Summary: The convicted Washington D.C. prostitution ring leader committed suicide instead of serving time in prison.
In an apparent suicide, DC Madam Deborah Palfrey explained that she had no other option in a note to relatives. Palfrey knew she would not be able to make it through 6-8 years in prison for her role as a pimp to then be released from prison in her late 50’s “a broken, penniless & very much alone woman.”
The note to her mother Blanche and sister Bobbie was found my Florida cops last week. Palfrey was found hanging in a shed outside her mother’s home in Tarpon Springs. She was convicted last month of racketeering, money laundering and using the mail for illegal purposes of her escort service, Pamela Martin & Associates. She ran the prostitution ring from 1993 to 2006. Her sentencing court date was July 24.
Read Zumba Instructor Accused of Prostitution in Conservative Maine Tourist Town.
Palfrey refused to accept any deal federal prosecutors offered but claimed, “They destroy you on every level, financially, emotionally, psychologically.” She already served prison back in the 1990s on other prostitution charges. In an interview with ABC News she said, “I sure as heck am not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone, you know, four to eight years.”
Several notable men have been reported to be clients of the service including former U.S. Agency for International Development chief Randall Tobias and Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana. Neither of them testified in her trial.
Palfrey wanted prostitution to be made legal because she felt the prosecution was more harmful than the business itself. She said “they had to push it, in the name of justice. I’d like to know what justice they’re talking about.”
See New Case Seeks to Legalize Prostitution in California for more information.
Do you think prostitution should be made legal? Tell us in the comments.
To learn more about the DC Madam, read Attorney of D.C. Madam Threatens to Release Black Book.
Photo: insideedition.com