Are you searching for a hooker?
There are still hundreds of them advertising on Craigslist despite the fact that the website banished its controversial “adult services” section more than three years ago.
That move, estimated to have deprived Craigslist of around $40 million a year in revenue, came as the result of a highly publicized incident in which a 24-year-old engaged medical student named Philip Markoff murdered a masseuse, Julissa Brisman.
The two met when Brisman offered her rubdown services on Craigslist. Markoff killed himself before he could be brought to trial, and the murder was immortalized in a made for TV movie called “The Craigslist Killer.”
The death of Brisman opened up Craigslist to scathing assaults by law enforcement across the country. In September 2010, after complaints from 17 state attorneys general, Craigslist announced that it was suspending the section in which people advertised for sex.
Where the ads used to be, Craigslist placed a “censored” label. And while this was understood to be a not-too-subtle protest by the site’s unhappy management, it satisfied most people that the sex sellers were gone.
Well, the sex purveyors are back. And they aren’t being censored — or censured — in the least bit.
Before you think I troll for such things, allow me to clarify. My own online shopping tends to be more Groupon than groped on, although I pretty much take the libertarian view that adults should be allowed to do whatever they want.
But since there was such a fuss when the ads were pulled, I thought it was important for people — including those 17 state AGs — to know that their victory was only temporary.
In fact, the new locations for male and female sex workers on Craigslist were pointed out to me by someone in law enforcement who asked not to be identified. It’s unclear what action, if any, the authorities plan to take.
Here’s the tricky part of this column: I’m going to prove to you that the sex ads exist by telling you how to find them. Yet I don’t want to encourage you to actually go looking, since your computer could get messed up.
If you look on craigslist.com, you’ll see a section called “personals.” Most of these ads aren’t your typical boy-wants-to-meet-girl advertising. In fact, that becomes pretty clear on the next page, where Craigslist warns you that the stuff you are about to read “may include adult content.”
Click on the “men seeking women” link — or the “m4w” abbreviation on later pages — and you’ll likely see a close-up of some woman’s backside along with propositions that Julia Roberts would have been embarrassed to utter in “Pretty Woman.”
I won’t quote any of the ads here, because my mother reads my column. But it’s fair to say that sex lives on Craigslist and probably will until someone else dies.
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There was some political intrigue that went unnoticed when New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly held a press conference last week to announce the indictment of 16 members of a criminal ring that made $55 million selling untaxed cigarettes.
Sure, it was interesting that these people may have been using some of the proceeds to fund terrorist organizations. But you already knew that from reading my columns over the past few years.
The thing that caught the attention of my sources was the fact that no New York state tax enforcers were present on the podium or involved in the bust.
As I’ve told you in previous columns, Albany has taken a pass when it comes to enforcing cigarette-tax laws, and it’s costing the city and state a lot of tax revenue. My sources are telling me that the amount of untaxed cigarettes being sold in New York City and towns along the state’s borders is still enormous and that our retailers are having a hard time staying in business.
Next time, maybe the AG and the police commissioner can scrunch over a bit to make room for Gov. Cuomo and his tax enforcers, who seem clueless.
The state did do something yesterday. It issued a report criticizing Tom Stanton, the former head of tax enforcement, for running a “rogue” operation. Stanton and I know each other. I also know this: Albany had better get more rogue itself, or the crooks are going to own the state.
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Gasoline prices are down, but Bankrate.com says 80 percent of Americans still have not increased their discretionary spending.
A survey found that 63 percent of Americans cut back on other spending in 2011 when gas prices were on the rise.
But only 17 percent of the drivers surveyed say their spending has increased now that gas prices have fallen.
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Bon Jovi selling tickets on Groupon?! What has the world come to?
The Jersey rock group used to be able to sell seats the minute they went up for grabs. But tickets for a Saturday concert in late July at MetLife Stadium are selling for half their face value on the Internet discount site.
Sometimes bands use places like Groupon to get people’s attention but then limit purchases to just one ticket. But the Bon Jovi offer’s limit is eight tickets!
Is Bon Jovi now “Livin’ on a Prayer”?