Original subtitles

MARIANA VAN ZELLER: Maybe tell me a little bit

about your day today.

You wake up and then what happens?

GOTTI: I wake up, make sure my sons are in school,

and then drive all over creation,

looking at these young, pretty girls.

MAN: Train stations.

MAN: Instagram. WOMAN: Instagram.

MAN: Facebook.

MAN: County jail.

All‐night Denny's.

MARIANA: First comes the seduction.

Then comes the reality.

LADY P: After a couple of days of drinking and smoking,

now you got to walk the street.

MARIANA: This is a story about pimps.

How they work, how they think,

and what they'll do to grab their share

of the billion‐dollar market for illicit sex in America.

(knocking)

JACK KNIFE: I'm not saying what I do is right,

but I'm a wolf out here to survive on these streets.

Because I'm not gonna be no sheep.

(sirens)

♪ ♪

(siren)

MICHELLE: The very first time I ever did it,

it was a complete rush.

And then you just kind of start to get used to it.

MARIANA: What is it like when you're, when you're out there?

MICHELLE: It's cold.

It's really cold.

This is a good amount of clothes.

We've seen girls out there in just like a bra and underwear.

MARIANA: In the winter?

MICHELLE: In the winter, in the rain.

A lot of them can't leave

until they are told that they can come back in.

MARIANA: By their pimps?

MICHELLE: Yeah. Pimps.

MARIANA: Is it dangerous?

MICHELLE: Oh, it's extremely dangerous.

Vehicles pull up to us

that you don't know if they're just gonna roll by

and just start shooting at you.

Like a rival pimp, that you're working for someone,

and that's technically their enemy,

so instead of going after the pimp,

they're gonna go after the girls.

MARIANA: How often are you approached by pimps?

MICHELLE: Almost every time we're out there.

MARIANA: And you've been doing this for how long?

MICHELLE: I've been doing this for around three years.

MARIANA: Was it soon after you joined the police department or?

MICHELLE: Um, it was a good chunk of time after.

MARIANA: Michelle, as we'll call her,

is one of two Oakland police officers

who will be going undercover tonight as decoys.

So how do you...

MICHELLE: We have people very close.

MARIANA: Watching? MICHELLE: Mm‐hmm.

MICHELLE: And we do have our firearms on us also.

MARIANA: Oh, you take a gun with you?

MICHELLE: Yeah.

MARIANA: Where?

MICHELLE: We just, we make it work.

MARIANA: Sex trafficking has become front‐page news recently,

thanks to high‐profile cases

like that of multi‐millionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

NEWSCASTER: For several years,

Epstein was operating a sex trafficking ring.

MARIANA: Not long ago, sex trafficking was thought

to be largely a transnational problem,

with criminal networks smuggling undocumented women

across borders to work as sex slaves,

but there's a far more common variety,

happening in every U. S. city, big and small,

that sees Americans exploiting other Americans.

No state reports more cases than California.

And by all accounts, Oakland is a hot spot.

POLICE OFFICER: Thanks, everyone, for being here,

we're doing a decoy operation today.

It's very dangerous for the decoys.

Stay out of sight. Keep close.

If we do arrest a pimp,

we're gonna call a Code 3 response for an arrest.

MARIANA: The goal of the operation is to disrupt business

around one of California's most notorious prostitution tracks,

International Boulevard in East Oakland.

It's a place where pimps have long been known

to sell underage girls.

You guys used to go after mainly the women

working on the streets, and you've since shift,

and are now going after the traffickers

and the johns, the demand as well.

When did that happen?

JIMMY BEERE: October of last year. Yeah.

MARIANA: Just October of last year.

JIMMY: Yeah.

MARIANA: Pretty recent change.

JIMMY: Yes, pretty recent change.

And we want to target what's fueling the demand

here in Oakland.

We want to go after the exploiters,

the ones that are victimizing our young women.

So by attacking the demand and making people know

that Oakland's not a place that's gonna tolerate

forcing people into prostitution.

MARIANA: Lieutenant Jimmy Beere is the commander

of the vice unit and my guide for the evening.

JIMMY: When a john pulls up, they pull up real slow,

kind of to check out the girls, see how they look.

Window shopping, I hate to say.

Pimp, on the other hand, they want to make it known

they're the big dog in this neighborhood.

So, they usually swoop up onto the corner really fast.

Anything intimidating, like do a burnout

and take off at a really high rate of speed.

MAN: Got a male Hispanic on foot

talking to the girls right now.

JIMMY: Swoop signal on the dude with the bald head.

(siren)

MAN: He just got into a white '80s model Toyota pickup truck.

JIMMY: Yeah, that's it right there. Positive ID.

MARIANA: It's happening, you see that?

JIMMY: Yeah, they're arresting him right now.

MARIANA: The decoys move several blocks away

and start working on another corner.

Within minutes, a car pulls up.

JIMMY: He's hauling ass to get out of here.

MARIANA: Yeah.

That's him.

What do you find with the majority of these johns?

What's sort of the profile?

JIMMY: As you see already, it's been, like, one male Asian,

one male Hispanic, one male Black.

Typically, there'll be a male white next,

you know, if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna bet.

MARIANA: And young, old, married, single?

JIMMY: All of that. All of that.

Yeah, there's no real profile of a john.

WOMAN: There's a male in a Lexus

hanging out the window with a gun.

JIMMY: Oh, (bleep).

Might have a guy pointing guns at the prostitutes.

(siren)

MARIANA: Quickly, it becomes clear

that they could arrest johns all night long.

(siren)

But it's not the johns they're really after.

JIMMY: We're trying to draw the pimp out.

Lure him out from behind the shadows.

Try to get them to actually recruit one of our girls

and then we go after him.

MARIANA: Do you think they're making more money as pimps

than they are if they were selling drugs?

JIMMY: Yes. MARIANA: Why?

JIMMY: There's more of it.

There's more demand.

You don't have to buy the product,

so I don't have to come out‐of‐pocket.

I don't have to package it.

I'm not being at risk for holding on to it.

Renewable product that never expires

as long as she's still alive.

And if she's alive, she better be making money.

MARIANA: The challenge is actually finding them,

or getting them.

JIMMY: That's it.

BARACK OBAMA: Our fight against human trafficking

is one of the great human rights causes of our time.

And the United States will continue to lead it.

DONALD TRUMP: We will not rest until we've stopped

every last human trafficker and liberated every last survivor.

MARIANA: The fight against trafficking seems to be

one of the few issues that transcends politics.

But all of that attention hides an ugly truth,

that busting sex traffickers is extremely difficult,

in part because their victims are often afraid to testify.

JIMMY: It's more difficult to solve these cases,

I would venture to say, than murder charges.

MARIANA: For these pimps, that means the risk is relatively low

and the profits sky high,

a combination that must be irresistible,

which is exactly why I want to find one.

(rapping) ♪ Cash, cash, cash, cash ♪

♪ I will not stop till I'm filthy rich ♪

♪ I made a dollar out of 50 cents ♪

♪ I made the track over 50 bricks ♪

♪ .22 on me like... ♪

My search begins on Instagram.

That's where I learn that pimps

have their own ecosystem of hashtags.

There's this one hashtag, 3‐0‐4.

If you turn around 304, it actually spells "hoe."

Can't show a lot of these faces, but #GameRelated,

#PGO, Pimp Game On,

#HGO, which means Ho Game On,

#IZM, which is, like, the swagger.

More jewelry, more diamonds.

This display of wealth and power.

These stacks of cash.

All of this is just a way to show these women

what their lives could be like if they were working for them.

I have no idea if any of these guys

are actually pimps or just playing the part.

But for some, it certainly feels like their social media feed

is the marketing arm of their operation.

Doesn't seem like they're very ashamed

or trying to hide what they're doing at all.

In fact, they want to show it off.

Over several weeks, I message countless guys and a few women,

asking if any of them would be up for talking.

I get mostly silence.

Then finally, a breakthrough.

I stumble upon a genre of book I didn't know existed:

the pimp memoir.

That's how I found Mickey Royal.

Sure enough, the author of The Pimp Game

agrees to meet me at a motel

in the heart of South Central Los Angeles.

I'm hopeful that Mickey will be the key

to finding my way inside his former profession.

How are you?

MICKEY ROYAL: Alright.

MARIANA: Mariana.

MICKEY: Mickey Royal. At your service.

MARIANA: Hi, Mickey, so nice to meet you.

MICKEY: Same here. Likewise.

I didn't really start really pimping

until I was about 19 or 20.

I came from a drug and gang background,

so I always thought of that particular life as being weak,

you know, because if it didn't involve a pistol,

I wasn't interested.

But it was something about the allure of it.

It just sucks you in, and I fell in love with it.

DREXL SPIVEY: I know I'm pretty.

MARIANA: The allure of pimping is no secret.

GOLDIE: I want you to get yourself together

and get back out there and get me my money.

MARIANA: From movies to music videos...

50 CENT: ♪ That I'm a ‐‐‐‐ P‐I‐M‐P ♪

MARIANA: ...to Seinfeld.

(laughter)

Very few underworld figures have gotten as much love

from pop culture as the pimp.

But I want to know

how the business of pimping really works.

Mickey offers to take me for a tour

of the most infamous track in L. A.

Where are we heading? Where are we going?

MICKEY: We're headed to Figueroa.

It's referred to as the track, the blade.

It's been around since the '60s.

We're talking about 95 blocks.

MARIANA: Wow.

MICKEY: 95 blocks.

MARIANA: How dangerous is it, do you think?

MICKEY: It's extremely dangerous.

You got the tricks you have to worry about.

You have upsetting the pimp you have to worry about.

Kidnapping, stabbings, shootings, plenty of them.

You're talking about a profession

where sexual assault and rape

are just occupational daily hazards.

MARIANA: So, I've lived in Los Angeles for over 10 years,

and I know Figueroa,

but I have never seen any of this till tonight.

MICKEY: That's why I call it the Shadow World.

It exists at night and broad daylight.

She's working to the right.

MARIANA: Oh, she's wearing a bikini.

MICKEY: Yeah.

MARIANA: It's also freezing. It's 46 degrees outside.

MICKEY: I mean, you got to understand,

if they have pimps or whatever,

they can make extra money by being seen from a distance,

they're not even allowed to wear jackets.

See how they both were naked?

More than likely, they have the same pimp.

MARIANA: Was that a thing?

Where your girls that worked with you dressed the same?

MICKEY: Yeah, 'cause it's easier to shop

for all of them at the same time.

MARIANA: So all these three girls have the same shoes.

Does that mean that they work for the same pimp?

MICKEY: More than likely.

MARIANA: She was so young.

She looked like she was like 15 or something.

Did you see that?

MICKEY: Yeah. You'll see a lot of those.

MARIANA: I mean, it's dozens and dozens and dozens of women

that we've seen so far in, what, in about 20 blocks, right?

MICKEY: Right.

You should see them on Friday and Saturday night.

It's like a concert.

(siren)

MARIANA: So where would you be?

Imagine a girl would be on this corner.

Where would you be?

MICKEY: Sitting in the car not far away.

MARIANA: Oh, watching her.

MICKEY: Yeah. MARIANA: Why?

MICKEY: To make sure she's okay.

And I figured that was my job.

MARIANA: And if you had more than one girl,

how do you do that?

MICKEY: You cruise around.

You might sit here for about 10 minutes until she gets a date,

see where it goes, and then you cruise up to see this one.

Pull up on one, you collect your money.

But she's not gonna get any dates

while you're sitting there.

MARIANA: We've been circling the same stretch of blocks

several times when Mickey gets spooked.

MICKEY: Okay, that's, uh, we got to go somewhere else.

MARIANA: What happened? MICKEY: That's them.

MARIANA: Why? What happened?

MICKEY: It's starting to get hot.

MARIANA: What do you mean? What'd he do?

MICKEY: Once we got made, as far as the cameras,

what'll happen is they'll start telling everybody what they saw

and pointing out the car.

MICKEY: You don't want to do that.

No. You want to call it a night right now, trust me.

MARIANA: I follow Mickey's advice,

but I'm still hopeful he can connect me to an active pimp.

So, we've been working on this story for a long time,

and it's been really hard to get people to talk to us,

especially people who are currently in the game.

MICKEY: Yeah, you won't get that.

MARIANA: I mean, if you were currently doing it,

would you even admit it to us?

MICKEY: No.

You hopping out with the cameras,

you're better off pulling guns on me.

No.

Guns I'll challenge, the camera I'll just run.

No.

MARIANA: Why not?

MICKEY: Because if you want to get away with a crime,

it has to be a secret.

Simple as that.

MARIANA: After our interview, Mickey pulls me aside.

He gives me a name, a number, and a promise.

One phone call later, doors begin to open.

(phone ringing)

NINA: Hello?

MARIANA: Hi, it's Mariana here. How are you?

NINA: I'm fine.

MARIANA: Mickey gave me your number

and said that you'd be willing to talk to us.

We'd love to meet with you at a place somewhere in Inglewood

if you're available.

NINA: Yes.

MARIANA: Okay. And you're bringing some people

that work with you, right?

NINA: Right.

MARIANA: That hotel, is that the place you want to meet?

NINA: Right. Yeah.

MARIANA: Have you worked out of there?

NINA: Yeah.

MARIANA: So, we've rented this motel room.

It's a place that they've said they've worked at before.

We were supposed to meet here an hour ago.

They still haven't showed up.

But we're, you know, we're hoping they will.

It's been really hard to get people to talk to us,

so it sounded really positive,

and I'm hoping that they will show up tonight.

MARIANA: Oh, hi. NINA: Nice to meet you.

MARIANA: I'm Mariana. How are you?

NINA: I'm fine.

MARIANA: Come on in. Thanks for meeting us here.

'Cause I know you want us to disguise your identities.

So, we actually got all these masks here for you.

BEE: That's more me.

MARIANA: That's a real pretty one.

It's funny because when I looked at them

and I was trying to figure out

which one I would wear if it was me,

I changed my mind about three times.

WOMAN: Right.

BEE: Perfect.

WOMAN: A little bit, here, over the...

BEE: Uh‐uh. I like this.

MARIANA: So, we're very close to Figueroa,

which is one of the most famous tracks or blades in Los Angeles.

Have you guys ever been out there?

NINA: I have. BEE: Yeah.

MARIANA: Do you think that a lot of the women that are working

out on the blade, the track, they all have pimps?

BEE: I say 80% of them do.

NINA: Yeah. HONEY: I say, yeah.

MARIANA: Did you have a pimp?

NINA: When I first started out, no.

I was just, "Hey, let's get away."

You know what I mean?

But I did try it out.

Like, guys wanted me to be they ho.

And, you know, I'll hang around them

or kick it with their female

and see how their environment was,

and it just wasn't for me.

It was a lot of violence. It was a lot of jealousy.

I didn't see where the money was going.

MARIANA: Why do you think other women do it, then?

NINA: Daddy issues.

Seeking attention, might've been molested.

Might feel that they need to be valued by a man

and not really know they value for they self.

HONEY: Yeah, there's a lot of people

that grow up in broken homes.

Not having that father figure is like a huge part

in a young girl's life.

When you don't seek and get that love that you deserve,

it pushes you to a whole 'nother state

that you can't really explain or describe.

You just feel the pain.

MARIANA: Do you think that the pimps know that

and they exploit that? They go after those...

HONEY: Yeah, that's how they abuse you.

That's how they get you to never leave.

And that's why most girls that's my age,

they get stuck and they live like that for a very long time.

MARIANA: The more we talk, the more I realize

how many different ways women are pulled onto the streets.

This is a woman we'll call Bee.

Prostitution is not her day job;

just something she does after her shifts as a nurse.

BEE: Paying for school.

So it was, like, I'm doing it anyway.

Why not?

I mean, I'm not ashamed, I'm not ashamed of it.

So it's like it ain't no need to be ashamed.

Everybody having sex.

Don't you ever fantasize about being a stripper?

MARIANA: Yeah, see, this is the part where I'm not sure

if I should be nodding or not.

BEE: Exactly. (laughs)

MARIANA: Honey says she works primarily with clients

from the business world.

HONEY: I'm very high priced.

I mean, I make a lot of money doing what I'm doing.

MARIANA: She says she can make as much as $20,000 a week.

But all that money comes at a high personal cost.

HONEY: So I had a friend,

and her father, he was a drug dealer and a pimp.

My mother was never around, so, you know,

I always spent a lot of time at her house.

And her dad, you know, he would always hit on me and touch me.

But, I never told anyone, I didn't have anyone around, so.

MARIANA: How old were you?

HONEY: Um, I was 12.

MARIANA: I'm sorry if I'm gonna ask you this,

and tell me if you don't want to answer

or if you don't even want the question,

we can take it out, but did he rape you?

HONEY: Yes, he did.

MARIANA: When you were 12?

HONEY: Yes.

MARIANA: And then how did it progress from there?

HONEY: He told me like, "It's okay if you do it for me.

I'm not gonna judge you. No one's gonna judge you.

Don't tell anybody."

So, you know, I always kept it a secret,

like no one ever knew what I did.

MARIANA: And how did he convince you

that you should be selling your body out to other men?

HONEY: I didn't have a mother and a father around,

so I grew up thinking that it was okay,

you know, to sell my body.

I was young, I was naive,

like, you tell me it's okay and I just believed you.

MARIANA: He was a pimp. HONEY: Yes.

MARIANA: He had several women working for him?

HONEY: Yes. MARIANA: How many?

HONEY: About five of us.

MARIANA: All of them as young as you?

HONEY: Yeah.

MARIANA: So they were all between 12...

HONEY: 12 to like 15, no older than that.

MARIANA: After four years, Honey finally escaped.

Did he do any time in jail or anything?

HONEY: No. I didn't press any charges, nothing like that.

I just wanted to get away.

MARIANA: One of the things that we hear a lot

is how women that have pimps, even when they're abusive,

that they just don't want to talk to the police,

they don't want to testify.

They just want to leave that behind.

HONEY: Snitches get stitches, so if you tell,

people will put a bounty on your head,

and they don't care how much it costs.

MARIANA: Right. That's what they say?

HONEY: The lingo. Mm‐hmm.

MARIANA: Meaning that they will beat you up if you talk?

HONEY: Right.

And they'll do it, they'll make sure it get done.

NINA: Once you in it, it's hard to escape.

It's always gonna come back to you.

Once you turn a good girl bad, it's hard to turn back good.

MARIANA: After the interview,

Nina tells me she knows everyone on the streets, pimps included.

She makes some introductions, I trade some texts,

and it looks like it's all about to happen...

until it doesn't.

(text message tone)

We've been in three different locations so far

just today alone, waiting for these pimps to show up.

(text message tone)

They tell us they're coming,

they tell us they're on their way.

We get everything set up and we wait and wait and wait,

and then last minute, they either don't show up

or they text us telling us they can't come,

or they're, you know, unsure whether we're police,

and they don't feel comfortable.

(text message tone) He just bailed.

He's not coming anymore.

(text message tone)

We actually just got a text from this one guy

who says he's on 54th and Western.

He's on the corner.

He told us he'd be waiting for us.

We have no idea what we're walking into,

who we're meeting with exactly.

But we're hoping that at least there's somebody there.

The process is frustrating.

I've had easier times getting access

to gunrunners and drug lords.

But I'm realizing this black market is different

and darker.

(siren)

Okay. So, this is it.

We're in a parking lot of a laundromat.

This is where he told us to meet him.

No surprise, he's not there.

It could be that he's just looking at us from somewhere

and checking us out to make sure that we're not cops.

In which case it might be a good idea if I get out of the car

and just go walk around and tell him

I'm the woman with the red vest or something.

What's that?

MARIANA: No, taking pictures of me. They're filming me.

MARIANA: Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, I think cameras down for now,

because they're getting more and more upset.

MAN: Really? MARIANA: Yeah.

(text message tone)

MARIANA: Okay, come around the corner to 1609, duh duh duh.

Okay, we got an address.

Let's see what happens now.

From Western, we turn into a residential neighborhood

and make our way to the address.

Finally, after months of trying,

here I am, looking into the dark shades of a working pimp.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: After months of trying,

I'm finally face to face with a working pimp.

He wants me to call him Chill,

and this is his business partner, Lady P.

I know that when we were texting back and forth,

you were, you didn't want to give us

the right address immediately.

So you weren't sure if we were police, essentially?

CHILL: Absolutely.

Because of the business that we're in.

If you're even claiming

that you're in this part of the business,

they've changed (bleep),

so now instead of just some regular (bleep)

where pimping is pimping, no.

What we're doing now is considered human trafficking,

and that (bleep) is completely different from what pimping is.

MARIANA: So tell me what is pimping about.

CHILL: It's about choice.

It's they see the flash, they see the gold,

they see the money, they see the cars.

Every time you turn on a radio, what do you hear?

Oh, it's some rapper dude talking about

how he got a bunch of bitches and all this other (bleep).

So what do they want?

They want that rapper dude.

They see the Ferrari, the Lamborghini, all that (bleep).

They want that (bleep).

What's next to a rapper?

(bleep) A pimp! Why not?

He can get you everything you want, easy.

Drugs, sex, rock and roll.

That's what it is.

MARIANA: That may be the way pimps like Chill

view the lifestyle,

but I imagine the reality is far more complicated

for the women working for him.

How do you find the girls?

LADY P: Clubs.

They see us hanging out.

We're in the VIP section

and we're drinking and we're having fun.

Of course they don't want to be sitting over there

with normal people, they want to come to the VIP.

"Hey, girl, you want to come back with us?"

MARIANA: Who says that?

LADY P: I do.

They come back.

They see the glitz, the glamour, the gold, the cars, the bikes.

They want to smoke weed, do powder, ecstasy.

We have all that around.

Couple of days after they've been there,

okay, now you got to come up with some money.

CHILL: Bills got to get (bleep) paid.

You got a choice at that point.

You can say, "I'm cool. (bleep) that, I'm out."

99.9% of the time, these young (bleep) are gonna be like,

"Hey, I got (bleep) weed, I got ecstasy,

I got every (bleep) thing I want,

and I can get some money out of this? Why not?"

MARIANA: Is it really that high,

like, that amount of girls, the majority?

LADY P: It's not like you're going out

looking for the classiest of females,

you know, you want the ones that are "ahhh," turnt up.

CHILL: Or keeps looking over at us.

LADY P: Keeps looking over. You can tell.

CHILL: Just keep on (bleep) eyeing and watching.

She done already been spotted.

Over here, we just spotted her.

It's a wrap.

At that point the choice is made.

MARIANA: Chill says that his women

don't work out on the streets.

They find their customers online

where they can charge a higher price.

So when people call you a sex trafficker or human trafficker,

what do you think of that?

CHILL: I think it's (bleep).

If you go talk to my bitches and ask them what they think,

"Am I sex trafficking?"

They'll be like, "Yeah, he's trafficking me.

To (bleep) Miami, to (bleep) Vegas, to Florida."

MARIANA: Do you do that? Do you transport them?

CHILL: ...and it's gonna be like cha‐ching!

MARIANA: It's shocking how little is known

about the underground sex economy.

One recent study estimates that illicit sex in the U. S.

brings in $5.7 billion a year through street prostitution,

online escort services,

residential brothels, and massage parlors.

But there's no reliable data

about how many pimps and traffickers are operating

or how many victims may be out there.

It's rare to get an inside look at a pimp's operation,

which is why I want to see others.

Over the next week, I connect with two more pimps

who are currently in the game.

At a cheap motel in Inglewood, I meet Jack Knife,

and after a bit of convincing,

I sit down with Gotti late night at a bar near the airport.

So these women, that you meet them on the street

or how do you recruit them?

How do you get them to work for you?

JACK KNIFE: On the street, 9 times out of 10.

Sometimes Instagram, you know what I'm saying?

Sometimes Facebook, it depends.

MARIANA: What do you say to them?

GOTTI: How are you doing, beautiful?

You mind if I hang out with you while you shop?

And, uh, we can talk and get to know each other.

We hang out, become friends,

and talk about how we can make money,

and if they want to go along with the situation,

we go do this.

MARIANA: You butter them up?

JACK KNIFE: Of course I butter them up.

I got to tell them they pretty,

so they can get out there and get this money.

They got to be out here with a big head,

so they can get out here and get this bread.

MARIANA: Is there a particular kind of girl

that you're looking for?

GOTTI: Someone that's not showing fear.

Ready to go.

MICKEY: An easy target would be, let's say Jan Brady.

If you're familiar with The Brady Bunch,

she's the middle child,

and she's the one that gets the least amount of attention.

She's the one that feels the most unattractive.

I would show Jan the majority of the attention

and point out how Jan is much prettier than her sister Marcia.

And Jan, when she leaves my presence,

she goes back to being ugly in that house.

So her self‐esteem, her sense of empowerment,

her will to be number one, or the fact that she is number one,

is only present when I'm around.

So, she's gonna be around me more and more.

MARIANA: I try to pin them down

on the financials of their business, but they're evasive.

Each admits to working a certain number of women.

LADY P: I'd say about seven.

JACK KNIFE: Six is the lowest, eight or nine at the most.

GOTTI: Right now, I got four.

MARIANA: These four girls work full‐time for you?

GOTTI: Yes. They're only for me.

MARIANA: And each takes a certain percentage

of the earnings.

Do they keep the majority or do you guys keep the majority?

LADY P: No. We keep the majority.

MARIANA: You guys keep the majority?

LADY P: If I'm taking care of you,

I have to keep the majority.

CHILL: Absolutely.

MARIANA: Can you tell me what the percentage is?

Is it a higher percentage for them or for you?

GOTTI: For me.

JACK KNIFE: It's my money. It's our money.

This is a "our" thing.

So, yeah, of course, you gonna get some money.

I'm gonna break you off something.

Or I'm gonna go buy you something or whatever.

But you ain't gonna get no money every single time.

MARIANA: It's crazy to me; a woman sells her body,

and these pimps feel entitled to the profits.

And we're talking serious money here.

A Justice Department study found that pimps can make

between $5,000 and $30,000 a week.

It's no surprise how some of them maintain control.

Have you ever beat your women?

GOTTI: Uhh...

Next question.

MARIANA: I'll take that as a yes, then.

What leads a person to do that? What led you?

GOTTI: My case, money was stolen.

JACK KNIFE: If they get out of line,

if they look like they finna say something stupid,

knack‐knack, slapped up,

you might get punched up, whatever.

(bleep) might cut you, whatever.

MARIANA: Have you done that?

JACK KNIFE: Me?

Female ran away, once or twice,

I cut the bottom of her foot.

MARIANA: You cut, with a knife?

JACK KNIFE: The bottom of her foot. Nah, not with no knife.

I cut the bottom of her foot with a razor.

MARIANA: With a razor?

JACK KNIFE: What is you running away for?

What is you doing? You got my money and all that.

What you trying to do, rob me?

No. What is you doing?

When I did that, that let all the bitches know.

So, I didn't have to do that no more.

MARIANA: So if they want to leave, you don't let them leave?

JACK KNIFE: They can leave. They can leave.

'Cause I'm not holding you, I'm not holding you at gunpoint.

MARIANA: You're not, but you've admitted to...

JACK KNIFE: And I don't have you handcuffed.

MARIANA: You say it's a choice for them, but...

JACK KNIFE: Yeah.

MARIANA: After you just told me what you did,

I'm sure they're scared to death of leaving.

JACK KNIFE: She can still leave, I told her.

I just told her, if you leave, you gonna remember me, though.

MARIANA: Is she still with you?

JACK KNIFE: Yeah, she's still with me.

MARIANA: She still works for you?

JACK KNIFE: To this day.

You understand,

it's either you gonna (bleep) with me or you not.

MARIANA: So, so, you...

JACK KNIFE: Hold on, hold on. MARIANA: Go ahead.

JACK KNIFE: There's pimps out her

doing way worse (bleep) than that.

Killing bitches.

Out here kidnapping bitches, for real, tying (bleep) up.

"Nah, you can't go nowhere against your will."

"Bitch, don't talk to your family or none of that."

It's bad out here.

MARIANA: The reality is bleak and all too common,

but there are people out there trying to make a difference.

Okay, be careful with the cameras

'cause he's right in front of us.

(engine revving)

MARIANA: I'm in Los Angeles, not that far from where I live,

trying to understand how pimps justify what they do.

I think people listening to this would say that what you're doing

is exploiting women when they're at the worst of their worst.

You either stay and you have a place to stay

and you go out on the street and sell your body,

or we're gonna kick you out.

Isn't that exploitation?

LADY P: We're not out there beating on these females,

choking 'em out, getting them strung out on drugs.

We don't have a white van.

We're not about to pull up and kidnap you.

You can always leave.

It could be worse. You could choose worse.

MARIANA: Experts believe that the majority of the young women

pimps and traffickers recruit,

maybe even as high as 60% or 70%,

have spent time in the foster care system.

It's a crime that preys on the most vulnerable.

MICKEY: Nobody cares about 'em.

They're viewed as the rejected.

And that's what makes it so easy for a pimp to recruit them.

I love you. I love you.

Your mother doesn't love you because she put you out.

Your daddy doesn't love you

because he molested you in the first place.

I love you.

CHILL: If you haven't had something,

and you're experiencing it for the first time,

and it's beautiful, you'll take it;

even if it's ugly.

MARIANA: Which part of it is ugly?

CHILL: (bleep), you tell me.

LADY P: Selling your body.

That's the ugly.

That's the ugly. You're selling your body.

MARIANA: So you do realize it's ugly, though,

but you're still asking them to do it?

LADY P: Yeah. But she still said yes.

CHILL: Again, it's a (bleep) choice.

MARIANA: I mean, but is it a choice?

CHILL: It is. It is.

We always have a choice.

Everyone has a choice.

MARIANA: Any prosecutor trying to bust a pimp like Chill

for sex trafficking

has to prove that he used force, fraud, or coercion

to induce a woman into selling her body.

That's a difficult challenge, especially when pimps like Chill

know where the legal lines are drawn.

I imagine that's why he and Lady P

are so fond of that word, "choice."

Still, these days,

pimps know they have targets on their backs.

They just might be surprised

by some of the people trying to hunt them down.

♪ ♪

Why don't you want to be on camera?

JENNA: For security reasons.

We are gathering evidence against people

who may in fact be criminals

and who may in fact end up on a district attorney's target list

because of us,

and I wouldn't want them to come back and try to kill me.

MARIANA: Because these are dangerous people.

JENNA: These are dangerous people that we're dealing with.

MARIANA: Jenna, as I'll call her,

is a successful tech entrepreneur who lives

in one of Silicon Valley's wealthiest ZIP codes.

JENNA: I'll say to our donors, "You know what? We can do this."

We have an established track record of success.

We can find kids for under $20,000.

I mean, what would you rather have?

Another diamond bracelet on your wrist?

Or would you rather be able to actually find a girl

who's missing and save her?

MARIANA: That's the mission of Special Operations,

the non‐profit Jenna founded.

There's no shortage of groups like hers

who have taken up the cause of sex trafficking.

But Special Operations is more aggressive than most.

It not only rescues girls in trouble,

it also goes after their traffickers.

JENNA: Special Operations is designed to fill in the gaps

in society in order to solve sex trafficking crimes.

The way the system works right now,

the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

sends law enforcement half a million tips.

Polaris, the sex trafficking hotlines,

sends thousands of tips.

They can be months old

by the time they land in somebody's file folder.

MAN: 10‐4, I'm in front of the hotel, copy.

MARIANA: Jenna has connected me to her lead investigator,

a former cop named Mike Ferrari.

How long have you been after this guy?

MIKE FERRARI: It's been on and off for about a year.

MAN: I only have visual on Mark.

I don't have visual of the subject.

MARIANA: Mike's team, which consists of three other

private investigators, each in their own car,

is currently working a case involving a man we'll call Ray.

MIKE: He has a history of trafficking minors.

We know this guy is a serial predator.

we've been trying to develop a pattern on him

to find a location where there are certainly other victims.

Because each time there was an arrest made,

there was more than one victim.

MARIANA: How many girls is it believed

that he has working for him?

MIKE: We know of three discreet victims that we've spoken with,

um, but each one of them has talked about multiple girls.

One time, when one of the 15‐year‐olds was recovered,

there were three other girls that time.

MARIANA: As is so often the case, though,

the victims were too scared to testify against him.

MAN: Sir, he's gonna exit another way.

MIKE: I've got the back entrance.

When he does, somebody get on foot to let us know

which way he goes out of the courtyard.

MARIANA: Ray is expected to appear in court today

for an unrelated charge.

(radio chatter)

Assuming he shows up,

Mike and his team will use the opportunity to hop on his tail.

Mike is convinced that Ray is still trafficking,

but they need evidence.

MIKE: Any new information of this guy will help.

Part of the purpose of our organization is to work on guys

that do slip through the cracks.

MAN: Courtyard north, that's you.

MARIANA: So they have eyes on him, we're heading there now.

MAN: Hey, Mark's got direct visual. Do you have visual?

He's out on the street right now with his attorney.

Um, across the street.

MARIANA: Okay, here he is.

That's him right there on that corner.

Be careful with the cameras.

MIKE: Yeah.

MARIANA: Discreet, discreet. But he didn't see us.

MAN: I got you, Mike.

Walking down Fuller Street.

MAN: Who has visual?

MAN: Yes, Mark has eyes.

MIKE: Yes, Mark's to your right.

MARK: I'm here. I got him. He's about to drive past me.

MARIANA: Running through red lights, left and right here.

MAN: Hold on, trying to keep us flagged, give me a second.

MAN: I'm behind the subject.

MAN: I saw him one mile.

MIKE: Okay. Stay with him.

MAN: Mark, in number four lane.

MIKE: Okay. Stay with him.

MAN: Mike, too much traffic on the...

MARIANA: I'm in the Bay Area,

embedded with a team of private investigators,

chasing a suspected trafficker.

From the get‐go, he's acting suspicious,

flying down the highway.

Okay, be careful with the cameras,

because he's right in front of us.

Weaving through neighborhoods.

MIKE: Man, I need somebody here now, guys.

MAN: Behind you, coming up.

MARIANA: He finally pulls into a house

not far from Stanford University

that the PIs know well from previous surveillance.

MIKE: He's at Grandma's house.

Grandma's house. Grandma's house.

MARIANA: The day is spent keeping track of his movements.

Where does he go? Who does he see?

Who else might he be working with?

MIKE: Already there's a new car that we haven't seen before,

so it looks like we got some activity.

MARIANA: Traffickers are known to move victims

between different counties and even states

to keep them disoriented and to keep law enforcement guessing.

MIKE: This guy, he reports one address in the county

across the bay, one address in the South Bay.

He acquires the victims in another county,

so you've got multiple jurisdictions involved.

MAN: You can have something happening

on one side of the bay, and then really,

what, maybe four or five miles between the two?

But there's no communication between law enforcement

and sometimes the judicial system itself.

MARIANA: So that makes it really hard to catch guys like this?

MAN: Yes.

MARIANA: Building a real case against Ray

will take more missions like this one.

If successful, Mike will then hand over his findings

to law enforcement

with the hopes they'll open their own investigation.

But there's no guarantee.

And all of this is to try and stop

just one of the countless pimps and traffickers out there.

Still, Jenna is convinced.

JENNA: This is a crime that money and a good network

can actually solve.

MARIANA: Maybe that's a bit of Silicon Valley optimism.

Or maybe it's the truth.

But in thinking about money and resources

and the ugly business of trafficking,

there are other truths to consider, too.

MICKEY: As crazy as these pimps and prostitutes are,

they don't cross King Boulevard.

Once you cross King Boulevard, you cross into money.

MARIANA: To the north of King lies the campus of USC,

with its nearly $6 billion endowments.

To the south of King, it gets rough quick.

MICKEY: That look like someone had dropped a bomb on it,

like it looked war‐torn.

MARIANA: For Mickey, this divide explains everything

about where you end up in life; geography as destiny.

JACK KNIFE: We growing up in a certain area

where we ain't got no (bleep) resources.

We ain't got nothin'.

We can't do this and that

like certain other races can in their areas.

There ain't no jobs around.

You got a whole community that's not getting hired,

and you got a lot of (bleep) that's like, "What we gonna do?"

CHILL: I grew up around gangbangers, pimps.

At 15, you're not thinking about it like that,

but then now it's in your face and you're like,

"(bleep) it, why not?"

LADY P: My brother was a pimp.

MARIANA: And so you just grew up...

LADY P: I grew up with it. Yup.

GOTTI: There was a lot of pimpin' going on.

MARIANA: People in your family?

GOTTI: A couple guys in my family were pimps.

MARIANA: So you think if you grew up in another neighborhood,

in another place...

JACK KNIFE: It'd be totally different.

MARIANA: Another city, you'd be different?

JACK KNIFE: It'd be totally different.

I grew up with everybody around me.

Pimps, gangbangers, thieves, murderers, jackers,

all these (bleep), it's like one boiling pot.

It's (bleep) real out here.

I grew up with (bleep) I thought that was right.

(bleep) I'm seeing as I'm growing up,

I'm a kid, what the (bleep)?

And I got people telling me it's wrong,

but they got the money, though.

Well, how can I get this money?

It's a (bleep) up situation, but it's a hustle.

MARIANA: I make no excuses for these pimps.

But I understand Jack Knife's frustration.

It must be hard growing up adjacent to so much wealth

and having so few options.

But what makes pimping different than other hustles

is that people's lives are in the balance.

Most often young women

coming from their own difficult circumstances.

So I'm actually surprised when Chill agrees to let me sit down

with one of the women who works for him.

When did you start escorting?

CANDY: About when I was 15, and I fell into the wrong guy.

And it was horrible.

And then I met Chill at a bar

and he just seemed like a nice guy.

He was so sweet, honorable.

He's always a man of his word.

He does exactly what he said he's gonna do.

He believed in my dreams.

And he was just like, "Oh," like, "I can help you."

And he just started helping me.

MARIANA: I quickly realize that something feels off.

CANDY: He never judged me, and he just kind of took me in.

MARIANA: It's the most glowing review of a pimp

you could ever imagine.

Do you give him part of your money, though?

CANDY: Just, like, as if you would take your card out

and make a withdrawal.

Only mine is not a card, it's a person.

MARIANA: So he's your pimp?

CANDY: I wouldn't call him my pimp.

Because he's sweet.

He's very honorable.

MARIANA: You don't like to call him pimp?

What do you call him?

CANDY: My friend.

MARIANA: And I realize I have no idea

how many of these details are true.

And how many of them are simply talking points

to please her boss who spends the entire interview

looming over us with a pool stick in his hand.

That's the tricky thing

about doing these sex trafficking stories.

When you drive down a street

like Figueroa or International Boulevard,

and you see the women working,

it's impossible to know their realities.

Some of them are out there by choice,

but some of them are not.

Some of them are like Honey.

Do you ever get angry knowing that there's men, right now,

all over the city, all over the country,

doing to women what your pimp did to you?

HONEY: Yes.

In my case, a 12‐year‐old, for one,

they don't know what's best for them at the time.

I'm looking at an adult who can potentially guide me

in the right direction,

but I was guided in the wrong direction.

So it always crosses my mind, like, if I never got introduced

to this type of lifestyle, how would I be living?

Or what would my life be like? Or how would I be?

Would I be different? Would I still be the same?

Like, I just feel sorry for the females out there

who has to go through the same thing,

because it's like, it's just destroying a woman's whole life.

Uh‐oh!

Go get it.

Now, I'm like to the point where I have a child of my own,

and I have to make sure that I have more than enough for her.

Because I want to give her the world,

you know, 'cause she deserves it.

You know, she didn't ask to be here, I brought her here.

MARIANA: So I've been reading your book

and I've been taking some notes here.

"A ho to a pimp is worth nothing.

She's actually worth everything."

"You take away everything she has

then give her what she needs.

You, the pimp, are the cause

as well as the solution to all her problems.

You give her the poison and sell her the cure."

So this is something you...

MICKEY: That's actually true.

Pimpin' is premeditated.

You know exactly what you're doing

and you know the long‐term effects of it.

You have to be a sadist,

because you have to enjoy what you're doing,

and you know good and well what you're doing.

You know good and well what you're doing.

Captioned by Side Door Media Services