Whether in the movies or real life,
nobody does business with a pimp who
drives a boring car. No sir, a pimp
should always drive a stylin' set of
wheels.
An expensive, ostentatious car lets
everyone know that although prostitution
is a seedy industry, there's always room
for some class. Shiny chrome, powerful
engine, some colored fur in there
somewhere will raise it all above the
riff-raff. Think about it. What kind of
sex could possibly be procured from a
pimp who drives a Geo?
But sometimes the gilded image can work
against a pimp. When
Montreal police sentenced Pierre Gagnon
for running a prostitution ring last
week, for instance, they hit him where
it hurt the most. The $27,500 fine paled
in comparison, as the Canadian
government seized Gagnon's home, his two
Jaguars and a 28-foot Bayliner
boat.
Gagnon was first arrested in 1998 for
running his Sexxx Enr escort service,
using classified ads in the Journal de
Montreal newspaper. According to police,
clients paid about $140 for the
home-delivery service. A driver received
$20, the prostitute got $70 and Gagnon
pocketed the rest. Cost of doing
business wasn't cheap. The classified
ads ran into the hundreds of thousands
of dollars. He was such a big client of
the newspaper that the publisher even
invited him to a golf tournament.
"His revenue was pretty impressive," the
prosecuting attorney told the court.
Although his squadron of hookers and
drivers brought in an
estimated million in cash annually,
Gagnon declared bankruptcy 10 years ago,
and has insisted he has had no income
since then. All paperwork for his home
and cars was placed in the names of
friends, because if you're flat broke
and need to hide ownership of your
Jaguar XJ6, that's what a friend is for,
isn't it?
Gagnon's attorney assured the judge that
his client has moved into another
occupation, presumably one that will
allow a man to commute to and from work
using public transportation. Gagnon is
truly his own start-up company now,
because the Canadian government
confiscated nearly everything he owned,
adding up to several hundred thousand
dollars. Every item in his house was
seized, says the Montreal Gazette.
But Gagnon won't have to rebuild his
life completely. In a rare moment of
compassion, prosecutors allowed Gagnon
to keep a handful of things, including
two chandeliers and a window shade.
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