

Wow, what and atrocity! How dare sex work be carried out in a place with security and safeguards! What would Jesus think?!?! Oh, wait....

[-] Caradoc879@lemmy.world 47 points 7 months ago

Illegal strip club brothels are AWFUL. Owners are scum, they'll threaten and blacklist dancers that don't put up, get women on drugs and under their thumbs. Just pimps with a storefront.

What we want is actual legal prostitution, where there are actual regulations and safety checks, not just illusion.

[-] ButtCheekOnAStick@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

I didn't think I needed the /s

Then again, what's to stop a legal brothel owner from doing the same shady shit? The authority figures were already paid off!

[-] Caradoc879@lemmy.world 10 points 7 months ago

Mandatory third party audits like we do with every other regulated industry.

[-] Maeve@kbin.social -2 points 7 months ago

Come to where I live and see auditors paid off.

[-] ButtCheekOnAStick@lemmy.world -5 points 7 months ago

So what 3rd party was inspecting the strip club then? Obviously it's not EVERY industry.

[-] Alto@kbin.social 6 points 7 months ago

I think you missed a word there

[-] Caradoc879@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago

You're just slippery sloping. Obviously if every level of oversight is corrupt you're fucked, but if the 3rd party auditors have proper monitoring by the state, who has proper monitoring by the feds, there's several levels of checks and balances.

[-] chitak166@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

what’s to stop a legal brothel owner from doing the same shady shit?

If you're genuinely curious, research the legal brothel industry in Nevada.

[-] blazera@kbin.social 19 points 7 months ago

Oh now they care about lobbying

[-] theodewere@kbin.social 12 points 7 months ago

what else is a small town strip club for, my brothers and sisters

[-] Bibliotectress@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago

You can't really call Harvey a small town. It's part of the Chicago (sub)urban sprawl, and a pretty bad area.

[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

I was trying to work out who Harvey III was ffs

[-] Uglyhead@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

So there most definitely is Sex in the Champagne Room,.. and drugs.

[-] bedrooms@kbin.social 4 points 7 months ago

Harvey, Ill.,

I guess Illinois people hate Helvetica.

[-] Uglyhead@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago
[-] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

Does Illinois have anit-pimping laws and is the mayor being charged with them?

[-] PowerGloveSoBad@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Some people will do anything for money

[-] Maeve@kbin.social 1 points 7 months ago

I don’t care to register to continue reading. Are prosecutors state or federal?

[-] Starkstruck@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago
[-] Maeve@kbin.social 1 points 7 months ago

Excellent! Thank you, it was late and I was tired.

this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
138 points (99.3% liked)

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