- 6/20/2025
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00:00Cat House was my first introduction to, like, prostitution.
00:14I arrived while they were filming Cat House on HBO.
00:18Cat House put the Moonlight Bunny Ranch and Dennis Hoff on the map.
00:22Suddenly, everybody in America knew what the Bunny Ranch was.
00:25The show flaunted the amount of money that girls can make.
00:29I'm a businessman. I'm a partner with these girls.
00:31You see the girls making money on the show, and then you're like, let's go for it.
00:38Younger women were being drawn in by the show itself.
00:44They're coming because they bought into this idea that this is this hidden gem of a career opportunity.
00:50Cat House definitely made it seem like it was the Playboy Mansion.
00:56It wasn't like that at all.
00:57I was like, oh, f**k.
00:59It was sold as this illusion of power.
01:01They're independent contractors. They don't have to work unless they want to.
01:04But that's not the reality.
01:07And you become constantly trying to pay off your tab.
01:11I felt I'm never going to be able to leave here because I can't pay that debt off.
01:15It's debt bondage.
01:17This is brutal out here.
01:18Debtist owned all of us.
01:21If you don't do exactly what they want, they become violent.
01:25Once you're there, you're not allowed to leave.
01:28I was trapped.
01:30Because it was no longer safe.
01:34You put me under the covers for all the world to see.
01:46But I never recovered.
01:50You never cared about me.
01:52So now you're being a girl that I can't over see.
01:59You and I love you.
02:02I'm not going to see.
02:04Interviewed Dolly Hart.
02:15Around the time that I caught a glimpse of Cat House, I want to say I was probably like 11, 12.
02:22Being something that was on late at night that my parents didn't really want me to watch.
02:27And as a kid that only makes you more intrigued, they would go to bed.
02:33And I would sneak out of my room, go downstairs, and I would watch with the volume turned down low.
02:40The girls looked like they were having fun.
02:44I think what got me the most is like the camaraderie between the women.
02:50Just that, seeing how you can make friends there.
02:55I'm over here thinking, like, when I grow up, I'm going to visit the Bunny Ranch.
03:00I just thought it was, like, the coolest thing.
03:03Like, damn, getting paid to just be gorgeous?
03:06Like, yes.
03:08That sounds amazing.
03:10So I decided I'm going to go to the Bunny Ranch.
03:18After the first season of Cat House had been on the air,
03:22young women wanted to live in the glamour image of it.
03:28And so the show began to attract younger women to the Bunny Ranch.
03:35It kind of grew on me as we were working there,
03:38that people were being drawn in by the show itself.
03:42It became clear to me that we were part of the recruiting system for the Bunny Ranch.
03:51I did not feel good about it.
03:53I did not feel good about it.
03:59In the early 2000s,
04:01Cat House, the television series,
04:03focuses on the prostitutes at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch.
04:05It is a phenomenal success.
04:09It's seen by 2.6 million people in its first airing.
04:13Dennis Hopp is getting free advertising,
04:16and HBO is also getting a moneymaker.
04:19Once mainstream got a taste of us,
04:23oh, it was just golden, right?
04:26They wanted more because their ratings went through the roof.
04:29It was like full-blown celebrity-ism.
04:33And the other side of that.
04:36I didn't think that it would be all over the place like it was.
04:41I had no idea until I saw the show dubbed in Spanish,
04:45and I realized, wow, this is actually a big deal.
04:49We've taken my house, my cat house,
04:52into the homes of people in 27 languages in 49 countries,
04:56and you know what they do?
04:57They look at it and say, that ain't so bad.
05:00Dennis Hopp is a multi-millionaire.
05:03I don't recruit girls.
05:04They come to me.
05:06The Bunny Ranch name has become so successful,
05:09it's now a highly-watched series on HBO,
05:12appropriately called Cat House.
05:14And the biggest cat of all, Dennis Hopp,
05:16says this is just the beginning of a budding bunny empire.
05:20The Bunny Ranch was Dennis' first brothel.
05:23It was in a little circular area,
05:26almost like a little strip mall,
05:28and it was all brothels that had different brothel owners.
05:32Dennis didn't like having his competition
05:34right outside his front door,
05:35so he started buying them up.
05:38His whole focus was on getting these girls
05:40to make him really insane amounts of money.
05:45He was like the Monopoly man of all the brothels.
05:49He'd just buy them off of people,
05:50and he'd buy one and the next and the next and the next and the next.
05:53In northern Nevada, where the Bunny Ranch is,
05:56I have four places up there, but you fly into Reno.
05:59I have three places in southern Nevada that are one hour from the strip.
06:04He was very successful.
06:06He was making money left and right.
06:09He just started transforming them.
06:11He cleaned them up.
06:13He was like the remodel king.
06:15I mean, pull that carpet out, make this bigger.
06:18He just completely renovated everything
06:21and turned them into multi-million dollar investments.
06:25So there's this constant need for new ladies to be entering the industry,
06:29not to mention that there's a certain appeal to fresh faces,
06:33and Dennis loved the new ladies.
06:36These are the girls from the new season right here.
06:39All these hot blondes.
06:40How do you recruit the women?
06:42We don't recruit the girls.
06:44We recruit the girls by them watching our TV show on HBO.
06:49They'll hear me on Howard Stern.
06:51They'll see us in magazines.
06:54That's how we do this.
06:56People wanted to be on the show.
06:59Oh my God, people came from all over.
07:00If you look at the mechanics of how it is that they wind up there,
07:06it's because of Cat House.
07:08Women trust women.
07:09So when they see them on HBO and then apply for a job there,
07:16it's part of the exploiter's marketing toolbox
07:21to make sure that you normalize an atrocity.
07:25Cat House was promoting a very enticing message for the viewers
07:31that was really nefarious.
07:34What it says to us, frankly, is that it can't be that bad
07:37if so many people are interested in doing it.
07:40These are all applications in New York, Dartmouth, Massachusetts,
07:43Clarksville, Tennessee, Miami, Florida.
07:45Some of the good ones do slip through.
07:46That's why it is good to be consistent and keep going and keep emailing me.
07:54Many more young women from places like Indiana and Ohio
08:00learned about the Bunny Ranch and came.
08:07I just saw the velvet couch, the pink bunny house,
08:12and I was like, this is so cute.
08:14And as a girl, I was having trouble making friends
08:18because I'm like this first-generation little Mexican girl
08:20getting bullied left and right
08:24and being labeled the ugly duckling.
08:27I have extremely curly hair,
08:29and so I guess I was very racially ambiguous,
08:33so I was being called the N-word.
08:35It was brutal, and I didn't come from a privileged background.
08:39So I was working the 17-hour days, six days a week.
08:42You're tired, you're burnt out,
08:44and you see the girls making money on the show,
08:48and then you're like, let's go for it.
08:53Let's do it.
08:56Cat House really packages prostitution
08:59in this neat little cute package,
09:02and it makes it very marketable to young women.
09:05The story really comes together in the editing booth.
09:08Those decisions that are made by HBO,
09:11the design and music of the opening credits
09:14of Cat House feel like a sitcom.
09:17And when we think of sitcoms,
09:29we automatically think about something
09:30that is happy, that is fun, that is light in tone.
09:34It predisposes young women to like these characters,
09:38and I find myself rooting for the people
09:39that I'm supposed to root for, according to the show,
09:42and I know better, and yet I still feel that pull.
09:47Yeah, we did get a number of girls
09:49who came after seeing the show, like Brooke Taylor.
09:52In episode one of the second season of Cat House,
09:55the young woman, Brooke, we see her for the first time.
09:58She has pigtails.
09:59You know, she looks like Cindy Lou Who.
10:00I'm a little nervous now.
10:02That's okay, me too.
10:03We'll be nervous together.
10:05Oh, so you're going too?
10:05Yes.
10:06Oh, God, all right.
10:07Great, great, great.
10:08I find it disturbing because it's making it cutesy
10:11and infantilizing them.
10:14It's making it as if they're little girls,
10:17as if these women are not now about to go
10:20and do very, you know, like, adult work.
10:23Here, pretty kitty here,
10:26pretty kitty here,
10:28pretty kitty here.
10:31Yes, hi.
10:32It's nice to meet you.
10:33We would lean toward music that could be kind of cheeky.
10:36You are going to be a cat in the cat house.
10:41And that's the name of the show is Cat House.
10:43So here comes kitty, kitty.
10:46But I didn't think of it as come one, come all.
10:50There wasn't a snidely whiplash, you know,
10:52here, kitty, kitty, you know,
10:54come to destroy your life or anything like that.
10:58It's, I guess, a testament of my naivete.
11:00This was the kind of avalanche of girls
11:03who had found out by seeing the first season.
11:08Oh, I do see it.
11:10Oh, my God.
11:11Oh, my God.
11:12I remember filming this.
11:13The bunny ranch.
11:15Good doing.
11:16Do you think there's anything wrong with that,
11:19with HBO putting out this sex show
11:21and having young girls come and work there?
11:24Well, I, if a girl's of age, you know,
11:29I mean, we ended up getting, you know,
11:32after the show started airing,
11:34getting a lot of people that came in,
11:36you know, some girls.
11:37But, yeah, I mean,
11:38I guess I never thought of it that way
11:41as a recruitment thing.
11:44Cat House definitely made it seem like
11:46it was the Playboy Mansion
11:49with bunny playmates
11:51jumping on each other, tickle fighting.
11:55But it was nothing like that.
11:58Not everything you see on TV is a reality.
12:05I love your show on HBO.
12:07I've been watching it.
12:08It's great at the bunny ranch.
12:10Yes.
12:10At the time I was at HBO,
12:12HBO was really at the top of their game.
12:15They were very, very popular,
12:16very, very successful.
12:18You had shows like The Sopranos.
12:19And HBO always wanted to be a little edgy,
12:22and so there were a number of programs
12:26that were very edgy sexually, sex cells.
12:30HBO were among the first of television
12:33to really bank on that notion.
12:35But Cat House was glamorizing the sex trade.
12:41It was glamorizing pimps.
12:44It was not looking at the suffering
12:47of the women who are in these brothels.
12:50So after four years, I left HBO.
12:53I went to this organization called Equality Now.
12:58And when Cat House aired for the first time,
13:03we wondered at the time how we would deal
13:07with sexual exploitation as entertainment.
13:09I try to make it as nice as possible
13:12so they don't really want to leave.
13:15They want to stay here and have fun.
13:18There's free-flowing alcohol,
13:20and everybody's laughing.
13:22There's a pool.
13:23I mean, it's a beautiful marketing ploy
13:26to recruit young, vulnerable women to try it out.
13:29Dennis had underage girls who weren't quite 18
13:33sending him nude photos and things like that.
13:36He loved the idea of hiring a girl
13:39and having her start when she was 18 years old.
13:42He loved young girls because you can control them.
13:45It's all about control.
13:46He had people that worked for him
13:50that would sit outside Dayton High School
13:52and Carson High School,
13:54tried to recruit young women.
13:56There's a restaurant really close to the Bunny Ranch.
13:59He would host teen nights.
14:01He would talk to the girls.
14:03Like, you're so pretty.
14:05When you get older,
14:06I would like to have you come and work for me.
14:09It was grooming, absolutely,
14:11100% grooming, manipulation.
14:13So, when I first got onto the Bunny Ranch website,
14:19I was looking at all the girls
14:20and seeing who was there,
14:22and, of course, the famous ones were there.
14:25And then I noticed their sister brothels,
14:29and I was like,
14:29well, okay, maybe I should apply to one of these.
14:32I actually applied for a Kit Kat
14:35because I'm like,
14:36the Bunny Ranch is kind of intimidating.
14:38And on the day that I was traveling
14:43towards Nevada and the brothels,
14:46I was definitely nervous,
14:49but more than anything excited.
14:52But upon, like, arriving to the actual location,
14:57at first I was like,
14:58wait a minute,
14:59like, we're out here in the boonies.
15:02Like, you know,
15:03it doesn't look like that on the show.
15:06When I arrived at the Bunny Ranch,
15:10it was this little, like,
15:11almost trailer-looking house.
15:13And I got there
15:14while they were filming Cat House.
15:17It was really eerie.
15:19There was all these young girls there.
15:21And I remember
15:22when they were filming some scene,
15:24it was like,
15:25I remember hearing the loud footsteps
15:26as they were kind of running
15:28through the halls playfully
15:29with the cameras
15:30and trying to make it out
15:31like it was this playful time.
15:33And I had already been a prostitute
15:38for about five years
15:40when I arrived at the Bunny Ranch.
15:42So I knew that these kids
15:43had no idea what it's really like.
15:46They had no clue
15:47what prostitution takes out of you.
15:50Your dignity,
15:52your worth as a human being,
15:53your treatment in society,
15:55it is not.
15:57Like Cat House.
15:58The first time
16:01I met Dennis,
16:03and I was like,
16:04holy s***,
16:04this really is Dennis
16:05from, like,
16:06I seen this man on TV.
16:08And he welcomes
16:09the new group
16:10of the week.
16:12And that's where
16:13he does the rundown
16:14of how, like,
16:15money splitting works
16:17and to follow
16:19the Bunny Bible
16:20and don't be disrespectful.
16:22The house rules
16:23definitely made sense to me.
16:25Yeah, I remember
16:25the Bunny Bible.
16:27I remember
16:27learning all these rules.
16:29They definitely tried
16:30to just legitimize
16:32prostitution in the brothels,
16:33that this is a normal
16:34employee workplace,
16:36like, this is HR.
16:39The Bunny Bible
16:40was all the rules.
16:41There's always a lot of rules.
16:43Condoms are required.
16:45There was no drugs allowed.
16:49You could choose
16:50who you slept with.
16:52Don't do anything sexual
16:53in the parlor.
16:55But the rules
16:57didn't apply to Dennis.
17:01These rules
17:02are from the perspective
17:03of this is to keep you safe.
17:05But it felt like
17:07just a way to control
17:08all the women.
17:09I'm a businessman.
17:10It supplies a place
17:11and an opportunity
17:12for ladies to work.
17:14And we share the proceeds.
17:15The last thing I am
17:17is a pimp.
17:18I remember standing
17:23at my first lineup.
17:24It was so, so weird.
17:26You know, the bell rings
17:28and you know
17:28that a customer has showed up
17:29and everybody has to hurry up
17:31and get there for the lineup
17:32so he can look at each person.
17:36And it was always
17:37like a nerve-wracking experience
17:38because you're standing there
17:40in a lineup of just
17:41the most beautiful woman
17:42on the face of the planet
17:43and I am 4 foot 8 inches
17:46and I have colleagues
17:47that are like 6 foot 2
17:48and I'm like
17:49head level with her boobs.
17:51My first lineup,
17:53of course I was nervous
17:54so I had no idea
17:55like would I even be good at this?
17:56Dennis always said
17:57that sex work
17:58empowered women.
18:00The power's in the negotiation.
18:01You are merchandise.
18:07You negotiate prices
18:08based on
18:09if I knock my price down $50
18:12and he thinks I'm pretty
18:14maybe he'll go with me
18:15instead of her.
18:17The first time
18:19that I ever
18:21did the full service
18:22sex work
18:23I thought
18:24what if this dude
18:25starts off good
18:26but then halfway through
18:27switches up
18:28like what if he attacks?
18:30Men are scary.
18:30I was like
18:31ooh this job
18:32is going to be
18:33a little harder
18:34than I thought.
18:39I learned very quickly
18:40in this line of work
18:42they really don't give a
18:44what you look like
18:45as long as you're
18:46blonde and white.
18:47So that was
18:49very disheartening
18:50and it was very difficult
18:51for me to make money
18:53at first.
18:54What Cat House
18:55doesn't say
18:57is that
18:57it's much easier
18:59to get in
19:00than it is to get out.
19:01It's very very hard
19:02to get out.
19:07Prostitution is not
19:08a common job
19:10like any other.
19:11Having some
19:12hot sweaty dude
19:14hunching over you
19:15and trying to get
19:16whatever rape fantasy
19:17he has in his mind
19:18played out
19:19by choking you
19:20or whatever position
19:22that his wife won't do.
19:23this is access
19:25to your body
19:26to your soul.
19:28There's no work
19:30that takes out of you
19:31what prostitution
19:33takes out of you.
19:41Look
19:41Dennis' world
19:44was buying
19:45and selling
19:46people.
19:47Dennis traded
19:50human bodies
19:51just like he would
19:52have a used car.
19:53You are a product
19:54that is to be
19:55bought and used
19:56and then discarded
19:58and women
19:59are just commodities.
20:01People are working
20:02developing new product
20:03for me right now
20:04in the backseat
20:05of a car somewhere.
20:0618 years from now
20:07they'll be coming
20:07to work for me.
20:09Dennis Hoff
20:10took whatever
20:11rules he used
20:13in his timeshare practice
20:14to prostitution
20:16in Cat House.
20:17You see every single
20:18one of these rules
20:19in practice.
20:20It's the customer's job
20:21to get you
20:22to do this
20:23free
20:24or for very
20:25small money.
20:26It's your job
20:28to take their house
20:29and their car
20:30and their 401k plan.
20:32Now somewhere
20:32in the middle
20:33you got a happy buyer
20:34and a happy seller.
20:37It's really important
20:38to note that
20:39when Dennis
20:40is giving the women
20:41advice on how
20:42to negotiate higher rates
20:43that it also
20:44is self-serving
20:44because the brothel
20:46has a 50-50 split
20:47meaning that the house
20:48gets 50%
20:49and the women
20:50get 50%.
20:51But the women
20:52don't even take home
20:5250% because they
20:54also have to pay
20:54for supplies.
20:57Dennis does the rundown
20:59of how we split it.
21:00He was doing
21:00the 50-50
21:01and I was like
21:02okay that's fine
21:03and then he said
21:04oh well
21:04that includes tips
21:06and I'm like
21:07that's horse
21:08and then he's like
21:09that includes gifts.
21:11So he's had a girl
21:13split a car
21:15that one of her clients
21:16gave her
21:16made her like
21:18pay out the other
21:19half of the car
21:19and I'm over here
21:22like why did you
21:23tell him?
21:24Why did you tell him?
21:27They booked
21:28a thousand dollars
21:29maybe
21:29on a good day.
21:31When they got paid out
21:32the brothel
21:33took their 500
21:34now from the girls
21:36500
21:36they're given a card
21:37that shows all the money
21:38that was deducted.
21:39They don't explain
21:40that your room
21:41and board
21:41is going to be
21:42coming out
21:42of your 50%
21:44of the money.
21:46$45 a day
21:47seven days a week.
21:50So is all your supplies.
21:53We had to buy
21:54our clothing
21:55we had to buy
21:55the condoms.
21:58Get our hair
21:59and our makeup done.
22:00We had to buy
22:01the lube
22:01we had to buy
22:02the sex toys.
22:05Buy the photographer.
22:06$80 for the sheriff card.
22:10You have to pay
22:11if you want
22:11to do your laundry.
22:12You need to tip
22:13the housekeeper.
22:14You need to tip
22:15the staff.
22:16The cashier
22:17expects a tip.
22:19Everybody's got
22:20their hands
22:21in that money.
22:22They take
22:23as much money
22:24as possible.
22:25Your little 50%
22:26just basically
22:27dwindles down.
22:31And that was
22:31the norm.
22:32And you would sit
22:33there at the cashier
22:34when the money
22:34came in
22:35and you would hear
22:36over and over again.
22:38Is that all I've got?
22:39You could go days
22:41without having
22:42a client.
22:44But the tab grew
22:46and it grew
22:47and it grew
22:48and you become
22:49constantly trying
22:51to pay off your tab.
22:53That's why
22:53it was called
22:54debt bondage.
22:58There are
22:59many girls there
23:00that are falling
23:01in debt
23:01and that's a position
23:03you don't ever
23:04want to be in.
23:05at the brothel.
23:07That means that
23:09whenever a customer
23:10finally does pick them
23:11they have to do
23:12whatever he wants
23:13no matter
23:13if they want to
23:14or not.
23:18The brothel
23:19is designed
23:20to make money
23:21for the pimp
23:22for the house.
23:24It's not at all
23:25in favor
23:26of the women
23:27that work there
23:28and the brothel
23:30owner always wins.
23:32I saw women
23:34come in
23:34to the brothel
23:35and they had
23:36a certain set
23:36of boundaries.
23:37For instance
23:37they didn't do
23:39certain types
23:40of sex acts
23:41but as they became
23:42more and more desperate
23:43and they needed money
23:44their personal
23:45boundaries changed.
23:47Suddenly they were
23:48doing things
23:49that they didn't
23:50feel right about.
23:51They lost themselves.
23:54When you're desperate
23:57you don't have a choice.
23:59You're going to do
23:59what you can
24:00to survive.
24:03And that's not
24:04empowerment
24:05at all.
24:05I learned very quickly
24:12that it wasn't
24:13like the show
24:14that a lot of the men
24:16that would come through
24:16there were very racist
24:18and I was like
24:20oh no I should totally
24:21be making more money
24:22but I know why I'm not.
24:23It made me angry
24:24and then I just started
24:26talking to the men
24:27and they'd be like
24:28alright sold.
24:29It was weird.
24:30I had to be mean
24:31to get bookings.
24:32The meaner I was
24:34to them
24:34the more they booked
24:36because it's like
24:37they wanted to see
24:38a brown girl
24:40get riled up
24:41or something.
24:42It just sucked again
24:43that I had to work
24:44harder than I should have
24:46and then meanwhile
24:47you could see
24:47the white women
24:48walk out with
24:49just their PJs
24:50and get picked.
24:51The reality
24:52isn't the same
24:53as this show.
24:55HBO
24:56is that worth it?
24:57HBO
24:58you've hit a new low.
24:59Cat House
25:00has got to go.
25:01So when Cat House
25:03first was being
25:04aired
25:05we decided
25:06to protest HBO.
25:08HBO
25:09the network's best!
25:10The protest
25:11was in front
25:12of HBO headquarters
25:13in Manhattan.
25:15It is absolutely
25:16critical
25:17that HBO
25:18take a very
25:19close look
25:20at the types
25:20of programs
25:21they put on the air
25:23that actually
25:24degrades
25:24and objectifies
25:25women and girls.
25:27I just remember
25:28people walking by
25:29they didn't quite
25:30understand
25:31why we were
25:32protesting
25:33or what
25:33the problem
25:36was with Cat House
25:38like what are they
25:38talking about.
25:39So it was the only way
25:41to raise awareness
25:42about abuse
25:44and what the impact
25:45of mainstreaming
25:46violence does
25:47to human beings
25:49especially women
25:50and girls.
25:50The show was
25:51mainly produced
25:53by women
25:53that is
25:54Sheila Nevins
25:55was at the top
25:55and everybody
25:57under Sheila
25:58on the HBO side
25:59were all women
26:00and Patty Kaplan
26:02who was the
26:03director producer
26:05of the show.
26:06The New York Post
26:07gave you a bad review
26:08they said
26:08this is a bad
26:09infomercial
26:10for hookers
26:10they say
26:11it's not journalistic
26:12it's trite
26:12it's phony
26:13maybe even more damning
26:14they say
26:15it's boring.
26:16Were you trying
26:16to do sort of
26:17a journalistic look?
26:18So, so not boring.
26:20Right there
26:21we see a business
26:22transaction
26:22I mean the guy
26:23looks like he's
26:23ordering off the menu
26:24at McDonald's.
26:24It's something
26:25nobody's seen
26:26nobody's seen
26:27and only HBO
26:28can do this
26:28kind of a program.
26:29Why is Sheila Nevins
26:31of HBO
26:32leading this culture
26:35in her
26:36network?
26:38Can someone
26:39please call
26:40Sheila Nevins
26:41down here now?
26:43Sheila!
26:44Can you hear me
26:45Sheila?
26:46Can you come down
26:47here?
26:47There's a few people
26:48that want to talk
26:49to you.
26:50We want to know
26:51why you think
26:53this is the way
26:54to build a successful
26:55network.
26:56The people
26:57who make money
26:59from the sex trade
27:00they are
27:00unbelievable marketers.
27:02They wanted
27:03prostitution to be
27:04mainstreamed
27:05they wanted to be
27:06normalized
27:06and
27:07Mr. Pimp
27:09Dennis Hoff
27:10the ultimate
27:11marketer
27:11tried to do that.
27:14Hello
27:14thank you for
27:15having me here
27:16at the world's
27:17oldest university
27:18to discuss
27:19the world's
27:19oldest profession
27:20prostitution.
27:22It's the oldest
27:23profession
27:24that's a slogan
27:25it means nothing
27:26it's the oldest
27:27form of oppression.
27:28You know
27:29what the exploitation
27:29is?
27:30The exploitation
27:30is on us men
27:32who don't get
27:33enough variety
27:34quality
27:35or type
27:36of sex
27:36that we want.
27:39That's
27:40exploitation.
27:47I was a high school
27:48dropout
27:49and I mean
27:49I was homeless
27:50and so I was
27:51forced into
27:52prostitution
27:53at 17 years old.
27:54My pimp
27:55had forced me
27:56to get a fake
27:56identification
27:57that showed me
27:58as older.
28:00The reason
28:00I went to
28:01the bunny ranch
28:02was because
28:02I had another
28:03pimp.
28:04I was forced
28:05to go work
28:06at the bunny ranch
28:06because my pimp
28:07would send us there.
28:08We were getting
28:09arrested too much
28:09in Las Vegas
28:10and our face
28:11was getting too
28:11known by the vice.
28:13I was being
28:13pimped out
28:14by one man
28:15to be pimped out
28:16by another man
28:17Dennis Hoff.
28:19I had first
28:20hand knowledge
28:21of Dennis and
28:21Suzette working
28:22with pimps
28:23who supplied
28:24them with women.
28:25If a pimp
28:26has a reputation
28:27of having very
28:27well-trained
28:28women who
28:29aren't a problem
28:30they're probably
28:31the best working
28:32girls are some
28:32of the ones
28:33with pimps.
28:34They're terrified,
28:35they're controlled,
28:36they've been trained,
28:37they've been
28:37indoctrinated.
28:39That's a lot less
28:40work for the brothel.
28:42Suzette and Dennis
28:43both knew
28:44all the girls
28:45that were being
28:45trafficked
28:46that had pimps
28:47outside of the
28:48brothel.
28:49Do you know
28:49the girls
28:49that are getting
28:50beaten?
28:51I mean the branding
28:52that we would have,
28:54you know,
28:54we would have
28:54the same
28:55matching tattoos.
28:56It was my pimp.
28:58His initials,
28:59that's where
28:59all of our brands
29:00were,
29:01was on the back
29:01of our neck.
29:02So I wound up
29:03covering that
29:03with a big tree.
29:05They didn't care
29:06about my situation
29:07at all.
29:08All they cared
29:08about was,
29:09was I performing?
29:10I never felt like
29:12there was somebody
29:13that I could have
29:14said anything to.
29:15It just felt like
29:16no one cared.
29:17management did not care
29:19if you were being
29:21called some type
29:22of slurp,
29:23but if one of the
29:26black or brown girls
29:27said anything to hurt
29:29one of the little
29:30white girls' feelings,
29:31like we were seen
29:32as the aggressor
29:33and we would
29:34immediately get us
29:35talking to
29:36in the office.
29:38That's where,
29:39I was like,
29:39man,
29:40this is brutal
29:41out here.
29:41Our system
29:43is flawless.
29:45We just don't
29:46have any problems
29:46and that's why
29:47we don't have
29:48any underage girls
29:49in here.
29:50The brothels
29:50try to say like,
29:51oh, well,
29:52there's no trafficking
29:53that takes place
29:53in brothels.
29:54That is simply
29:55not true.
29:57When I had to go
29:58to the local
29:59sheriff's office
30:00to get your local
30:01sheriff's card
30:02to work at
30:02the Bunny Ranch,
30:03I had my fake
30:04social security number,
30:05my fake address,
30:07my fake birthday,
30:08my fake name,
30:08and here I was
30:09in this state
30:10licensing agency
30:11getting a work card
30:12to go work
30:13for this legal pimp.
30:15The whole system
30:16just encouraged itself.
30:20I was constantly
30:21checking in
30:22with my pimp
30:22over the phone
30:23via text message,
30:25letting him know
30:26kind of how much
30:26money I had,
30:27and he would tell me
30:29if I needed to go
30:30put X amount of money
30:31in the bank.
30:33It felt like
30:34I was kind of free
30:34for a moment.
30:41I almost felt like
30:42I was back to being
30:43normal in a way,
30:44that I was able
30:45to drive my own car
30:46and go and do something.
30:50But then
30:51I had to go right back.
30:53I had to turn around
30:54and go right back in
30:56through the gates.
30:58And that is the moment
30:59I realized that
31:00while I was at
31:01the Bunny Ranch,
31:02I gave Dennis Hoff
31:0350% of the money,
31:04and I gave my other pimp
31:0650% of the money.
31:07I was literally
31:09having sex
31:10with strangers
31:11for nothing.
31:19Dennis was notorious
31:20for just partying,
31:22which meant
31:23have sex
31:23with whoever he wanted
31:24and not giving them
31:25any money.
31:27My pimp told me
31:28that if he ever
31:29tried to party with me
31:31to just stay
31:31as far away from him
31:33as I could,
31:34because of course
31:34he wasn't going to let me
31:36free-f*** someone
31:37so I knew
31:39anytime Dennis was
31:40around in the parlor
31:41or wherever,
31:42I would try to kind of
31:43stay away from him.
31:45I'm sure Dennis
31:45is very capable
31:47of assault
31:47because he is a man
31:49who is rarely told no.
31:51He definitely
31:52is a predator.
31:54He just knew
31:55who he could
31:57coerce
31:58and who he can
31:59manipulate.
32:01He could be
32:01a real piece of s***.
32:03Did he ever proposition
32:03you for sex?
32:05Oh yeah, absolutely.
32:06The last one
32:08was at his birthday party.
32:10He expected me
32:10to have like a threesome
32:11with him
32:12and this other girl.
32:13I went to go say
32:14happy birthday
32:14and he's like,
32:15hey, would you be down
32:16for a threesome?
32:17And I was like,
32:18am I getting paid?
32:19And he's like,
32:20no, it's my birthday.
32:21And I was like,
32:22eh, like no.
32:24Dennis was intimidating.
32:26You can never
32:27trust these dudes,
32:28but I've never
32:29been a fool.
32:30I'm like, money first.
32:31Money first.
32:32I saw the absolute worst
32:35of humanity
32:36as a prostitute.
32:37My pimp taught us
32:39how to protect ourselves
32:40because violence
32:41is so common.
32:43If you don't perform,
32:44if you don't do
32:45exactly what they want,
32:46they fly into a rage.
32:49They become violent.
32:51Around the time
32:52that I was there,
32:53Vince Neal
32:54from Motley Crue
32:54came to visit Dennis
32:56at the brothel.
32:57I would appreciate
32:58if you could read
32:59this police report
33:00filed by an Andrea Terry
33:03about what happened
33:04to her.
33:05He tried to get me
33:06to touch his penis.
33:08I reminded him
33:09that we had to pay
33:10before any sexual acts
33:11could take place.
33:13With such a rage
33:14in his eyes,
33:15he grabbed me
33:16by the throat
33:17and pushed me
33:18against the window frame,
33:19holding me there,
33:20yelling at me,
33:21then yanked me down
33:23towards the bed.
33:23He was more angry
33:25than I've ever
33:26seen someone.
33:27What offends me
33:33the most
33:33about this story
33:34is that
33:35instead of Dennis
33:36kicking Vince Neal out
33:37for assaulting
33:38one of his employees,
33:41he took him to the bar,
33:42bought him another drink,
33:44and then paid for him
33:45to party
33:45with some other girl.
33:47I mean,
33:48they don't protect you.
33:52In the end,
33:53the police actually
33:54charged Vince Neal
33:55and he pleaded
33:56no contest,
33:57but if the Bunny Ranch
33:59and Dennis Hoff
34:00had their way,
34:02no one would have
34:02ever known.
34:03I hadn't booked
34:08in like two weeks,
34:10two, three weeks,
34:11and you still have
34:12to pay room and board,
34:13even if you're not booking.
34:15That was just adding up,
34:17and I was like,
34:18I know this is not my fault
34:19because my regulars
34:21are still coming,
34:22but no new bookings,
34:24no, what?
34:24Like, something's happening.
34:27So I noticed emails,
34:31a bunch of emails,
34:33client emails in my inbox.
34:34I was like,
34:35oh, great.
34:36I go to refresh,
34:38they're gone.
34:39They're gone.
34:40I caught my emails
34:43being rerouted,
34:44but now I was like,
34:46I'm going to be a target.
34:48The big difference
34:49I did see between Cat House
34:51and the reality of it
34:52is that the women
34:54don't have your back
34:55all the time.
34:56It isn't this big sorority.
35:00It's very manipulative,
35:03conniving,
35:04and we had to fight harder.
35:07I mean, the women of color
35:08had to fight harder
35:09when somebody was messing
35:11with our money.
35:15Every time I needed
35:16to go into town,
35:18I had to talk to Suzette
35:19and have to ask permission
35:21to be able to leave
35:22my workplace.
35:23Like, I didn't have control
35:24over my own movement.
35:26And I remember
35:27having to argue with Suzette
35:29for just being able
35:30to leave the premises.
35:36The Bunny Ranch,
35:37it's a fortress.
35:39You cannot go in
35:41without being buzzed in.
35:42You cannot leave
35:43without being buzzed out.
35:45You have multiple gates.
35:47There's security cameras.
35:49I saw numerous times
35:51that girls would be
35:52on the phone
35:53trying to borrow
35:54from other girls,
35:55trying to get money
35:56for a ticket out of there.
35:58Sometimes they didn't even
35:59have cash to pay a driver
36:00to take them to the airport.
36:02If you do owe money
36:03to the brothel,
36:05you can't just walk away.
36:06You can't just say,
36:07you know what,
36:08I'm going to call a cab
36:08and I'm going to leave.
36:10Like, that's not possible.
36:11People try to say
36:14it's a regular job.
36:16Who doesn't leave their job?
36:25You're literally there
36:2624-7.
36:28That's not normal.
36:30It's like they're being
36:31kept in captivity.
36:32This is an opportunity
36:41for you either
36:42to make a lot of money
36:43in four or five years,
36:45invest it properly,
36:47and never have to work
36:48another day in your life,
36:49or to make a good amount
36:51of money
36:51in a short period of time
36:52every month
36:53so you can be with your kids,
36:55you can work on your writing
36:56or acting career,
36:57or your studies.
36:59I get a lot of girls
36:59that are paying off
37:00their school loans.
37:01It's a myth
37:02that there'd be
37:03a lot of millionaires
37:06of women in prostitution.
37:08The minute they leave prostitution,
37:11they are in abject poverty,
37:13and it's very, very difficult
37:14for them to rebuild
37:15their lives
37:16without extensive
37:17medical, psychological,
37:20psychiatric assistance.
37:23It started getting
37:25a little rougher
37:25and very unfair
37:27and having quite a few debacles
37:30with, like, racist girls
37:32in the house
37:34and racist clients.
37:36It was no longer safe.
37:46The women who had no family,
37:48who had no one to help them,
37:50they got stuck there.
37:51The women who could get out
37:53of the brothel
37:54got out of the brothel
37:55with their own money
37:56or have family get them out
37:57or a pimp would pull them out.
38:00My pimp finally let me
38:02come back to Vegas
38:03when he felt like
38:05he had punished me enough,
38:07when he had taught me a lesson
38:08that I better be smarter
38:10out there in the streets
38:11and stop getting arrested.
38:13I felt relieved.
38:15Even though I was going
38:16to stay in prostitution,
38:18I didn't want to be
38:18at the brothel anymore.
38:20And I remember
38:22packing my stuff up
38:23and getting in my little car
38:25and I put the bunny ranch
38:27in my rearview mirror.
38:29My pimp,
38:30as horrible as he was,
38:31at least let me leave
38:32that prison.
38:36I wasn't able to get away
38:38from my pimp
38:38until the federal authorities
38:40finally became involved.
38:42He was racking up
38:42credit card debt
38:43and my name said about
38:44$50,000 of credit card debt.
38:46I had a $600,000 home
38:47and my name
38:48that got foreclosed.
38:49I had two $80,000 cars
38:50that got repossessed.
38:52They arrested me
38:53and they thought
38:53maybe I would snitch,
38:55but because I was too afraid
38:56to testify against him,
38:58I wound up taking a charge
38:59and serving 13 months
39:02in federal prison
39:03for conspiracy
39:04to commit tax evasion.
39:07I served my 13 months
39:08in prison
39:08and so I moved back
39:10to Texas
39:11January 7th of 2012
39:12and started my life over.
39:15So I wound up
39:15going back to school.
39:16Lo and behold,
39:17I'm actually pretty smart.
39:18I wound up getting
39:19my master's degree
39:20in criminology
39:21and criminal justice.
39:22In 2013,
39:24I launched
39:24Becca Speaks Out.
39:26I train law enforcement officers,
39:28social workers,
39:29nurses across the country
39:30on human trafficking education.
39:33My name's Becca Charleston.
39:34I spent some time
39:35working at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch
39:37for Dennis Hoff
39:38and they like to claim
39:39that that prevents trafficking
39:40from happening,
39:41but it doesn't.
39:43And then one day,
39:44I remember I was out
39:45at dinner at a work event
39:47and CBS called me
39:48on my phone.
39:49It hasn't really
39:50sunk in yet.
39:51Becca Charleston says
39:52receiving a full pardon
39:53from President Donald Trump
39:55is a gift.
39:56And so to finally
39:57have it happen
39:58the day before Christmas Eve
40:00is just surreal.
40:01And now,
40:02I have a shiny piece of paper
40:04that the president signed
40:05that says he forgives me
40:06for being a victim
40:07of human trafficking.
40:08Honestly,
40:09it takes so much strength
40:11to be vulnerable enough
40:13to begin the healing process.
40:16It's a really hard shift
40:17that a lot of people
40:18are never able to make.
40:20You know,
40:21Dennis Hoff,
40:22he has definitely
40:23gained financial power
40:27and control
40:28off of, like,
40:30women's autonomy
40:30and our labor,
40:33our,
40:34let's be,
40:35our talents
40:36to maintain,
40:37like,
40:39clients.
40:40You need to have personality
40:41and there's a reason
40:43why there's returning clients.
40:45He thinks that
40:46it's all because of him.
40:47I finally
40:54started
40:56to detach
40:58from the brothels
41:00because they were
41:01messing with my money.
41:03And that's when
41:03I started, like,
41:05packing up
41:06and,
41:07you know,
41:08I left.
41:10If I could talk
41:11to my 11-year-old,
41:13me,
41:13watching Cat House,
41:15oh, man.
41:17Sorry if I get emotional
41:18on this.
41:20What I would say
41:21to that little girl
41:22is don't let
41:23any of
41:25the things
41:26thrown your way
41:27break you.
41:28Don't diminish yourself
41:29to make others comfortable.
41:31Be comfortable
41:33being
41:33you.
41:45I was a working girl
41:46for Dennis Hoff.
41:47I just thought,
41:48oh, God,
41:48it's going to be
41:49so much fun.
41:50He said,
41:50you get to pick
41:51and choose
41:52who you have sex with.
41:54I don't make anybody
41:55do anything, ever.
41:56I know that there are
41:57allegations of rape
41:59and violence.
41:59The job of the documentary
42:01was not to do
42:03an investigation
42:04into the Bunny Ranch.
42:06The job was to create
42:08a good time series.
42:09We're at the Bunny Ranch.
42:10We're having fun.
42:11I just thought,
42:12oh, God,
42:12it's going to be so much fun.
42:13And I thought it was safe,
42:15but it wasn't safe.
42:17He was a very sick man.
42:19He hurt a lot of people.
42:20I'm a straight guy.
42:21I pay my taxes.
42:22I do the right things.
42:23He's a monster.
42:25I was molested
42:25and beaten
42:26and raped
42:27on a regular basis.
42:29Girls come in,
42:30shut the door,
42:30put a blanket over you
42:31and beat the shit out of you.
42:33The Bunny Ranch
42:33is kind of like
42:34Walmart or church.
42:35You don't have to go
42:35unless you want to.
42:36If you make Dennis unhappy,
42:38he's going to hurt you.
42:39This feels like
42:40organized crime.
42:41He was sort of a
42:42degenerate Tony Soprano.
42:44He thought he could do
42:46whenever he wanted.
42:47He had gotten so big
42:49that he couldn't be
42:51contained anymore.
42:52Yeah, thanks for bringing him.
42:54You
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