slinkybender said:
If a place has been busted 25 times, and keeps the same listed phone number, it's obviously just something that they expect in the business. And for such a place, how could anyone think that its PMB discussion which is their main risk?
Of course it isn't. To think PMB discussion is the problem requires believing that the cops don't know what's going on in the establishment. Nonsense. It takes the cops maybe 24 hours to know what a new place is all about, probably not that long.
OTOH, the cops are generally unable to figure out what $$.50 or "three hundred reasons" means, and they can't understand why Korean girls like Frank Sinatra and Billy Joel music so much. (Is it played on Seoul radio stations?) We're far too clever for them.
As far a corruption goes, that would only help prevent busts. Once the bust happens, it's out of LE's hands. Too many people would have to be involved in fixing something with the DA and the cops for the fix to last. The media would love to get involved. Times have changed. Corruption now seems to take the form of cops becoming stone criminals themselves, like the two NYPD detectives who became hit men.
Here's what I think is going on with many busts:
--Zoning. Open up a place in the wrong (too ritzy) neighborhood or wrong town, you're looking for a bust.
--Who's the owner? They're not spas, but Teddie's and Keystone in Bridgeport got closed down while Pleasant Moments and Bishop's Corner are open. The story I heard was that the owner of both Teddie's and Keystone had pissed off the Man. There's no difference in the services offered at any of them, let me tell you. The point is that the owner can become a target for reasons that don't have anything to do directly with the place that gets busted.
--Activism. If there are crusaders in the neighborhood, the cops can't just do nothing. The political pressure can get to be too much.
--Opportunism. Get an opportunistic or bluenosed DA, off you go.
--Bad actors. If there's been trouble at a place, too much drugs or dealing, of if a place is using slave labor, or double especially there haven't been enough birthdays to go around, that's it.
So, one some level busts become a kind of regulation, a weed whacker to keep the undergrowth under control. The fear busts and the publicity created ("we've got all the pictures and we'll be calling you") keeps the customer base down. PMB boards have never caused a bust. CL postings may have, but most forms of advertising have.
