Foreign Mafia Running Pattaya

[webfact]

Underground Trade Part Four: One Town in Thailand (and human trafficking)



It was twilight, and I didn't know what to expect as I arrived by car to Pattaya, Thailand.

PATTAYA: -- The beach town's famed nightlife was already in full swing. Pattaya is a "Wild West" of bars, massage parlors, brothels and strip clubs. I watched as inebriated men wandered up and down the red-light district with its neon-sketched bars to the left and right. As I watched, newsjsdozens upon dozens of women enticed men to come inside. Sex tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry and a key element in the underground trade of human trafficking, said Ken Franzblau of Equality Now in New York. "But the money is essentially going to the corrupt local officials, the bar owners. Those that are controlling the activity of the women in those locations.

"Anyone who goes to Pattaya, they see 27,000 sex workers in a corridor of about three miles," said Matthew Friedman, former regional manager for the United Nations Interagency Project on Human Trafficking.

It's in these three miles that Friedman sees the complexities of human trafficking. I sat inside the Chocolate Butterfly Bar right next to three Thai "bar girls" -- the regional name for prostitutes. While waiting for customers, they sang along to a popular American hip-hop tune.


Pattaya's storefronts are fueled by organized crime. Russians have taken over some of the legal sex club businesses in Pattaya, and that is of growing concern to Thai authorities.

"The mafia is very much involved, the Russian mafia," Friedman said. "They franchise to the Uzbek mafia. So you have basically crime syndicates that are beginning to find a home in Pattaya. Eventually, I think the government of Thailand is going to have to address that, because it's something that has been there for a while now. It doesn't seem like it's going away."

Adding to the complexity, Friedman said, is the fact that not every prostitute in Pattaya is working against her or his will and that the decision to work in the red-light district is sometimes accepted by friends and family.

"In Southeast Asia and Thailand, there's more of an acceptance of it, as long as the money is going back to the family," he said. "If the girl were to basically go into the brothel industry and have the money for herself, then that goes against her karma, that would be negative merit, but if the money is going to support the family, it would be perceived as OK."

By American standards, it's not a lot of money. The low price of sex in Pattaya's red-light district is a draw for many sex tourists. It is often as low as eight US dollars.

Jim, a New York limo driver, whom we interviewed earlier in this series, explained how it works. He lived in Thailand in recent years.

"To have a girl in Pattaya for the night, where she spends the whole night with you, that's it; she's yours," Jim said. "It's, you know, you're buying a girl for the night. That's what you're doing. That's what's so nice, and she has to do whatever you ask her to do."

These women are poor, and their exploitation result from both poverty and the permission to view women as commodities. One young woman tells me she became a prostitute because she couldn't find a job in her village near the border with Laos and followed her sister to Pattaya. But her dream is to go to America.

Some men will marry the women they meet. "I met my wife at a bar in Thailand," said Jim.

But tourists aren't the only people seeking connections in the red-light district. Traffickers also see opportunity in Pattaya.

"The reason why you may see more Thais ending up in North America is that [Pattaya is] kind of an incubation place, if you will," Friedman said. "Potential opportunistic pimps will go in there and say, 'I have this great opportunity. We can bring you to the United States, and you can make four or five times what you're making here, and you can live a very good life, and you'll basically be able to have a lot of money and freedom,' and so forth. So they work out some kind of arrangement to get them over to the United States and once they're there, they're put into this situation where, as you say, it's like a circuit. Where they'll be in one particular location for a while, and then they'll spend two weeks in another location."

PREYING ON CHILDREN

Bar girls aren't the only commodity sex tourists seek in Thailand. About 45 minutes outside of Pattaya, past shanties and roadside stalls selling mangoes, I arrive at the Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Abuse Center.

A 12-year-old boy sitting under a tree told me American men have come to town and asked for him by name.

Sexually abusing a child violates Thailand's anti-human trafficking laws. But some Americans have come to the country thinking they can get away with it. One of the most notorious offenders was well known to American officials and the archdioceses of Boston and Los Angeles. But Thai airport immigration officials were not familiar with Father Paul Shanley. The 71-year-old priest implicated in the Catholic Church abuse scandal traveled to Thailand in March 2002 and spent as much as a month in Pattaya, according to immigration documents obtained by the Boston Herald at the time.

"In Pattaya, if there were fewer foreign people coming in to buy sex, then the problem would be easier to manage," said Palissorn Noja, who runs Pattaya's Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Abuse Center.

"Though the abuse of children is illegal, it's difficult to stop pedophiles from coming here because they are well organized. They have an entire worldwide network of people looking for children through human trafficking. And sex tourism makes it harder to stop."


Passport of an American man arrested in Pattaya in June 2012 for molesting a boy

During my visit, Noja monitored police scanners for news about a possible raid on the home of foreign sex abusers in the area. But it is often his organization that tips off the police, using information from the children here. In June police arrested a teacher, Gregory James Miller of Illinois, on suspicion of child trafficking. The tip came from his alleged victim.

Noja shares what he learns with a worldwide team of police based in Thailand, including a French detective who is tracking the movements of American and European tourists suspected of trafficking children.

"More and more, every year, nationals come abroad to have sex with children, so we need very strong, very efficient cooperation," he said. "That's why we have good relationships with federal agencies in the United States."

In Bangkok, Thailand's capital, the US Embassy works with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI to investigate traveling predators. The first line of defense is the U.S. State Department.

"First of all, we have our own human trafficking investigative team in the office of Diplomatic Security," said Luis C. DeBaca, Ambassador-at-Large in the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. "We also have our front-line folks who are the counselor affairs officers in all of our embassies, who are the ones who review the initial visa applications. They're in a perfect position to either stop somebody from being brought into the United States for exploitation or to connect the dots when they see a problem."

And the dots can almost always be connected by migration, said Friedman of the U.N.

"You tend to see trafficking of individuals from less developed countries to more developed countries," Friedman said. "So you'll see an influx from Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia into Thailand. Into China, you'll see women, boys, girls, men, from Myanmar and Vietnam going into China. If we have a situation where a woman is taken over to another [country], and she doesn't like it, and she can't leave that situation, obviously it would be a trafficking type of situation."

It is a situation that is occurring with increasing frequency along the Vietnam-China border.

Source: http://www.huffingto..._b_2714422.html

-- The Huffington Poat 2013-02-20

[joepattaya1961]

Typical American.........they think that all crime is some kind of organized.

Conspiracy theories and maffia.............problem with Pattaya is, that most crimes are NOT organized.

[clockman]

And some powerful Thai, are involved as per usual.!

[lovetotravel]

Typical American.........they think that all crime is some kind of organized.

Conspiracy theories and maffia.............problem with Pattaya is, that most crimes are NOT organized.

Most petty crimes are not organized. Most other crimes/scams are highly organized. And protected. No conspiracy theories there.

[pattayadingo]

It was twilight, and I didn't know what to expect as I arrived by car to Pattaya, Thailand.

Really? What sort of idiot goes all the way to Pattaya without doing any research? But then again doing research would not have had the same 'shocking' effect, would it?

Bars, ladies, sex, prostitutes !!! Oh, the horror of it all!

[lemoncake]

I saw 2 Japanese guys covered in tats, must have been yakuza

Later I saw 2 Chinese guys also with tats, they must be triads

Little later I saw them talk to each other , so I guess yakuza and triads are taking over town.

Really makes you wonder how many cells the author OP is short off

[jbrain]

"To have a girl in Pattaya for the night, where she spends the whole night with you, that's it; she's yours," Jim said. "It's, you know, you're buying a girl for the night. That's what you're doing. That's what's so nice, and she has to do whatever you ask her to do."

Yeah sure, and if you don't believe that I will tell you some more porkies.

the decision to work in the red-light district is sometimes accepted by friends and family.

Sometimes it is, or is it that they are encouraged MOST of the times.

[MikeENZ]

As opposed to ... the local mafia running things?

[socabeat]

just another innocent american...he came by mistake to pattaya without knowing where he went ! he forgot to consult a travelbook. the poor guy doesn't know pattaya was "invented" by and for american soldiers for relaxing during the vietnam war...

[charliebru]

Typical American.........they think that all crime is some kind of organized.

Conspiracy theories and maffia.............problem with Pattaya is, that most crimes are NOT organized.

"Typical American" ? I am American and have never thought all crime is organized and don't know anyone else who thinks that.

[Katipo]

Spoke to the owner of a well established chain of pubs in Thailand just after he opened his first in Pattaya a few years back, he said he has to pay the Russians down there.

[alfalfa19]

What a load of overly dramatic nonsense.

[youngXpat]

And the author is surprised that a seedy, dodgy place attracts seedy, dodgy people???

Too many people getting rich from it to stop it!

[fisherd3]

Under some circumstances in to mention one example: Arizona USA, Children under 15 can quite legally Marry.

So perhaps as usual The American bigots should put their own house in order before talking nonesense in other countries (probably for profit).

[youngXpat]

'Russians have taken over some of the legal sex club businesses in Pattaya, and that is of growing concern to Thai authorities.'

This is hilarious. Of course they are concerned, farang making more money than they do!

[thenervoussurgeon]

What a load of the usuall old rubbish that you read in the western papers ,the op is an idiot.

[tomyumchai]

would someone mind telling me where i can find 3 miles of willing sex workers? i know a few miles of bars full of women talking to guys in other countries on their ipads and iphones but im struggling to find a woman that wants to go anywhere for the night. well, unless she can get free wifi and be left alone in the room to chat b/s with some guy who bombards her with b/s on farcebook.

latest example.

"you want to come with me for the night? we can go to a nice restaurant to eat and then drink some drinks and later go back room to some fun and sa-leep"

"ok! me want go with you all night!"

"check bin khrup!"

1 hour later after a shower in the room..........

"you have to boom boom me now, me want go eat with my sister......"

"eh? what happened to all night and the nice restaurant etc?"

"NO! me want chat with my friend on farcebook/thailovelink/twatter/any other media shitesite all night!"

" so, you want me pay you now so you can go sit on internet all night and talk <deleted>?"

"YES, YOU PAY ME MONEY SO I CAN GO INTERNET"

"REALLY?.......get your bag,close the door on your way out love,.................table for 1 it is then."

[britinthai]

At least you can walk around the area unlike many parts of America's crime rated areas

[Globeman]

"To have a girl in Pattaya for the night, where she spends the whole night with you, that's it; she's yours," Jim said. "It's, you know, you're buying a girl for the night. That's what you're doing. That's what's so nice, and she has to do whatever you ask her to do."

Yeah sure, and if you don't believe that I will tell you some more porkies.

the decision to work in the red-light district is sometimes accepted by friends and family.

Sometimes it is, or is it that they are encouraged MOST of the times.

Yeah, the whole key to making these stories fly in the West, is that the "victim" has to have no free will in the process. They have to be totally innocent and their victimisers have to be totally evil. Shades of grey don't work in sensationalist news stories.

[wealth]

it's a "research" with wrong hints and packed with assumptions.

It is organized, but not the way as described here. It is organized by locals through an extensive network. Blackmailing is just a small part of it.

As a Thai man I know describes it "Thai Mafia is very nice, not like others". This man comes from a reputable family and is not involved - yet.

Furthermore it's a trade that involves far more than prostitution. It's about drugs, weapons, realty and money laundering which is now more rampant than ever before. Follow the track about 4 and 5 star facilities. Like never before, there's a hunt over these premises all over the country.

Yesterday's report over a fast sinking Bangkok and nearby provinces was put up on a purpose for a Dubai local(easy to guess) to take over for a cheaper price. He has many businesses running and under cover. Why would one think that this Dubai local would not resort to the underground to satisfy his greed?

This article, shame on Huf or AOL, was put up to serve the same purpose. Poor quality. It doesn't matter, people will believe and chew it anyway.

To clean up Pattaya takes about 20 years and only when there's a real focus on it.

[kingstonkid]

First this is an article that was written for the most leftist liberal news(?) service inthe US. Huffington even kisses Obama's assets.

Now on to the article. I agree with the posts that the American's tend to forget that like all the other problems they left behind in Vietnam they also left Khaosan Road and Walking Street. Let's face it the vets that came to Thailand for R and R them came to let loose get laid, smoke some weed and get drunk. These bars were created by them for them. To be honest it was the war that educated me about Thailand.

Huff also forgot to mention that these houses only exist because of the people that come here. If the god people of England , Australia and the UK decided not to come here then it would not exist.

As for the mafia yep you definitely do not want the Russians as they will not pay as much kick back to the police.

[jbrain]

First this is an article that was written for the most leftist liberal news(?) service inthe US. Huffington even kisses Obama's assets.

Now on to the article. I agree with the posts that the American's tend to forget that like all the other problems they left behind in Vietnam they also left Khaosan Road and Walking Street. Let's face it the vets that came to Thailand for R and R them came to let loose get laid, smoke some weed and get drunk. These bars were created by them for them. To be honest it was the war that educated me about Thailand.

Huff also forgot to mention that these houses only exist because of the people that come here. If the god people of England , Australia and the UK decided not to come here then it would not exist.

As for the mafia yep you definitely do not want the Russians as they will not pay as much kick back to the police.

So you think that before the Americans landed here, prostitution didn't exist on a big scale in Thailand ?

[sirchai]

What a load of the usuall old rubbish that you read in the western papers ,the op is an idiot.

I wouldn't go that far. He seems to be Pee Baa......

[oneday]

"...and she has to do whatever you ask her to do." What a load of BS!

I wanted to highlight a few statements I felt were wrong or utterly misleading, but there were so many that I'll sum this article up by saying, this is the worst piece of unsubstantiated crap journalism I've ever read.

[pinfold]

The Russians will become an even bigger problem to other foreigners in the future. Few years ago same-same in not too distant "tropical paradise" Visa changes occurred due to them,everyone forced out

[charmonman]

First this is an article that was written for the most leftist liberal news(?) service inthe US. Huffington even kisses Obama's assets.

Now on to the article. I agree with the posts that the American's tend to forget that like all the other problems they left behind in Vietnam they also left Khaosan Road and Walking Street. Let's face it the vets that came to Thailand for R and R them came to let loose get laid, smoke some weed and get drunk. These bars were created by them for them. To be honest it was the war that educated me about Thailand.

Huff also forgot to mention that these houses only exist because of the people that come here. If the god people of England , Australia and the UK decided not to come here then it would not exist.

As for the mafia yep you definitely do not want the Russians as they will not pay as much kick back to the police.

They left behind Khaosan Road? Say what? I stayed on Khaosan Road in 1987 when it was just a few guesthouses and small restaurants. As far as I know it only really got started as a backpackers center a few years before that. Of course now it is a frigging zoo and full of bars and clubs, but I really doubt the American presence during the Vietnam War had absolutely anything to do with it. Did you mean Patpong Road, perhaps? Even then, I think it's development had more to do with German sex tourists in the 70 and 80s.

Virtually every nightspot that existed in Thailand during the Vietnam War is long gone.

[zoran1]

And who give them visa to stay in Thailand

[stingray]

I live here for almost 20 years and i have to mention, that the above story is 90% untrue. Did the poster ever try to get a Thaigirl to US? There is almost NO WAY, that a Thai girl gets visa to the US. My wife not even got one and we are financially secure and she has a 2 year multiple shengen visa for Eorope, second time already since we married, was several time in Europe. So it's not that easy to luring girls into a prossy business in the US, as the poster mean.

[super22k]

I was told by a bar girl she goes every year to Pattaya to be a bar girl for the money and also the sex. She enjoys the sexual side very much. Better than a sweat shop.

[shawndoc]

"...and she has to do whatever you ask her to do." What a load of BS!

I wanted to highlight a few statements I felt were wrong or utterly misleading, but there were so many that I'll sum this article up by saying, this is the worst piece of unsubstantiated crap journalism I've ever read.

To be fair, I made a similar mistake my first time to Thailand. I was all "Look, I paid your bar fine, you have to do whatever I want." At first I thought it was a language barrier, but there's no way she couldn't understand what I wanted. I even filled the sink up with soapy water and put some dishes in so she could see how it was done, and the toilet bowl cleaner was purchased at Big C and was in Thai. She had to understand how to use it with the brush I gave her. I even purchased a brand new set of gloves for her. But no, all she wanted to do was take a shower and go lie in bed.

"You think I paid your fine and drove you all the way out to my place just so you could lounge about like you were on holiday? I expect you to work."

'Yeah, I work in bed.'

What nonsense. Ended up kicking her out and finding a respectable maid service the next day.