Original subtitles

Do you know about this place on the internet?

Oh, this place right here? Yes, it's called the 7th Spa.

They got a write -up on a place called backrub .com or... Oh, Rub Maps. You

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.

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, straight 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's 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 pimp. Do 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 epicenters of sex trafficking.

You okay, Nikki?

You okay?

Getting to know the working women and hoping to understand a lifestyle in

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 southwest of Houston, I'd arranged a rendezvous using

a website called Backpage.

Hi, guys, I'm Nicky, looking for the best of the best. Silky brunette hair,

sexy, amazing curves. I'm a great woman, outgoing personality, discreet visits,

really, really addicting.

Brunette, Italian, 26.

Call me.

Are you 26?

Hell no.

How old are you? How 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 preset 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 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 hear some really good -looking men, though, that are very

successful, good guys.

And they're like, 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... Do you need to get that?

Who was that?

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 in any means

possible. You know what I mean? Like, that's my daddy. He takes good care of

you know what I mean? He's like your corner man.

He knows where I am 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

Do you live with him?

No.

You have a separate apartment where you stay, which he pays for.

You give him all your money.

All the money you make.

100%. 100%. So you must have made tens of thousands for him.

I've made him a lot of money, yes.

Probably over like $150 ,000 total.

When you're with a pimp, anything you want, you have to ask for permission.

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 if you're out of line.

If you're disrespectful, if you disobey him.

Why don't we go with a softer one?

Who wants a weak -ass dude protecting you? What are you going to do? If I can

handle my business and you can't, why am I with you? What are you doing for me?

Had you been doing sex work before you got with him?

But just without him. He didn't force me to do what I'm doing. I was already

doing it. He didn't turn you out.

And I don't want people to misunderstand.

I'm not forced to do what I'm doing.

People have, like, built this whole, like, 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 got the best job in the world.

Hello?

Hi, sweetie. How are you?

You want to come see me?

Okay, 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

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 Hill Project 59.

Okay, so... Are you ready?

Yeah, we just got to Bissonnette.

On a Friday night, I was with recovery coach Kim Isaac.

She was doing outreach in one of the city's hotspots.

Okay, you got all the condoms? You got enough condoms?

Okay, let me get this girl real quick.

Hi,

Mama.

I used to be out here. Can I offer you some free condoms?

Come on.

Want some free condoms?

Where are we?

We are on Bissonnette.

which is a hub for human trafficking on the southwest 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

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 pen?

On this particular track, no.

The thing is that the veteran girls out here will spot what they call a

renegade, which is a girl that's just out here on her own, and either

attack her or try to coerce her into coming into their family.

Renegades really don't make it very long out in a place like this because of the

brutality of the pimp 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

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

past.

Are you working with Cops D?

Yes. Are you taking your medication that's prescribed?

No.

One of the newest arrivals was 18 -year -old Savannah.

She was doing a one -month review of her progress.

with counsellor Tonya 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 ton of money to them. And that's where that attention -seeking

comes in, right?

What was the lifestyle that you were in before you were here?

I was feeling myself.

The fast life of being in that life.

It 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

Yes.

You felt he was obsessed with you?

It seemed to you that he was obsessed with you? Not obsessed.

Yeah, obsessed.

In what way?

He would show me more attention than my wife at the time.

Your wife. 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 kind of understand what the human trafficking family looks like.

A pimp's success is directly related to his top female, because 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.

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, aged 16, whose street

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 party 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?

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 it gave me kind of like a fantasy lifestyle.

At the time, I was okay with it.

A sales pitch?

Yeah.

Then how soon after that did you turn your first trick?

Within an hour.

Really? Mm -hmm.

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 -hmm. Of you

naked? Yeah.

And he said soon after that that I'd be getting phone calls.

So the calls came in straight away?

Mm -hmm.

So do you remember the first one?

I don't. Was it that night?

Yes. I had 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 had been with only one person. So in our

cell, 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 that he was posing as a trick, and he came and he got me and

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, pimping you out.

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, quote, grotesque form of modern -day slavery.

In the week of my arrival, authorities had attempted to crack down on Backpage.

It was said that many of the ads there were placed by pimps.

Increasingly, authorities view prostitutes less as criminals and more

of their traffickers.

Now, you see, 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.

Okay, one of the undercovers is a female, and that's going to be her right

there. Undercover officers would be attempting to bust the working women by

posing as customers.

I would be listening in with Sergeant Chapper and Lieutenant Diaz.

Is it a typical morning?

I mean, does this happen every morning?

Oh, yeah. Every day.

The last time we did an operation in this area, literally right at daybreak,

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.

There's another one that's going to be...

Black female, shorts, pink socks, and a black jacket.

You all right?

Wherever you want. To heaven.

To my dreams.

Am I

behind him now?

Did she just get out of the car?

You got out? She got out.

No deal on that one. No deal. She twigged.

How did she know?

I mean, these girls, they're out here and they do it all the time, all the

And, I mean, unfortunately, they start knowing that there's parameters of what

an undercover police officer can and can't do.

Hey, guy.

Hey, bring your ass over here.

What's up?

Get in.

Once the deal is done and a prostitute is in the undercover car, a patrol cop

swoops in.

The women who were 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 is

in the way of women bringing their traffickers to justice?

Most of them are likely going to fear the repercussions of it.

In order to cooperate with us, that means that they have to stand against

Some simply don't want to be labeled 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 is 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?

50.

You could get, like, 100 to 200 calls a day, and, like, probably only 10 of them

were legit. The rest of the people were playing games.

So it's kind of frustrating sometimes, especially, like, when you're trying to

make money and people are just playing on the phone, like...

Who

is just calling?

Hi, Daddy.

I can't answer right now, though.

It'll make me, like, really fucked up. Like, I can't, um...

Because I don't have what he wants, so he's not going to be pleasant about it.

You okay, 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?

A little 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 -hmm. 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 you...

No, I bank up on it. No, 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

a shot, you know, see what happens.

Had your marriage already ended at that point?

Yeah. Because it's quite a big step to go from... Why do you think that?

It's simple.

I posted it now and I got a room.

And I screamed my cause.

And then what made you come down to Houston?

Because Houston's like that.

The track, isn't it? It's the biggest fucking track in America.

And how quickly did you meet?

Same day, within 24 hours.

Your pimp.

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

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 staked 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? Like, make you doubt yourself, and that's who molded me

into a real fucking solid -esque 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.

You must be quite a special person.

Have you had enough to eat, by the way?

I haven't eaten in like two days.

I think you have a little more to eat.

Preoccupied. What is preoccupying you?

Somebody in my family passed away a few days ago, and

it's kind of been on my mind that I couldn't go to the funeral and stuff.

It just sucks, you know?

Because I have to, like, keep my composure. I can't, like, show that I'm

gotta be, like, 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.

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 and I'm like, I was fucking off

all night or something. 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 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 Shedrick Smith, convicted in 2009 of compelling

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 are 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 age 15.

Right. Who 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 knew she was 15, I would have never even

got involved with her.

So you're alleging that you didn't realize 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

La Princess Moore.

Well, she wasn't recruited.

She was discovered on the house stroll.

A house stroll is a street where women sell pussy at.

She was drafted into your entourage.

No, she wasn't drafted. She chose to come with the princess.

You put them on Backpage, is that right?

Backpage, yes, that's correct.

In her account, she said there were times she was with you when she wanted

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

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 wants to.

But 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 200 miles an hour.

They get a rush when they go up in the room and can manipulate a man out of...

Sell my $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 how the game goes.

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, a team.

So she choose to come over here and mess with Fancy.

And be a part of Fancy's family.

It's an emotional thing.

You think it's emotional?

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.

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 Jack?

And there were two new faces, ex -roommates of Savannah's, who were said

romantically linked, Danisha and Jack's.

So I understand Savannah's one.

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. Of course she was.

She was.

She was.

The whole time.

Are you serious? Yes. When she was on her side.

Yes, that's what she does. The transitional part.

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 this guy 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

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 me 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.

Denisha'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.

It says, hey, baby, I've been going crazy and stressing like hell since

been out of touch, baby.

Since I've been in love with you, I can't stand to go without seeing nor

from you.

I'm so ready to see you, baby. It don't make no damn sense.

This is going to be the happiest day of my life right now.

So what I'm struck by is 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 that were doing the same thing I was doing, and

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 in trouble 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 like, 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.

You're right to him as well, don't you? I do.

And what do you say?

I'm not here for you anymore. I can't be that woman you want.

I can't be her.

You 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

bullshit. I mean, Dan sat there and wrote me a whole letter about, I don't

with you.

I love you so much, baby. I miss you too much, and I'm most definitely not

trying to lose you for none, 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 back page.

Or you were doing phone sex.

Where did it get us?

What did you end up having to show for?

Hello. How are you doing?

Nice to see 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?

Yeah. And we're going to 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 ho again.

She's going to go you. 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 hot side, yes. And while I've been in treatment, yes.

Not as much as I was.

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 pick you up.

Someone you know?

No. Some random person rolls down the window.

Have you been in touch with your pimp?

No, I lost all connection.

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.

was there for about 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

easily.

The boredom of months of therapy and limited options in the square world

many to go back to what they know.

is the thing that we work on in treatment. We work on your bio, psycho,

We start with you biologically, we deal with you psychologically, and then we

address you sociologically.

It was Thursday night, and Councillor Tonya 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

here, right?

OK, but she has a very distinct walk.

Let me show you that I'm coming to treatment. Walk.

All right?

What's dragging behind me is my plastic bag of clothes my mama gave me. Among

those in the audience were Denisha and a male visitor.

Keith. Keith. Louis.

Nice to meet you. How are you doing? Good. How are you and Denisha connected?

I've known Denisha 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.

Because 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. Because I was married for 13 years.

And you were faithful to your wife? Totally. Was she with...

A... I was not.

It was after that.

No, he's about to say a pimp? Yes.

No, not at all. I would never fool a girl to hit a pimp. Why is that?

Pimps are too aggressive and too dangerous.

They'll set you up, rob you.

Can't be trust.

If you would beat up a woman, how can I trust you?

So, Keith, you knew that Denisha used to have a pimp? No. No. You didn't know

that?

That's news to you. Mm -hmm. Are you surprised?

Not really.

Not really.

Good thing she don't have one no more. No. Because then it's not healthy for,

you know.

I know. Yeah.

I'm done.

Right. Right.

How did you feel about the relationship?

Was it even a relationship?

I would say no.

What was it? Because we barely knew each other. It was just like a casual

encounter, you know, a casual hookup. Over how many? Two or three times a

For how long?

Oh, 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 -hmm. And did you

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.

You're right.

I'm serious.

You're right.

Do you have trouble believing that?

Not really. A little bit.

Sometimes you second guess.

I take a word for it.

Yeah. But I'll be honest. I don't know whether to believe it or not.

Right.

I'll give it a 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. Right, strictly

business. So what's your relationship now, then?

Just good friends.

Just friends?

Mm -hmm.

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?

Mm -hmm. I come every week, give her $30, you know, to keep in her pocket.

Today I brought her all kinds of toiletries.

I mean, 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. Denisha calls you every other day?

Sometimes two, three days in a row. To what?

Just conversate. Have somebody to talk to.

So you like him? I do.

For a stranger that I met in my hustle to still stand by my side,

I wish it was more people like him in this world.

Thank you for that. That was quite heartwarming. 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 Bissonette.

Nicky was on shift, under the ever -watchful eye of her pimp.

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 look like a rock star today. I was like, what? You do. He's like, now

go get some rock star money.

See,

another 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 and making

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. You got into a tiff. Do you

remember? Yeah, because there's consequences to my actions. You know

mean? You were really upset and you seemed scared.

I mean, nobody likes being punished. Nobody likes being in trouble. Is that

it was about?

I mean, I was texting him, talking shit the other night. He pulled up and picked

me up and punched me in the mouth.

Because I was disrespectful, you know what I mean? Like, they take that shit

seriously. Would you be able to read out some text to get a flavor of how he

talked to you?

And how you talked to each other? Because you just said you were being

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

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 because I was out there for like three or four hours.

I said, I do good when I'm in good spirit, not a hot mess. You feel me? He

yes, bitch.

Was that after he punched you?

Mm -hmm. So you're putting a marker down saying that you don't appreciate him

putting his hands on you, right?

Mm -hmm. He knows that, though.

You said you've only been doing this a year and a half, but you feel okay with

it. 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, you know, I've been talking to other women involved in

work, and almost two are one.

But the pimp thing is not good, that the pimps are... It depends on the way you

look at it, though. ...hereditary and parasitic.

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 don't know. I'm really bad with money. I'm not a financial person.

Like before I was married, my husband did all that stuff.

But it seems quite precarious. If he's got all your money, in a year or six

months or ten years, see if 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 Nicky's choices, but also baffled as to

how to break through.

By now I'd realized 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

also at the mercy of their own feelings when it came to their pimps.

Perhaps none more so.

than Dinesha, caught between her roommate Jax, her old pimp, and Ki.

You know, it was nice meeting Ki.

Was it? What are your feelings for him?

I mean, I appreciate him and I... I 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?

I am not in a relationship with anybody. Of a sort. Well, there's Keith.

There's also your old pimp who's in prison.

Okay. And then there's Jack. Okay.

I'm not in a relationship with Jack. Jack is like my best friend.

Which one are you most attracted to?

You want me to be honey?

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 not the right term.

He put you out on the track, right?

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 want me to be a part of his life. No, 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?

Well,

that 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 a 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

that, right?

Or wanted it. Wanted it. What is it, do you think? Is it just a sort of an

emotional, you know, it's a sense of pleasure that you get in providing for

someone and 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 -hmm.

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

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 the emotions that I endured

inside of me.

But now when I sit and I explain it to you guys, in my head it's like, no,

that's not what was happening.

You mean with tea?

Yeah, I was being used.

I'm being used by Keith.

I'm just 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, um...

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 have 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 there?

No, I am in recovery.

And I do care about my recovery.

I felt like I was going nowhere in Santa Maria.

But out here?

Where do you feel you're going out here?

I'm getting a job.

I'm going to start working.

Where?

I'm going to go apply for applications tomorrow.

What kind of job?

Any job.

Subway, applying to 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

relaxing, 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 -hmm. 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

because I know that I'm better than that and that that's not what I need to be

doing with my life.

I could absolutely be doing a whole bunch of other things, but then another

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?

Mm -mm.

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.

Because I know when I was out here, I didn't think there was any hope.

I thought the older I got, because I was out here for 21 years.

I had a baby over on the 40th and a half. It may be that as long as there

extremes of vulnerability, coerced prostitution will be with us.

Thank you all for coming to see me. Bye, baby.

In Houston, I'd seen women from backgrounds of abuse meeting the most

human need.

by seeking out what they knew best. You have a vision.

You just can't see it because 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.