Take an in-depth look at the illegal activities going on at many storefronts around Long Island.

Long Island

Investigations

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Hundreds of Long Island massage spas sell sex. Neighbors complain. Police raid them. Business is booming.

Hundreds of LI massage spas sell sex. Neighbors complain. Raids are up. Business thrives.

AIAudio - Hundreds of Long Island massage spas sell sex. Neighbors complain. Police raid them. Business is booming.


Police have raided nearly 240 spas in the last five years &mdash;&nbsp;85 places more than once &mdash; and arrests are up more than 1200%.&nbsp;Newsday investigative reporter Sandra Peddie has the details.

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Huntington Station

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Huntington Town

Newsday

'They are in every town'

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Why hasn't Islip Town done more to crack down on sex spas?

Why hasn't this Long Island town done more to crack down on sex spas?

AIAudio - Why hasn’t Islip Town done more to crack down on sex spas?


AIAudio - Why hasn't Islip Town done more to crack down on sex spas?

Across the Island, authorities raided more than 250 illicit spas in the past five&nbsp;years. Only three of them have been in the Town of Islip.&nbsp;NewsdayTV&#39;s Shari Einhorn and the Newsday investigative team report.

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Islip Town

'I'm very shocked this is going on'

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Hadjira Allab fled Algeria in 2023 after she said she was raped and later faced death threats for rejecting Islamic rule. 
After graduating with a degree in law and political science, the 31-year-old arrived in New York on a tourist visa, obtained a U.S. work permit and set out to pursue her version of the American dream. 
But after trying to make a living for about two years — waitressing at a hookah lounge in Manhattan — her income barely allowed Allab and her boyfriend to pay the rent for a tiny bedroom in Queens. 
She sought work at a massage spa in Hempstead, where she said she faced constant threats from the spa's owner to provide illicit services. 
On Long Island, the consequences of being arrested at <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/investigations/sex-massage-spa-erx3y7o0">an illicit massage spa </a>depend less on the alleged crime than on the county where police make the arrest. A Newsday investigation found at least 22 women arrested in Nassau massage spas were transferred to ICE under the county’s partnership with federal immigration authorities. In neighboring Suffolk, women arrested under nearly identical circumstances were released with summonses. The result is a two-tiered justice system where one arrest can result in immigration detention hundreds of miles away before a criminal case is ever resolved. 
"I came legally," Allab told Newsday in a phone interview from a U.S. immigration detention center more than 1,000 miles away in Pompano Beach, Florida, before she was deported to Algeria&nbsp;in June. "I applied for asylum. I didn’t cross the border." 
Newsday reviewed dozens of court records detailing the arrests of the 22 women transferred to ICE by Nassau police. Reporters interviewed their attorneys, visited their apartments&nbsp;and monitored their stays in ICE detention across four states. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/c1c82e8d-d172-4700-9714-dd9c328c8432" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="htmlBlurb" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/c1c82e8d-d172-4700-9714-dd9c328c8432', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/c1c82e8d-d172-4700-9714-dd9c328c8432">STORYWIDGET: inICESPA260719_scrolly</a> 
<h3>A tale of two counties</h3> 
Under a partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement led by&nbsp;gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the fate of women like Allab comes down to an on-the-spot decision in a Long Island police precinct. 
Nassau police entered the federal partnership known as 287(g) to transfer defendants to ICE, shortly after President Donald Trump began his second term. County authorities have handed over at least 144 defendants to federal agents since then, data shows. 
Blakeman, who pursued the agreement with ICE, said handing over women to federal agents helps protect them from dangerous situations. 
"We're concerned in Nassau County that the women are working against their will," Blakeman told Newsday. "A lot of these women were brought here and are working against their will, or are working off fees that were paid to those who smuggled them in." 
Asked why officials transfer women to ICE custody, Blakeman said, "They're better off going there and being safe and going back to their countries and being reunited with their families than being here under the control of somebody who has them enslaved." <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/cbd16de7-0f67-4795-a829-515a6df69007" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="profileCard" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/cbd16de7-0f67-4795-a829-515a6df69007', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/cbd16de7-0f67-4795-a829-515a6df69007">STORYWIDGET: inICESPA260719_blakemancard</a> 
After an arrest, Nassau officers try to confirm a defendant’s immigration status and, in some cases, contact ICE agents, who may transfer the defendant to an out-of-state detention center. 
Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told Newsday it is not always clear to police whether someone is in the United States&nbsp;illegally. Detectives collect information from defendants, and from state and federal databases, he said. Last year marked the first time Nassau police transferred defendants to ICE who would otherwise be released, Ryder previously told Newsday. 
In Suffolk, police are taking a different approach. 
"There’s a possibility that some of these women may be forced into that type of work, so we always want to make sure that we understand exactly what’s going on," Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina told Newsday. 
It’s a mix of investigating criminality and "concern for the people involved," Catalina said. 
Some arrested spa workers are aware of the <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/investigations/illegal-massage-spa-johns-arrests-p6jq08d9">consequences of working in Nassau</a>&nbsp;versus Suffolk. Sitting in a Central Islip court, one 27-year-old Venezuelan woman told Newsday she wasn’t worried about her pending criminal charges. 
"I’m more scared of ICE than the court," said the woman whose name is not being used to protect her privacy. 
There are other counties in New York where one jurisdiction cooperates with ICE and the one next door does not. But those counties are much smaller than Nassau and Suffolk and have lower arrest numbers, Newsday found. 
The New York Civil Liberties Union, Latino Justice PRLDEF and the Hofstra Law Clinic are suing Nassau County, Ryder and the police department —&nbsp;claiming the 287(g) agreement violates state law. Blakeman has maintained the partnership is valid. 
In May, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a series of immigration bills that require counties like Nassau to terminate their 287(g) agreements, as part of a larger effort by state Democrats to regulate ICE activity in New York. Blakeman has until Aug. 25&nbsp;to terminate the county's partnership. Otherwise, New York Attorney General Letitia James said she will take legal action. Blakeman, who is running to unseat Hochul as governor, has said before he will sue to defend Nassau's program. 
<h3>'Good luck to you'</h3> <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="W &amp; L Day Spa on Carman Avenue in Westbury this month.
" data-attr-credit="Newsday" data-attr-f="3x2" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/31b7e591-4d65-4b10-921f-cb0bbea4947c" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/31b7e591-4d65-4b10-921f-cb0bbea4947c', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/31b7e591-4d65-4b10-921f-cb0bbea4947c"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/31b7e591-4d65-4b10-921f-cb0bbea4947c/LIGAS26071413.jpg?f=3x2&amp;w=400&amp;q=0.3">W &amp; L Day Spa on Carman Avenue in Westbury this month. </a> 
As women sit in immigration detention centers miles away, their Nassau criminal cases often proceed. Judges may not know where the women are and attorneys sometimes cannot locate them. Warrants are sometimes issued when they fail to appear. 
<a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/investigations/massage-spa-raids-map-rll4dst0">Newsday observed several cases</a> where women’s names were called in a courtroom on Main Street in Hempstead while they were in federal detention more than 1,300 miles away. 
It took six weeks for Stuart Austin, who has represented more than 50 spa workers, to find one of his clients, who was arrested Jan. 1 at W &amp; L Spa in Westbury. 
"It’s crazy the hoops you have to jump through," Austin said in his Mineola office. 
Resolving the criminal charge can be critical to the woman’s immigration case, but arranging a remote appearance may take weeks. 
On April 29, a Chinese woman appeared on a rolling courtroom screen in an orange detention uniform. From a Louisiana detention center, she accepted a plea reducing prostitution and unlicensed massage charges to disorderly conduct and a $120 fine. 
Nassau District Court Judge Diana Hedayati told her, "Good luck to you." 
As of July 21, after months in ICE detention, her name no longer appeared in federal ICE records. Austin said he did not know whether she was deported. 
<h3>From Flushing to Freeport</h3> 
A Newsday investigation analyzed the cases of 22 arrested spa workers who spent months in immigration detention sites in Pompano Beach;&nbsp;Monroe and Basile, Louisiana; Houston; and Newark.&nbsp; 
At least 16 were from China, five were Hispanic and Allab is from Algeria. Their median age was 45. A large share of&nbsp;illicit massage workers in the United States are from China, research shows. 
As of mid-July, 10 women were no longer listed in ICE’s detainee locator. Four remained in ICE detention in Louisiana. Newsday could not confirm the outcome of the other cases. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/c6edee70-af0e-4f9d-9041-d9fdcdb13aad" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="htmlBlurb" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/c6edee70-af0e-4f9d-9041-d9fdcdb13aad', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/c6edee70-af0e-4f9d-9041-d9fdcdb13aad">STORYWIDGET: inICESPA260719_map</a> 
Newsday analyzed the cases of nearly 400 women arrested at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/investigations/suffolk-clerk-vincent-puleo-massage-parlor-pgwf8917">Long Island’s illicit massage spas</a>. About &nbsp; a third&nbsp; were charged with giving massages without a license, not prostitution. 
In New York, you must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to get a massage license. 
Some women work at spas to pay off debt they accrued immigrating to the U.S United States. The cost can range from $10,000 for a visa to $50,000 to cross the southern border illegally, experts told Newsday. 
"The debt gets bought and sold between [spa] owners," said Ian Hassell, founder and CEO of The Network, a group that has investigated illicit massage businesses for years. "The first storefront where a woman ends up, that owner pays off the debt to the person back in China who lent it originally." 
<h3>‘Pushed me to leave Islam’</h3> 
Allab said armed militants kidnapped and raped her in Algeria when she was 15, targeting her family because her father had served on an anti-terrorism police task force. Government records reviewed by Newsday show militants shot and seriously wounded her father years earlier. She said she concealed the rape until her parents attempted to arrange her marriage. 
After earning a bachelor’s degree in law and political science from the University of Algiers, Allab began to question her religious upbringing, and "faced a lot of hostility" for it, said Daniel Porcerelli, one of her immigration attorneys. 
Things deteriorated in September 2023, when Allab launched a live broadcast on TikTok called, "The main reason that pushed me to leave Islam." 
She said she started to receive daily menacing phone calls. One day, Allab found a bloodstained shirt on her doorstep, her lawyer said. 
"I was scared to stay in my country," Allab told Newsday. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/d362d363-ad62-42b6-9633-fbf798a17c34" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="profileCard" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/d362d363-ad62-42b6-9633-fbf798a17c34', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/d362d363-ad62-42b6-9633-fbf798a17c34">STORYWIDGET: inICESPA260719_allabcard</a> 
In November 2023, when Allab arrived in New York, she began to look for work. A woman running a spa in Hempstead offered her a job. Allab worked long hours waxing clients until she said her boss demanded she have sex with a customer. 
Allab said her boss listed her on sex sites like Bedpage as "Arabic. 20 minutes. $60." 
A woman’s ethnic background is a moneymaker for spa owners. 
More listings on Bedpage read, "New Asian girl," "exotic Caribbean caramel girl" and "all American redhead." 
<h3>Allab's deportation</h3> <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="Hadjira Allab's bedroom that she shared with her boyfriend in their Queens apartment.
" data-attr-credit="" data-attr-f="3x2" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/a3cddb95-91d2-4b65-afa9-ba4cda07c8b4" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/a3cddb95-91d2-4b65-afa9-ba4cda07c8b4', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/a3cddb95-91d2-4b65-afa9-ba4cda07c8b4"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/a3cddb95-91d2-4b65-afa9-ba4cda07c8b4/inICESPA260719.jpg?f=3x2&amp;w=400&amp;q=0.3">Hadjira Allab's bedroom that she shared with her boyfriend in their Queens apartment. </a> 
On Jan. 21, Nassau undercover detectives arrested Allab and another worker on prostitution and unlicensed massage charges after an encounter at the spa, police records show. Allab disputes that she voluntarily offered sex. 
Allab applied for asylum after her tourist visa expired. Her asylum application was pending and she had federal authorization to work when Nassau police transferred her to ICE. 
Spokespeople for the Nassau police department did not respond to questions about why detectives transferred Allab to ICE custody.&nbsp;ICE officials initially did not respond to a request for comment.&nbsp; 
After publication, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, issued a statement but refused to be quoted by name. The statement said that granting legal authorization to work does not bestow legal status in the United States, and undocumented residents who leave now retain the chance to come back legally. 
Those who use a government app to self-deport can receive a free flight to their country of origin and $2,600, the statement said. 
By the time she was due in Hempstead court on Feb. 4, Allab was already at ICE’s Broward Transitional Center in Florida. 
On March 11, Nassau police arrested Suman Kundu, the spa’s co-owner, on felony charges of managing and profiting from a prostitution business. He was released without bail and his case is ongoing. <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="Stacks of Hadjira Allab's personal documents left behind in Hello Kitty folders.
" data-attr-credit="Newsday" data-attr-f="3x2" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/ad36355e-2d33-420b-94c1-196dceea0f01" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/ad36355e-2d33-420b-94c1-196dceea0f01', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/ad36355e-2d33-420b-94c1-196dceea0f01"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/ad36355e-2d33-420b-94c1-196dceea0f01/INICE3.jpg?f=3x2&amp;w=400&amp;q=0.3">Stacks of Hadjira Allab's personal documents left behind in Hello Kitty folders. </a> 
In ICE custody, Allab’s mental health deteriorated, said Mohamed Elsharnoby, one of her immigration attorneys. Sleeping in a cell with a handful of other women, barred from receiving incoming calls or emails from her boyfriend or parents, passing time before the long-anticipated day when an immigration judge would decide her fate. 
On May 19, Allab appeared in a video conference before U.S. Immigration Judge Frank T. Pimentel. Her application for asylum was denied. 
In the nearly six months she was held in federal custody, Allab worried that&nbsp;if she were deported, Algerian authorities would arrest her at the airport. She feared persecution from her government back home and attacks&nbsp;by religious extremists. 
Back at her Queens apartment, remnants of Allab's life with her boyfriend — three Trump flags and two framed Quran verses — remain. 
Allab said she came to America believing it would protect someone who spoke out against oppression. 
For Nassau police, her arrest was a routine prostitution case. For immigration authorities, it became another deportation. For Allab, whatever hopes she had in coming to America ended with a flight back to Algeria, plunging her into a life she thought she had escaped. 
In her last call with Newsday before being deported, she said, "If I knew it would be like this, I never would have come here.” <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/43dcfc88-829a-4d94-9d56-1c9f8d7136d1" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="htmlBlurb" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/43dcfc88-829a-4d94-9d56-1c9f8d7136d1', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/43dcfc88-829a-4d94-9d56-1c9f8d7136d1">STORYWIDGET: inICESPA260719_relateds</a>

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Women arrested at illicit spas in Nassau risk deportation, but not in Suffolk

AIAudio - Women arrested at illicit spas in Nassau risk deportation, but not in Suffolk


The consequences depend less on the alleged crime than on the county where police make the arrest. Newsday political reporter Bahar Ostadan has the story.

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Nassau

'I am victim, I have nothing'

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Newsday Staff

Bill said he began buying sex at illicit Long Island massage spas several years ago. 
"My wife and I got our feet done at this one spa in town, and it was like — she hated it, I loved it," said the Suffolk resident and married father of two grown children, who asked that his middle name be used to protect his privacy. "I kept going ... and then it graduated to something else." 
Bill said he did not fear being arrested. He is one of thousands of Long Island men who frequent <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/investigations/sex-massage-spa-erx3y7o0">illicit massage businesses</a>. 
Despite years of aggressive raids, a Newsday investigation found Nassau and Suffolk police have only arrested the women accused of selling sex while leaving the men who buy it free from prosecution, even when they are identified during raids. 
Since 2021, the departments have arrested nearly 400 spa workers but no customers at illicit massage businesses, according to state arrest records, court files and police reports reviewed by Newsday. Anti-trafficking experts, prosecutors and researchers say the approach ignores the demand that fuels an underground industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars across New York. 
"They’re almost going out of their way to ignore the men," said Michael Shively, a former Northeastern University professor who has extensively researched sex buying. "It’s close to impossible to solve a problem by ignoring its cause." 
Advocates say the practice is unfair and targets only women for a crime that takes two. 
"It’s unjust," said Jimmy Lee, president of The Network, an anti-trafficking nonprofit based in Virginia. "We’re not addressing the demand side." <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/2fa2e2b6-1af5-46e2-ae66-d84677c55279" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="profileCard" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/2fa2e2b6-1af5-46e2-ae66-d84677c55279', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/2fa2e2b6-1af5-46e2-ae66-d84677c55279">STORYWIDGET: INJOHNS260719_pq1</a> 
Cynthia Pizzulli, a sex therapist in Melville who said she has dozens of clients who frequent illicit spas, called massage spas modern-day brothels. 
"If you’re going to arrest the women, arrest the men," she said. "Or, don’t arrest the women and don’t arrest the men." 
<h3>Sex buyers: ‘They’re 17, they’re 80’</h3> 
Consumer demand is the only reason victims, brothels and traffickers exist, Shively said. And this demand is fueled by ease of access and no fear of getting caught, several experts said. 
Christine Guida, a senior Nassau assistant district attorney who leads the human trafficking unit, said, "As long as people pay money for this, there are going to be traffickers and there are going to be victims." <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="A man enters K&amp;T Foot Spa in St. James on June 18." data-attr-credit="Newsday" data-attr-f="Freeform" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/ca0731a2-5695-408a-887f-6202dff964cc" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/ca0731a2-5695-408a-887f-6202dff964cc', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/ca0731a2-5695-408a-887f-6202dff964cc"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/ca0731a2-5695-408a-887f-6202dff964cc/PFOST2026-06-19_at_6.54.4.jpg?f=Freeform&amp;w=400&amp;q=0.3">A man enters K&amp;T Foot Spa in St. James on June 18.</a> 
The buyers aren’t a narrow slice of society, researchers say. 
"They’re everybody. They’re young. They’re 17, they’re 80. They’re rich, they’re not," said Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, director of Arizona State University’s Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research. 
Prices vary based on the sexual service or even a worker’s ethnicity. One spa worker told Newsday her manager priced Latina women at $100 or $150 per hour for "full service," and Asian women at $200 to $300 per hour. 
Police have been using written depositions from male clients who paid for sexual services as evidence to charge the spa workers, a Newsday review of hundreds of court records found. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/e7585a7f-b93d-4fbd-8a49-c08276790d80" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="htmlBlurb" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/e7585a7f-b93d-4fbd-8a49-c08276790d80', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/e7585a7f-b93d-4fbd-8a49-c08276790d80">STORYWIDGET: INJOHNS_tear1</a> 
In a Jan. 16 raid in Oceanside, Nassau police arrested four women, ages 53 to 64, at New Angel's Healing Spa on Merrick Road. They interviewed at least two male customers. 
A 30-year-old man, whom detectives found "laying naked on a massage table" as a 61-year-old woman exited the room, told police he usually paid $100 when he visited the spa: $50 for a half-hour massage and $50 for a sex service, court records show. 
Nassau police did not arrest the men they named in court records reviewed by Newsday. 
<h3>Difficult to prove</h3> 
A Newsday analysis of state arrest data, local police reports and interviews with law enforcement sources, found Nassau and Suffolk police have not arrested men for buying sex at illicit massage spas in the last five years. 
Police officials said it is difficult to prove that men are buying sex at spas even though — under New York law — buying sex is a more serious crime than selling it. "Patronizing a person for prostitution" is a class A misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine or up to 1 year in jail; prostitution is punishable by a $500 fine or up to 6 months in jail. 
When&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/crime/illicit-long-island-message-foot-spas-arrests-nassau-rar5sp9q">raiding allegedly illicit spas</a>, detectives go undercover posing as customers. To make the arrest, they have to reach an agreement with a spa worker to buy sex. That becomes the basis for arresting women, officials say. 
But to arrest customers, both Nassau and Suffolk police commissioners said, they must prove what happened behind closed doors — finding evidence the man agreed to pay for sex and wasn’t just there for a regular massage. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/f1142c82-fa5b-4af6-b01f-646c37fe5f32" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="profileCard" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/f1142c82-fa5b-4af6-b01f-646c37fe5f32', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/f1142c82-fa5b-4af6-b01f-646c37fe5f32">STORYWIDGET: INJOHNS_pq2</a> 
"We can’t just arrest someone because they walked into a massage parlor," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said in an interview. "We don’t know for certain that person is going in there for any <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/crime/long-island-massage-foot-parlors-investigation-ray-tierney-idd17sfy">kind of illegal purpose</a>." 
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told Newsday they do arrest customers, but Newsday’s investigation into arrest records and state data revealed otherwise. The police department did not provide any records of spa customer arrests despite repeated requests from Newsday. 
Spa workers have told Newsday they each service anywhere from five to 10 men per day, offering a tiny glimpse into the enormity of the illicit spa industry across Long Island. 
"When you ignore the buyers, and you just go after the ... supply side, usually women and girls who are sexually exploited, it’s at best a temporary impact," Shively said. "Maybe it’s cleaned up for a while, but that business is just moving down the street. It’s not solving the problem." 
<h3>A regular haunt</h3> 
For Bill, buying sex at spas became a near-weekly habit. 
"Even the regular spas, the legitimate ones, you get a massage from a girl in there who gives you a little more," he told Newsday, referring to "mixed-use" spas that provide both regular massages and illicit services. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/3fb19e64-226c-401e-9270-4e1dacaf422a" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="htmlBlurb" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/3fb19e64-226c-401e-9270-4e1dacaf422a', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/3fb19e64-226c-401e-9270-4e1dacaf422a">STORYWIDGET: MASSAGESPAS_mapandtable</a> 
After discovering Bedpage, an online site that advertises escorts and illicit massage spas across the country, an unmarked storefront on Grand Avenue in Massapequa became Bill’s regular haunt. 
It sits between a children’s jiujitsu gym and an accountant’s office. Thick, black curtains covered the windows, along with a years-old awning advertising a wedding photography studio that once occupied the retail space. Newsday could not reach the spa’s owner for comment. 
The door was always locked, Bill said. "As soon as I got to the door, they let me in. They’ve got cameras in front of the place to see who’s coming and going," he said. "If police wanted to raid the place, they’d see it on the camera." 
Unlike other forms of prostitution — an escort service drawing men to motels, or a stretch of road that is home to street walkers soliciting customers — massage parlors are often considered low risk. 
"It is absolutely the safest. And you can pay in cash, so you don’t need to have an electronic record of having been there," said Ian Hassell, CEO of The Network. 
Said Pizzulli, the sex therapist: "If you want to see an escort, there are a lot more hoops to jump through. This is just walking off the street or making a massage appointment. Easy peasy." <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-align="right" data-attr-caption="Listings for illicit massages appear on websites like Bedpage targeting Long Island customers." data-attr-credit="" data-attr-f="Freeform" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/bc98c84f-b92c-4343-b832-01dd6f797f8b" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/bc98c84f-b92c-4343-b832-01dd6f797f8b', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/bc98c84f-b92c-4343-b832-01dd6f797f8b"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/bc98c84f-b92c-4343-b832-01dd6f797f8b/84a5ffd8cee968e13b4b1fdbfa1e9e01120fe0a8.jpg?f=Freeform&amp;w=400&amp;q=0.3">Listings for illicit massages appear on websites like Bedpage targeting Long Island customers.</a> 
A handful of online sites advertise erotic massages, featuring hundreds of images of women either topless or wearing lingerie. 
Spa managers run a phone line that sex buyers can text or call, sharing price lists and instructing customers on whether to enter through the building’s back door. 
A site called Utopia Guide features hundreds of reviews of illicit spas. Online users discuss the services received, rate the appeal of the women and even warn others about police raids. 
"Careful with that black Tahoe parked in front of the shop," one man wrote Jan. 15. 
"Damn, the Narcotics/Vice squad is killing us this week," another added. 
After Newsday published the first story in its ongoing investigation on illicit massage spas, customers discussed it on Utopia Guide. "Can’t be good that newsday reporters are videotaping Johns[] ... Fuse is lit on these places, way too hot to be seen going into one." 
Another wrote, "Are we part of the problem? Should we avoid posting our experiences here if doing so could increase the chances of our favorite spa receiving unwanted attention or being raided?" 
<h3>‘Flush the Johns’</h3> 
More than a decade ago, a Nassau prosecutor launched a high-profile enforcement action targeting sex buyers. 
Then-Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice led a sting operation in 2013 called "Flush the Johns," arresting 104 sex buyers. An orthopedic surgeon, a volunteer firefighter and dozens of other men ranging in age from 17 to 79 were publicly named — their photos and hometowns displayed on a poster at a news conference. <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-align="left" data-attr-caption="Then-Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice announces the results of &quot;Operation Flush the Johns&quot; in 2013. " data-attr-credit="" data-attr-f="Freeform" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/661c2076-fcb6-4664-a45b-dd521f5866dc" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/661c2076-fcb6-4664-a45b-dd521f5866dc', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/661c2076-fcb6-4664-a45b-dd521f5866dc"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/661c2076-fcb6-4664-a45b-dd521f5866dc/2015_06_09__2_-1.jpg?f=Freeform&amp;w=400&amp;q=0.3">Then-Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice announces the results of "Operation Flush the Johns" in 2013. </a> 
"Sex workers are often vulnerable victims of traffickers and pimps, yet they too often remain the prime targets in prostitution investigations while the johns who fuel the exploitation are treated as mere witnesses," Rice said at the time. 
Defense attorneys criticized the publicized arrests for humiliating the men. Brian Griffin, who sued Nassau County over a previous "Wall of Shame" of drunken driving suspects, said it was unconstitutional to group people together who were charged in separate incidents. 
"It is unconstitutional if it’s done to publicly humiliate or shame people," he told Newsday at the time. 
Most of the cases did not result in criminal convictions. Most of the men pleaded guilty to noncriminal charges, and others were either acquitted or got their charges dismissed, Newsday reported at the time. 
Law enforcement stopped campaigns aimed at curbing the problem, including a class teaching sex buyers about human trafficking. 
Rice, a Democrat who retired in 2022 after four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, declined to be interviewed for this story, but said in an email: "I am proud of the stand I took and I have no regrets. It was both fair and the right approach for public safety." 
Illicit massage work can be a dangerous trade for many women — not just from possible traffickers, but from customers too. 
"Any time you have commercial sex, you basically attract and generate every other felony you can think of," Shively said. 
Research shows the illicit sex trade draws serious crimes ranging from weapons charges to drug sales and assault, he added. 
Melissa Farley, a clinical psychologist and founder of the nonprofit Prostitution Research and Education, and her team interviewed 764 male sex buyers across six countries. 
"We asked them, ‘What would deter you from buying sex?’" she said. 
The No. 1 answer? One hour in jail with criminal charges, or their name appearing in a news story. 
In the end, the police never caught Bill. His wife, Helena, who also asked that only her middle name be used to protect her privacy, followed him to a spa and confronted him. 
The toll it took in their marriage was swift and devastating, they say. The couple is&nbsp;in therapy to rebuild their decades-long marriage. 
"This just blew my world apart," Helena said. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/4c541fd5-cfe3-424f-a410-4c3cc4af2bff" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="htmlBlurb" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/4c541fd5-cfe3-424f-a410-4c3cc4af2bff', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/4c541fd5-cfe3-424f-a410-4c3cc4af2bff">STORYWIDGET: INJOHNS_relateds</a> 
NewsdayTV's Belisa Morillo contributed to this story.

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Police arrested nearly 400 women working at illicit Long Island massage spas. They let male customers go free.

Cops arrested nearly 400 women working at illicit spas. They let male customers go free.

AIAudio - Police arrested nearly 400 women working at illicit Long Island massage spas. They let male customers go free.


Police are only addressing the supply, but demand is what fuels the illicit sex trade, experts say. Newsday political reporter Bahar Ostadan has the story.

INJOHNS260719_video

Cops arrested nearly 400 women working at illicit spas. They let the male customers go free.

long island

'If you don't address demand, you don't address the problem'

Sandra Peddie

Ten people who allegedly ran a massive prostitution and money laundering operation out of four foot spas in Huntington and Flushing have been indicted on charges ranging from enterprise corruption to promoting prostitution, court records show. 
Investigators also seized two houses, seven cars and $300,000 in bank accounts, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in an interview. All the defendants are Chinese nationals, the district attorney said. 
Prosecutors also are seeking the forfeiture of $1,079,040 generated by the alleged illicit businesses. 
“We want to put people effectively on notice that we don’t want to see this type of illicit business in Suffolk County,” he said. 
The investigation, conducted with Homeland Security Investigations, exposed a sophisticated criminal network, “all while hiding in plain sight right behind the doors of four massage parlors disguised as legitimate businesses,” Tierney said in a news release. 
Although law enforcement efforts directed toward the illicit massage trade result&nbsp;in arrests and raids that have little apparent effect on the business, this investigation focused on the coordinators and managers, not the employees, he said. 
“We’re de-emphasizing charging the women and emphasizing charging the people who have been benefited from the operation,” he said. 
The investigation used&nbsp;audio recording devices, pole camera footage, GPS tracking of cars, subpoenaed financial and business records, Apple iCloud search warrants and court-authorized pen register and ping data, according to the bail application. 
Investigators did extensive surveillance —&nbsp;including following women who bought supplies such as bottled water, neck cream and hand towels from Costco in Melville — and used undercover detectives who were offered sex acts for money at least 15 times, court records show. 
The four foot spas identified in court papers include three locations in Huntington Station: Long Island Green Apple Spa on Jericho Turnpike, Lavender Spa on East&nbsp;Jericho Turnpike and Huntington Spa LLC, also on&nbsp;Jericho Turnpike. A fourth spa, 192 Spa, is located on Northern Boulevard in Flushing. 
Long Island has become one of New York’s most active fronts in the roughly $500 million-a-year illicit massage business, <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/sex-trade-massage-parlors-investigation-bt38zy0v">a recent Newsday investigation </a>found. Arrests at illegal massage spas have skyrocketed 1,200% in the last five years. Records show that police have raided at least 235 illegal foot spas in Nassau and Suffolk counties. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/605266fb-bd15-47b9-9fe9-fc5dc5a08cc4" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="htmlBlurb" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/605266fb-bd15-47b9-9fe9-fc5dc5a08cc4', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/605266fb-bd15-47b9-9fe9-fc5dc5a08cc4">STORYWIDGET: INMASS2605XX_map</a><a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/7e08afb4-2318-4394-b82d-57240844b00d" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="htmlBlurb" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/7e08afb4-2318-4394-b82d-57240844b00d', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/7e08afb4-2318-4394-b82d-57240844b00d">STORYWIDGET: INMASSAGEMAP-table</a> 
Despite the crackdown, many illicit massage businesses reopen immediately after having been raided. At least 85 have been raided more than once, according to records. 
Flushing supports a thriving Asian community, and many of the women arrested on Long Island come from there. Courts records analyzed by Newsday show that three-quarters of the women arrested on Long Island in the last five years in cases live in Queens, many within a 1.5-mile radius of one another in Flushing. 
Tierney said he had seen a proliferation of the illicit businesses while he was campaigning for office in 2021. He attributed that to “a perfect storm” of post-COVID&nbsp;habits, in which fewer people traveled into New York City, and the fact that many brick and mortar strip malls have been struggling to lease space and having to lower rents. 
Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said in a recent interview that his department has been responding to community complaints. 
“There’s concerns on many levels with massage parlors, but we’re going to continue to do enforcement on them,” he said. 
Catalina said there’s a possibility that some women might have been forced into the business, a concern echoed by Pete Gizas, the acting special agent in charge of the New York office of Homeland Security Investigations. 
“These defendants allegedly exploited vulnerable individuals,” he said in a news release.&nbsp; 
The alleged ringleader of the operation was Xiaolin Gong, 59, of Flushing. She owned the four foot spas that were fronts for prostitution. She also allegedly used the proceeds from the illicit businesses to pay mortgages on two properties —&nbsp;a house on Pidgeon Hill Road in Huntington Station and another property in Flushing, according to the indictment. 
Gong also allegedly submitted false employment registration documents to the state Department of Labor, prosecutors said. 
Her attorney, Christopher Gioe, of Hauppauge, did not return a call for comment. 
The other eight women indicted in the case allegedly provided unlicensed massages, which is a felony, and offered to perform sex acts for money, which is a misdemeanor. The defendants include Xiaofang Cao, Meilan Zhou, Yuping Cheng, Shan Shan Gong, Yazhi Lyu, Xiaoxia Chen, Xiaomei Sun and Dongmei Yu. 
Legal Aid attorney Susan Ambro, who represents Yazhi Lyu, declined to comment. Attorneys for the other women couldn't be reached for comment. 
The only male defendant, Xiaoyi Liu, allegedly handled bank deposits and transported women to and from the foot spas, prosecutors said. 
Danielle Papa, who is representing Liu, said he has denied the allegations and intends to fight the charges. 
The coordinated money laundering scheme included multiple bank transfers and setting up a brokerage account at Charles Schwab, according to court records. 
Detectives recovered $300 in cash and gold jewelry after executing search warrants at the spa. 
“A lot of the <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/investigations/massage-spa-raids-map-rll4dst0">activity originates from outside</a> the county,” Tierney said. “We don’t want people using Suffolk for illegal conduct that affects our quality of life.” <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/c5f705d0-0a9c-4365-8149-65fea9c21f95" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="htmlBlurb" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/c5f705d0-0a9c-4365-8149-65fea9c21f95', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/c5f705d0-0a9c-4365-8149-65fea9c21f95">STORYWIDGET: Spa sex crimes on Long Island </a>

Crime

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Spa sex crimes on Long Island

10 charged with running huge prostitution, money laundering ring on Long Island and Queens

10 charged with running massive alleged prostitution, money laundering ring on LI

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Ten people are facing charges for allegedly running illegal massage parlors in Suffolk and Queens. NewsdayTV&#39;s Ken Buffa has more.&nbsp;

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10 people indicted for allegedly running illegal massage parlors on LI

'We wanted to go up one level and get the managers'

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A St. James foot spa operating in a strip mall owned by Suffolk County Clerk Vincent Puleo features indicators commonly associated with illicit activity, including online customer reviews of sexual contact&nbsp; and no massage license. 
In addition, during 10&nbsp;hours of observation&nbsp;over three days&nbsp;last week, Newsday reporters saw only men entering and exiting the K&amp;T Foot Spa,&nbsp;some as early as 10 a.m.&nbsp;and others as late as&nbsp;10 p.m. 
Puleo, after a week of inquiries from Newsday about the online&nbsp;reviews&nbsp;of sex being sold at the spa, issued a statement Tuesday through his spokesman, Todd Shapiro, that announced&nbsp;he was terminating&nbsp;the spa’s lease. Shapiro said Puleo made the decision because of Newsday's reporting. 
"I was shocked and disappointed to learn of serious allegations involving a tenant operating within a shopping center that I am the landlord. I have taken immediate steps to terminate this tenant's occupancy and close the business," he said. In&nbsp;an earlier interview. he described Hagzan as his&nbsp;friend of 30 years. 
Hagzan declined to&nbsp;comment on the lease termination. 
Puleo’s statement went on to say, "I formally requested that the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office conduct a full investigation into these allegations and the business. It is my understanding that neither the Suffolk County Police Department, nor the Town had received any complaints regarding this alleged illegal business. I appreciate Newsday bringing this to my attention so I could take immediate action. Illegal activity of any kind will not be tolerated and has no place in our communities." <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="Vincent Puleo, in his capacity as a member of the Nesconset Fire Department, speaks at a news conference in Commack in February about the shortage of&nbsp;volunteer firefighters across Long Island." data-attr-credit="" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/09ba7502-58a0-4026-a1d8-d0baa2efd4fd" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/09ba7502-58a0-4026-a1d8-d0baa2efd4fd', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/09ba7502-58a0-4026-a1d8-d0baa2efd4fd"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/09ba7502-58a0-4026-a1d8-d0baa2efd4fd/inPULEO260627a.jpg?w=400&amp;q=0.3">Vincent Puleo, in his capacity as a member of the Nesconset Fire Department, speaks at a news conference in Commack in February about the shortage of&nbsp;volunteer firefighters across Long Island.</a> 
District Attorney Ray Tierney declined to comment on whether his office is investigating K&amp;T Foot Spa. 
Newsday examined the spa as part of its broader investigation into illicit sex at Long Island massage businesses. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/investigations/sex-massage-spa-erx3y7o0">Newsday investigation found that arrests for sex-related crimes at such spas have skyrocketed in the last five years on Long Island</a>. 
Puleo, who has served as vice chairman of the Suffolk County Conservative Party and&nbsp;is a longtime political fixture in Smithtown, was town clerk when a law designed to regulate massage businesses was proposed&nbsp;but&nbsp;was&nbsp;never enacted. 
He and Hagzan&nbsp;said they signed the lease for the spa in 2020, the same year the law was proposed and discussed, but never voted on.&nbsp; 
K&amp;T Spa, which appears to be named after the couple who owns it — Kiki and Tom Hagzan — is listed on Rubmaps, a site promoting&nbsp;erotic massage spas across the country. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/78fd0f6f-75b4-44b0-9cb9-554b6b56e4f4" data-onecms-type="storywidget" data-subtype="htmlBlurb" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/78fd0f6f-75b4-44b0-9cb9-554b6b56e4f4', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/78fd0f6f-75b4-44b0-9cb9-554b6b56e4f4">STORYWIDGET: K &amp; T Foot Spa location </a> 
The online postings, which&nbsp;describe&nbsp;sexual services, and the activity observed by Newsday at the spa, is indicative of an illicit sex business, an expert&nbsp;said. 
"That is literally the checklist for an illicit massage parlor," said Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, director of the Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research at Arizona State University in Phoenix. 
<h3>'Closed temporarily'</h3> 
The spa was&nbsp;open seven days a week. Records show that Hagzan incorporated the business in 2021, and neighboring businesses say it's been operating for at least five years. 
On Sunday morning, two reporters visited the spa and it was open for business. Kiki Hagzan, reached by phone, agreed to meet reporters there the next day. 
Later Sunday, a reporter stopped by Suffolk Police's&nbsp;Fourth Precinct, which patrols the Smithtown area, and inquired about any illegal activity&nbsp;at the K&amp;T Foot Spa. The police at the front desk said they didn’t know of any. 
Shortly afterward, a handwritten sign appeared on the spa's door saying "Closed temporarily." 
In a phone interview Monday, Kiki Hagzan&nbsp;said they had decided to go on vacation for a couple of days. 
The strip mall&nbsp;on Lake Avenue has six businesses on the first level and eight apartments on the second. Newsday contacted multiple tenants and neighboring business owners. They&nbsp;declined to comment on the record, but one said Sundays are a particularly busy day at the spa. 
Puleo described himself as a diligent manager of the strip mall. "I’m there all the time," he said. 
A&nbsp;September 2023 online review on Utopiaguide, a review site for sex buyers,&nbsp;described a woman working there as providing&nbsp;sexual services to a male customer. "I was thinking this is a legit place as she put the sheet on me and did a pretty good massage," the reviewer wrote. "Then she took the sheet off and ... " The review went on to describe sexual services in more detail. 
In January&nbsp;2025, one person wrote on Yelp, "just an FYI, my boyfriend went here and called me after his massage. ... He wasn't expecting for his private area to be tapped and to be asked 'You want' with a suggestive hand gesture." 
Thomas Hagzan, asked in an earlier interview if all the women working at the business are licensed, said he didn’t know. He said he only handles the spa’s paperwork. 
When Kiki Hagzan was asked in a&nbsp;separate interview whether she was licensed to practice massage, she said only that "There is a tag," apparently referring to a&nbsp;license with her&nbsp;maiden name, Mao, and her photo posted on the foot spa wall. 
Newsday sent a photo of&nbsp;the license to&nbsp;the New York State Department of Education, which licenses massage therapists. Spokeswoman Karen Male said it was&nbsp;for cosmetology, not massage therapy. 
<h3>Local law pulled</h3> 
Puleo, 72, served as town clerk of Smithtown for 16 years before being elected to county clerk in 2022. A registered Conservative Party member, he won Republican backing and was renominated in February to run for another four-year term. As county clerk, he made $221,000 last year, according to payroll records. 
Puleo was town clerk of Smithtown when the&nbsp;proposed local law designed to regulate massage businesses was pulled from the voting roll and&nbsp;never enacted. The town clerk is the official custodian of town records. That includes maintaining meeting minutes and managing public records. 
The proposed law required owners to file an application with the town listing the names of employees and that massage therapists&nbsp;all be licensed. It also required periodic inspections. 
On July 16, 2019, Puleo signed the notice for a public hearing on the law. It was held the following month. 
At the hearing, Supervisor Ed Wehrheim spoke of the difficulty of shutting down illicit massage businesses. "We can go shut them down for not being licensed, and they open up the next day," he said, according to meeting minutes. 
Wehrheim said the law was necessary to tackle the problem of illicit massage businesses. "The only way we’re going to be able to control it is to change the town code, which is what we’re doing," he said at the meeting. 
He set the date for voting on the law for Sept. 3, 2019. 
The massage business law appeared on the agenda for the&nbsp;meeting that day. But before it came up for a vote, the number that had been assigned to it was given to another proposed local law. As a result, board members voted to approve a law about special exceptions for filling stations. There was no mention of massage parlors and no explanation in the meeting minutes as to why the change happened. 
Local law numbers are determined by the town clerk, Town Attorney Matthew Jakubowski said. 
Records show the town board held another public hearing on the proposed massage law in March 2020. But once again, there was no vote on the law. 
Paul Sabatino, municipal law attorney and former Suffolk County legislative counsel, reviewed the records for Newsday. 
"I've never seen anything like this," he said. 
After speaking to Newsday several times, Puleo stopped returning calls on Friday. He did not respond to a text message asking him about the proposed legislation. 
Wehrheim did not respond to an interview request or questions. The only board member to comment was Thomas McCarthy, who said he thought the proposed law was an "excellent law" and, "We should probably look back at it."

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K & T Foot Spa location

Suffolk County Clerk Vincent Puleo owns strip mall with foot spa tied to alleged sex acts

Suffolk County official owns strip mall with foot spa tied to alleged sex activity

AIAudio - Suffolk County Clerk Vincent Puleo owns strip mall with foot spa tied to alleged sex acts


Vincent Puleo, who&#39;s worked in public office for nearly two decades, terminated the spa&#39;s lease following&nbsp;Newsday&#39;s reporting. NewsdayTV&#39;s Virginia Huie talks with Newsday reporters Sandra Peddie and Bahar Ostadan about the story.

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St. James

Riverhead

'They dabble in other stuff behind the covers'

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Sex Next Door: Complete coverage of Long Island's illegal spa activities

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Sex Next Door: Complete coverage of LI's illegal spa activities

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Authorities across Long Island have cracked down on the booming illegal sex trade at foot spas, Islip Town officials have raided only three foot spas – two of them shortly after reporters began asking questions.

Islip Town Supervisor has yet to crackdown on spas with illicit sex allegations

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See the latest in-depth investigative reports from Newsday's award-winning journalists, as they dive into some of the biggest issues affecting Long Island.