New York- A prostitution ring that raked in up to $30 million and put at least one teenage runaway to work as a hooker was busted yesterday, city cops said.
Vice unit detectives, targeting the Internet-based Julie’s of New York City escort service, raided homes in Manhattan and Nassau County.
They arrested 25 suspects and seized about $2,000 in cash and an undisclosed amount of drugs, police said.
Among those collared were 15 alleged prostitutes, several johns, and a phone operator and security guards for the ring.
Police last night were still searching for one key player, a Freeport, L.I., madam called Julie. Her full name and age weren’t immediately available.
Police began investigating the escort front company about a year ago, at one point sending a female undercover cop to apply for a job, cops said.
“She was told that sex acts would be a part of the business,” a law enforcement source said.
Julie’s has been raking in about $3 million a year for a decade, a police source said. The hookers charged between $200 and $400 for a variety of sex acts, cops said.
Customers were told to call an hour ahead. Then they were directed to one of several locations, including four Manhattan apartments – three in the Clinton/Theater District area and a fourth in Murray Hill.
One of the apartments raided by police yesterday was a basement unit on W. 51st St. near Eighth Ave. A queen-sized poster bed filled the bedroom. Among the items left behind were a tube of lubricant, antiseptic towelettes and an empty bottle of white wine.
Residents at the Murray Hill building on E. 35th St. said they frequently saw people going in and out of a basement apartment searched by police.
“In retrospect, it makes sense,” a neighbor said. “I’ve never seen the same person there twice.”
A police source said investigators have