The Brooklyn DA today announced that it has charged four people, two men and two woman, in two separate but equally disturbing cases of sex trafficking involving young girls. "The defendants in these cases are the lowest of the low, forcing children to have sex for money," DA Charles Hynes said in a statement. And the charges against the four really are pretty grim. more ›

Four Brooklyn men were indicted on charges ranging from rape to sex trafficking a woman—and the Brooklyn DA's office says the assault on the victim began when she was just 13 and then terrorized her into continuing to meet with them until she was 21. It was only after they threatened to harm a member of her family that the woman, who managed to complete high school and enter college, finally told her college professor, a former Brooklyn DA, about the attacks last year. The professor said, "It's hard to imagine something more terrible than this." more ›

Nothing livens up a gray Friday afternoon like a busted sex trafficking ring involving the FBI, a Russians call-girls, and a murder-for-hire scheme. Police arrested alleged pimp Salah Youssef, 37, and assistant Victoriya Makogonyuk, 18, and accused them of running a call-girl ring out of Astoria. In addition, Youssef is accused of trying to get revenge on an associate who owed him money by hiring a friend to either accuse the associate of rape or murder him. more ›

Nonprofit organization Restore NYC is set to open the first safehouse in New York City dedicated to women who have escaped the global sex trade on Nov. 1 in Queens. But the opening underscores a major problem in NYC: the difficulty of successfully identifying, arresting and prosecuting sex traffickers. more ›

When top-ranking members of the Gambino crime family were indicted for a host of crimes in April, one charge stood out in particular: sex trafficking with girls as young as 15, something one prosecutor called “a new low for the Gambino family.” But a Gambino defense attorney is now accusing the government of complicity allowing the sex trafficking to occur. more ›

Eight members and associates of the Bloods have been arrested and charged with running a series of sex trafficking rings, some involving girls recruited from junior high schools. Four distinct operations around Bushwick, Brownsville and East New York were uncovered by Brooklyn prosecutors, including two run by alleged ringleader Abking Wilcox, who kept the working girls at his apartment: "He kept the girls prisoner in his house and if they didn't make the $500 minimum [a day] he beat them," one investigator told the Post. more ›

More details about the 16-year-old who was allegedly prostituted by a pimp to former Giants great Lawrence Taylor. The girl's sister told the Daily News that the pimp, Rasheed Davis, forced her to say she was 19, "She said she had no choice but to go along with it. She doesn't blame Mr. Taylor because he had no idea (she was a minor)." more ›

The Queens man who “bought” a homeless teen and pimped her out on Craigslist was handed a sentence of 25 years to life yesterday. "You are a con man of the first order," Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise told David Brown. "I'm going to do my best to insure that you never see the light of day again." Brown took naked pictures of the 19-year-old, who’s been described as “vulnerable,” and posted them on the web classifieds. His terrible scheme worked for a time—she was forced into sex with 30 men over 12 days in August 2008, with her captor getting payments ranging from $60-200. more ›

When police broke up a sex trafficking ring in Sunset Park back in November, they discovered the body of an infant encased in cement, sealed inside a Rubbermaid storage unit. At the time, police believed the infant died from lack of medical care denied by his mother's pimps. Today, the News reports that the boy was beaten to death. more ›

Earlier this week, Queens resident David Brown was found guilty of sex trafficking, kidnapping and other charges in Queens Supreme Court. Apparently, Brown paid his ex-girlfriend $2,000 to "purchase" a woman and posted nude photographs of the victimized 19-year-old on Craigslist—and he's the first convicted under former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's strict sex-trafficking law. Instead of facing a maximum of seven years, Brown will face 25 years in prison when sentenced in January. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown (no relation!) tells the Daily News that his "office continues to use every tool allowed under the law to prosecute dangerous individuals like this defendant and to seek justice for victims." more ›

After yesterday's horrifying reports that a Brooklyn couple allegedly kept a young Mexican immigrant hostage and forced her into prostitution (not to mention refusing care for her baby, who eventually died), Mayor Bloomberg said victims of sex trafficking should call 311 or 911, "Whatever your documentation status is, no matter what your situation is, you don't have to worry about it. We all have an obligation to help each other, and if somebody really is being trafficked, you've got to make that phone call... You're not putting yourself at risk. You are helping other people." more ›

Investigators uncovered the remains of an infant encased in cement and a Rubbermaid container when they broke up a suspected sex trafficking ring in Sunset Park. Federal prosecutors allege that Domingo Salazar, 33, smuggled a young Mexican woman into the country, forced her to turn tricks, and then refused to provide medical care for their three-month-old baby — whose remains were recovered in their 40th Street apartment on Tuesday. more ›

An intense traveling art exhibit that aims to enlighten people about the horrors of sex trafficking has arrived in New York. Called "Journey," the installation consists of seven shipping containers with work by international artists intended to evoke the experience of being a sex trafficking victim. It opened yesterday on Washington Place, and will remain open through Sunday. This video shows the interior of one of the containers, in which Coco de Mer founder Sam Roddick recreates a room in a brothel: more ›