NBC 4 New York

Alleged members of the ring being arrested on Tuesday, April 30.

Federal agents raided four brothels in and around New York City and arrested 13 people in an alleged sex trafficking and prostitution ring dating back to 2008, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the suspects exploited dozens of women, trafficking some from Mexico to New York, to force them to work as sex slaves. NBC 4 New York cameras captured the raid on one of the brothels in Yonkers. Search warrants were also executed in brothels in Queens, Poughkeepsie and Newburgh.

The criminal complaint alleges the suspects lured women to the U.S. by engaging them in romantic relationships and promising a better life in New York. Once they arrived, the victims were forced to work as prostitutes under "abhorrent conditions," often subject to abuse and threatened with harm to them and their family members.

In a typical day, a Mexican sex trafficking victim in New York had sexual intercourse with 20 to 30 customers, with each customer usually paying about $30 to $35 for 15 minutes of sex, according to authorities.

Of that money, half typically went to either the driver who took the victim to the client or to the residential brothel where the woman worked. The other half went to the victim, who was then typically forced to turn over all the money to the trafficker.

The suspects charged Tuesday had different roles in the sex trafficking ring, operating brothels, driving victims to clients or brothels, dispatching drivers and recruiting and overseeing the women forced to work as prostitutes, according to the complaint.

Two of the 13 suspects were already in federal custody on illegal reentry charges; another was arrested in Delaware. The rest were arrested in New York and appeared in the Manhattan federal court Tuesday afternoon.

Robert F. Bukaty / AP file

Mark Strong Sr., leaves the Cumberland County Court House on Jan. 18, 2013, in Portland, Maine.

The Maine insurance agent convicted of promoting prostitution was sentenced to 20 days in prison and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine on Thursday, according to The Associated Press.

Prosecutors said that Strong helped dance instructor Alexis Wright orchestrate a prostitution ring from her Zumba studio in the seaside town of Kennebunk.

Strong was convicted of 12 charges of promotion of prostitution and 1 count of conspiracy to promote prostitution on March 6.

Wright, 30, is expected to stand trial later this year. She has pleaded not guilty to 106 charges against her, including engaging in prostitution.

Prosecutors had asked that Strong be sentenced to as long as 364 days in jail. Strong’s defense attorneys argued the man should serve no more than 14 days.

Strong made an emotional mea culpa in court on Thursday before the sentencing proceedings began.

“Mostly I’d like to apologize to my wife and my sons and my entire family for causing so much harm,” Strong said, according to the Portland Press Herald, a local paper. “The next right thing for me to do is to ask for the help I need for myself, my spiritual growth, to become the person that I want to be.”

Strong’s wife asked the judge to “go easy” on her husband, the paper reported.

The case gained national attention as allegations emerged of a sprawling client list and videotaped sexual encounters between Wright and local men.

In January, Judge Nancy Mills dismissed 46 charges leveled against Strong, all of them related to alleged violations of privacy. The decision was upheld by the state’s highest court in February. Wright’s attorney’s filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Judicial Court that month stating that their client had a “vested interest in the resolution of this appeal.”

Also in February, Mills culled the number of “extremely sexual” Skype screenshots jurors would be allowed to see as attorneys for the defense argued that they could unfairly prejudice the jury.

The prostitution business generated $150,000 between October of 2010 and February of 2012, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed in York County Superior Court on March 19. Strong took in 20 percent of the proceeds, prosecutors wrote.

The parties and attorneys in the case were barred by Mills from talking to the media for much of the case, an order Strong’s counsel Daniel Lilley protested in a motion to reconsider last month.

Related:

• Zumba trial: How much porn should jurors watch?
• Accused Zumba pimp trial begins in disorder
• Accused Zumba pimp: It wasn't 'love' with dance instructor

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:20 AM EDT

Robert F. Bukaty / AP file

Mark Strong Sr., seen in January in Portland, Maine.

ALFRED, Maine -- Prosecutors have shown jurors videos demonstrating that an insurance agent was familiar with paid sex acts involving his mistress, but a defense lawyer said it doesn't prove that the man promoted prostitution.

The jury in the trial of Mark Strong Sr. watched a 45-minute video Thursday showing a sexual encounter between Zumba fitness instructor Alexis Wright and a man who left $250 cash on her massage table. 

Testimony indicated Strong watched the sexual encounters in Kennebunk through a live video call to his office 100 miles away in Thomaston. 

Defense lawyer Daniel Lilley contends Strong committed no crime because he neither recruited clients nor profited from the operation. 

"Observing a person in a criminal act is not a criminal act itself," Lilley told reporters Thursday outside the courthouse. 

After a week of testimony, the lead investigator, Kennebunk police officer Audra Presby, testified briefly late Thursday afternoon, and she was due to return to the witness stand on Friday. 

Strong, 57, of Thomaston, faces 13 counts that relate to promoting prostitution. A judge previously dismissed 46 counts of invasion of privacy over prostitution clients who were said to have been videotaped without their knowledge. 

Prosecutors have more than 150 videos but showed jurors only a single 45-minute recording Thursday that depicted Wright chatting with an older man who arrived and immediately began undressing. After their sexual encounter, she used disposable wipes to clean up, escorted the man to the door and then spoke to another man, believed to be Strong, at the other end of a Skype chat. 

Jurors showed little reaction as they watched the sexually explicit video on a large screen. One looked away during parts of it, one fiddled with an eyeglass case, another twiddled his thumbs and several stole glances at a clock. 

Also Thursday, computer expert Frederick Williams told jurors how he recovered a ledger from Wright's computer that described entries for sexual encounters from Oct. 5, 2010 through Feb. 13, 2012, the day before police raided her office and studio in Kennebunk and her home in Wells. 

One ledger entry showed a payment of $500 for a sexual encounter, Williams said. 

Williams, a Saco police detective, was able to match videotaped sexual encounters recovered from Wright's computers and hard drives with Skype video snapshots of the same encounters on Strong's computer in his Thomaston office. 

Other videos shown to jurors indicated Wright and Strong chatted via Skype before and after her sexual encounters, discussing scheduling and birth control, among other topics. Wright provided clients' license plate numbers to Strong, who also was a private investigator. 

Before each of the encounters, Wright took a moment to ensure the video camera was hidden. "OK, here we go. I'm locking my screen," she told Strong on one video call. 

The prostitution scandal attracted attention last fall after it was reported that Wright's ledgers indicated she made $150,000 over 18 months. 

Strong contends he had an affair with 30-year-old Wright and helped finance her Pura Vida dance studio in Kennebunk but didn't promote prostitution. Prosecutors contended the videos proved he was familiar with the details of Wright's business. She will be tried separately later. 

A Maine judge decided Tuesday not to dismiss charges against Zumba prostitution defendant Mark Strong. Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills is also expected to decide whether to allow in court 577 "extremely sexual" Skype screenshots that the defense has argued would unfairly prejudice the jury.

The defense attorney for Strong, 57, warned of the graphic nature of the images and said Monday they would "drown" his client, according to the Bangor Daily News.

"I think some of this stuff is going to horrify some of these people to the point where he won't possibly get a fair trial," defense attorney Daniel Lilley said.

But prosecutors allege that the images are crucial evidence showing that Strong was involved in running a prostitution ring out of Alexis Wright's Pura Vida Zumba studio in Kennebunk. Wright is due to stand trial separately.

"The state has to prove that Mark Strong was actively involved in the prostitution [business]," Deputy District Attorney Justina McGettigan told Justice Mills on Monday. "Part of that active involvement was that he was monitoring the prostitution from his Thomaston location through Skype."

Also discussed on Tuesday was a motion filed by the defense to dismiss the remaining charges against Strong. Defense attorney Lilley has accused the prosecution of missing deadlines to turn over documents related to the case.

"Enough is enough," defense counsel Tina Nadeau said Tuesday. Dismissing the charges against Strong would be a fitting rebuttal to prosecutors, she said.

The judge will instead issue a special instruction to jurors. Mills also decided on Tuesday to order prosecutors to give the defense a file on a Kennebunk police officer.

The trial is to continue with witness testimony on Tuesday, the Portland Press Herald reported, and Mills has yet to come to a decision on how many pornographic images the jury will see.

Strong is on trial for 13 charges related to promotion of prostitution. Forty-six charges related to alleged violations of privacy were dismissed by the judge in a decision affirmed by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Feb. 15. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:40 AM EST

CHICAGO -- Alex Campbell was an expert in his field, according to authorities.

His "field" was the underground world of human trafficking, known familiarly as pimping and prostitution, and Campbell, according to investigators with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was a master pimp.

"On a scale of one to 10, he’d be a 12," said DHS investigator Gary Hartwig. "I’ve been in law enforcement for 24 years, and he is actually the worst case of human trafficking we’ve identified in Chicago. Probably nationally."

Prosecutors call Campbell a "predator" and say he targeted foreign-born women with questionable legal status. They say he’d use their precarious status, coupled with heavy doses of violence and intimidation, to control the women and force them into "a form of modern-day slavery."

Last November a federal judge sentenced Campbell to life in prison. It’s believed to be the first time a "pimp" has been sentenced to life in prison for human trafficking in federal court in Chicago.

The federal case against Campbell was bolstered by four women who came forward to testify against him in court. In an effort to protect her identity, NBC Chicago will identify one woman only as "Sarah."

'It still hurts so bad'
In a sit-down interview late last month, Sarah said was completely controlled by Campbell to the point where she felt she might lose her life if she dared to disobey him.

"He told me many times that he would kill me," she recalled.

Prosecutors believe Campbell was grooming Sarah to become a prostitute. It started, they say, with Campbell giving her a legitimate job at one of his Chicago-area massage parlors. They say he then became her friend and eventually her boyfriend. Attorneys say he then began to isolate her and beat her. Then he literally branded her.

"I still have those tattoos, and I can’t get rid of them," Sarah said. "I’m trying to remove them for a long time -- like two years -- and they are still not coming off. It still hurts so bad."

Investigators say Campbell branded most all of his victims. On one woman, they say he tattooed an manifesto so long it covered almost her entire back.

"For him, it let the world know that these women belonged to him," said assistant United States Attorney Diane MacArthur, part of the team that prosecuted Campbell.

Steve Grimes, another assistant U.S. Attorney, said the women would have to explain the markings on their bodies for the rest of their lives anytime they met someone new.

"That was part of his plan," said Grimes.

More news from NBCChicago.com

In court, prosecutors also alleged that Campbell would exact fines from the women he controlled. In the case of one victim, he levied a fine of $14,000 for her to get a green card. She got another $5,000 "fine" simply because she didn’t call him.

A recording of a phone call between Campbell and that woman was played in open court:

Woman: "You telling me that I didn’t call you, that’s why I have to give you $5,000?"

Campbell: "I said you got to give me $5,000 ... and you gonna pay it ---."

Woman: "Yes. You told me --"

Campbell: " ... because you are -- listen! This is my last word to you, and you’d better be glad I’m giving you up to f---ing Sunday to f---ing bring a f---ing-a-s payment in. If you don’t f---ing bring in at least $500 mother-f---ing dollars, we will go to f---ing war. Now get my mother-f---ing money."

Sarah said that in Campbell’s world, beatings were common and intimidation was constant. He even used blackmail, she said, taking a page right from one of two books investigators found in his possession: "The Pimp’s Bible."

"[Sarah] tried to get away," said Grimes. "He forced her to drink alcohol and made her have sex with another woman while he videotaped this. He then threatened to send that video to her family, to expose her, if she did not come back into his grasp."

In court documents, attorneys for Campbell said he maintained his innocence and challenged the allegation that Sarah and others were being held against their will.

"Each expected something from him," Campbell’s attorneys state in the court documents. "Each was more than happy to accept what he gave; all this before the relationships turned ugly."

Prosecutors and investigators said they're pleased with the fact that Campbell received a life sentence in court.

"In the truest form of the word, he is a predator," said Grimes.

Sarah eventually escaped from Campbell and reported him to police. She is now married and doing well.

And if someone thinks it can’t happen to them, Sarah says to think again.

"It happens," she said. "It can happen easily to anyone."

Indicators of Human Trafficking:

• Is the victim in possession of identification and travel documents? If not, who has control of the documents?
• Was the victim coached on what to say to law enforcement and immigration officials?
• Was the victim recruited for one purpose and forced to engage in some other job?
• Is the victim's salary being garnished to pay off a smuggling fee? (Paying off a smuggling fee alone is not considered trafficking.)
• Was the victim forced to perform sexual acts?
• Does the victim have freedom of movement?
• Has the victim or family been threatened with harm if the victim attempts to escape?
• Has the victim been threatened with deportation or law enforcement action?
• Has the victim been harmed or deprived of food, water, sleep, medical care or other life necessities?
• Can the victim freely contact friends or family?
• Is the victim a juvenile engaged in commercial sex?
• Is the victim allowed to socialize or attend religious services?

If you have any evidence of human trafficking, or if you are aware of anyone who is being exploited for prostitution, you should call investigators at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at 1-866-347-2423.

Gregory Rec / AP

Mark Strong, Sr. talks with his attorney Dan Lilley after Justice Nancy Mills dropped most of the charges against Strong in January.

Prosecutors in Maine will seek Wednesday to reinstate dozens of charges dropped against a man who is accused of helping a Zumba instructor run a prostitution ring from her studio in the seaside town of Kennebunk.

Forty-six misdemeanor counts against Mark Strong, Sr., 57, were dropped in January by Judge Nancy Mills, leaving 13 counts, including promotion of prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The judge decided to halt the trial pending an appeal of her decision to drop the charges, all of which have to do with invasion of privacy.

Dance instructor Alexis Wright is accused of using her Pura Vida Zumba studio as a front – she’s been charged with 106 counts, including engaging in prostitution. She has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and is expected to go on trial later this year.

The charges of invasion of privacy against Wright and Strong are based on the accusation that Wright secretly videotaped herself engaging in sexual acts with her clients.

Accused Zumba pimp trial begins in disorder

Persons engaging in criminal acts do not have the same right to privacy enjoyed by other people, the trial judge said last month.

The alleged patrons “may have had a subjective expectation of privacy, but I can’t find an objective expectation of privacy that society would be prepared to accept,” Mills said in court in January.

Prosecutors will seek to have those charges reinstated on Wednesday in Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court.

“The state’s position on this appeal is contrary to reason, common sense, and the interests of society,” defense attorney Dan Lilley wrote in a brief submitted on January 27.

Zumba prostitution case stalls in second week

Strong’s case in York County Superior Court was a puttering non-starter at the end of January, as jury selection that was expected to take a day dragged on a week, interrupted first by a case filed by a local newspaper to gain access to closed jury proceedings.

The trial was then stopped entirely when the charges were dropped against Strong. Jury selection could begin quickly after the Maine high court’s ruling.

Attorneys for Wright filed an amicus brief in support of Strong in the Supreme Judicial Court on Feb. 4, stating that Wright has “a vested interest in the resolution of this appeal.”