Foreign Mafia Running Pattaya

[Locationthailand]

The B.i.B. are usually referred to as Mafia in Brown Uniforms. The Russians are in of course (entrenched) so I guess they must figure they are welcome due to the free trade agreements (splitting profits with the B.i.B.).

[bigbamboo]

Who cares which mafia runs Pattaya.

As long as they stay there.

[Chrisswe]

Sure this is a common problem in corrupted Thailand. Pay money to the Police bosses and you can do whatever you want. Check the car park at Police box Jomtien Beach!!

[sfbandung]

Is it just me or is it strange to anyone else that not far from the headline (decrying human trafficking) there is an ad saying, "Make a Play for Asian Girls".

[Hunter88]

Look for the " MAFIA WARS " coming soon to a theater near you.

[KhunHehe]

If by "foreign" you mean Russian.

But,soft! There are no Russians on SE Asian beaches.

[planetdweller]

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.

Me either. Where'd that stereotype come from? Oh yeah, I forgot , someone met someone in a bar that made an inadvertant remark and suddenly the entire USA is represented by the remark.

[Tanaka]

"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.

Remember he said his wife is an ex bargirl so it may have her telling him whatever to make him feel better for marrying her.

[Gary A]

Anyone who actually believes that the Russian mafia controls anything has obviously forgotten where they are. IF there even is a Russian mafia it will be controlled by the Thai police. NO ONE takes rice from a Thai's rice bowl.

[wealth]

Sure this is a common problem in corrupted Thailand. Pay money to the Police bosses and you can do whatever you want. Check the car park at Police box Jomtien Beach!!

Now there is a center. Who is GM there? Talking about the big hotel there. Still Victor the Russian? He was as I remember 14 years ago. Set up by locals to launder what?

Thais don't care from where the money comes from. And as long as the money flows as illegal as possible it's alright. So who is to blame?

You will also realize that with the large presence of Russians there you don't get bothered to much.

Unlike the Germans who were there before, and/or the Americans, the Russians brought in more money than the others before. That's it all about. The love for money.

[rebelplatoon]

Sorry but was this brilliant piece meant as a joke? Funny all the way.

[Teerak2]

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.

Directions please?

Potential opportunistic pimps will go in there and say, 'I have this great opportunity. We can bring you to the United States...

Oh yeah I forgot the United States is passing out visas to Thai bar girls like they're going out of style soon. What's he say next "I know we said we'd be flying you on a plane, but I'm going to have to ask you to hide in the bottom of this boat for the next 2 weeks."

...not every prostitute in Pattaya is working against her or his will...

I like how "guy" prostitutes are mentioned too...of course he's American, it wouldn't be politcally correct to not do so. Not to mention the against their will part

I haven't laughed this hard in a while, and for that I thank this "investigative" reporter.

[LennyW]

Pattaya is a disgusting toilet. I honestly have no idea why anyone besides a creepy sex tourist would want to visit there.

So i guess you are a creepy sex tourist that visited Pattaya to come to such an informed opinion.

[youngXpat]

And who give them visa to stay in Thailand

Totally in agreement.

How on earth are mafia or gangsters getting visas? It's true the authorities are concerned by their presence and increasing numbers but also while scratching their <deleted> trying to figure out what to do with them, they continue to take the back handers/brown envelopes of cash to turn a blind eye and issue them with visas!

[nevets]

I did not even bother to read it we all know the Thai Mafia / RTP. run Pattaya and all other cities in Thailand.

[crazydrummerpauly]

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 ?

I'm sure he can defend himself, but in case he's now away from this topic - he cited 2 specific locations known for prostitution that developed around the historically-specific presence of foreign military - he said nothing about the wider/longer history of prostitution in Thailand.

[Emdog]

So much crap in article, so many stupid and good remarks. You figure out which are which, eh? This line caught my eye "legal sex club businesses in Pattaya" I thought sex business illegal (tho like most laws here, not enforced unless BIB can make some money...).

The author of article is typical of the do gooder stance that many "liberal" Americans take: the girls are all exploited, forced into it, oh the traj of it all. So try to reform the girls, who scam them too.... maybe free trip back home and $ for new life, visit home then back to the cash cow. Not an easy life being bar girl, but lots easier than working rice field for no pay.

But I do take offense from those who say "typical American". Jealous Euro weenies? We have no monopoly on stupidity, and posts like those prove it. Attack the ideas or opinions, but it is lazy and pointless to attack country of origin of author. Regarding gun violence, Land of Smiles supposedly has more overall murders than USA (go to nationwatch.com for stats), and per capita about 8 times higher. I taught in the ghetto, taught crips and bloods who sometimes had guns on them. I know the hood. Only threatened a few times by students to kill me!

Russian mafia is scarry because so ruthless.

I prefer the scams and murders done on local level by the sweet ladies of their idiot farang boyfriends. Not organized, but clever.

So many flaws in the article that thought of just shaking head.... main thing want to say is "get real. Wake up and smell the coffee"

[bangkokrick]

Pattaya is a disgusting toilet. I honestly have no idea why anyone besides a creepy sex tourist would want to visit there.

What an incredibly narrow minded and ignorant statement. There are many other things to do in the Pattaya area rather than visiting bars and hookers and there are many Expats that are happily married, with families who like living in the area. I know because I am one of them.

I am not allowed to post a link, but try Googling 50 things to do in Pattaya you might just be surprised.

[Suradit69]

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

Too many people getting rich from it to stop it!

And some of the seedy, dodgy people claim to be doing research as a cover.

[monkeycountry]

The sad part is this socalled investigative journalist and his "sources" know less about this subject than pretty much any member of TV, or anyone who has spent more than 2 weeks in Pattaya :-)

[DoctorG]

Pattaya is a disgusting toilet. I honestly have no idea why anyone besides a creepy sex tourist would want to visit there.

What an incredibly narrow minded and ignorant statement. There are many other things to do in the Pattaya area rather than visiting bars and hookers and there are many Expats that are happily married, with families who like living in the area. I know because I am one of them.

I am not allowed to post a link, but try Googling 50 things to do in Pattaya you might just be surprised.

I think Thomas has led a very sheltered life, and probably hails from the Bible Belt.

[Miami Bob]

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

Again a clueless "useful idiot" takes to bashing the US when we are discussing Thailand and Russian mafia.

Walking in American cities is much safer than in Europe if you stay out of gang controlled ghettos, where the murders are mostly black on black.

No racism intended. Just the truth. States in America who allow concealed carry have very low crime rates. Same in Switzerland where people can defend themselves.

And the Russian mafia? The reason that they can take over any area they disire is their ruthlessness. They will murder anyone without ever thinking about it.

And they don't need the permission of their "bosses" as in the Italian of Chinese mafias.

Points well made about American cities. I seem to meet a lot of Euro/Brit/etc. guys here in Thailand that have a distorted view of what it's like in the states and tend to generalize about 315 million people. Lots of Russians here in Phuket now, the individuals I have met seem like regular people. Maybe a little cold until you get to know them a little. Their not all mafia, don't generalize! The biggest laugh I got from that article was about the police and bar owners getting most of the money paid to the girls...really!! When I had my live rock n roll bar in Patong the owners got part or all of the "bar fine" depending on if he gave them free room and board and the girl keeps 100% of whatever the John pays her. Police get there money from the bar owner not the girls.

[kevvy]

I'm American and unfortunately I would have to agree with you. America is a country that literally celebrates violent confrontation. So many people walk around there with a chip on their shoulder hoping for some sort of confrontation. Americans are just angry people in general.

Well, i dont think all Americans are angry, it is the same with every country , some are good some are bad .

[monkeycountry]

I have often wondered why most americans seem to have no clue what's going in the world around them, but it all makes sense to me now. Their newspapers and "journalists" are of the same quality as the Thai ones :-)

[ThomasBird67]

I have often wondered why most americans seem to have no clue what's going in the world around them, but it all makes sense to me now. Their newspapers and "journalists" are of the same quality as the Thai ones :-)

You simply making such an ignorant statement pretty much confirms you have no idea whats going on in the world around you. Let me guess. Youre from Manchester or some other depressing UK hellpit right?

[aalek85th]

Europeans should worry more about the Muslim invasion currently taking over their countries turning it into Eurabia. How you like Sharia Law guys? Already seem to be taking root in the UK. For the all the problems the states have Id take California or Florida over anything in the godawful depressing UK any day of the week. Id be willing to wager most Brits would too.

We don't worry.. we have you Americans keeping them in check.

[ThomasBird67]

I'm American and unfortunately I would have to agree with you. America is a country that literally celebrates violent confrontation. So many people walk around there with a chip on their shoulder hoping for some sort of confrontation. Americans are just angry people in general.

Well, i dont think all Americans are angry, it is the same with every country , some are good some are bad .

Sadly too many seem to be. The culture of victimhood that exists there has alot to do with it.

[thaikahuna]

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.

+1

[lemoncake]

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

Too many people getting rich from it to stop it!

The author visited red light zone, what city or country in the world has NOT dodgy and NOT seedy red light zone?

[razer]

Am I a genius or what? I figured this out two years ago.