The stooped old woman with the oxygen tank and the walker in Lindenwold, N.J., rarely left the apartment she shared with her grandson and his girlfriend. She was 80 years old and, according to the younger woman, had only one friend.
But the police said the woman, Vera Tursi, helped lonely men make new friends, by running an escort service called August Playmates. She took telephone calls from clients at her apartment and, depending on what they were in the mood for and who was available, sent escorts to meet them, the police said.
"It was her operation; it was her business," said Sgt. James Fish of the New Jersey State Police. "She's been in business for at least six months, probably longer."
Ms. Tursi was one of 42 people arrested by the state police last month in what investigators called "Operation Risky Business," involving several escort services. The arrests were announced on May 14, along with the seizure of more than $51,000 in cash and a bank account worth $20,000.
Ms. Tursi was born in 1925, when not only prostitution, but also selling drinks was illegal. How she came to run call girls from the apartment in Coachman Manor, a complex of low-income units, remains a mystery, Sergeant Fish said. Her arrest was the subject of a long feature article in The Star-Ledger of Newark yesterday.
"Her operation was a strictly outcall business," Sergeant Fish said. "You make the call, you order the girl. She tells you who is available and you pick out the girl and tell them where to go."
Because, you know, social security just isn't what it used to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment