The madam, her girls and a city in fear

As the woman who ran a Washington call-girl ring fights prosecution, her lethal weapon is the names of 10,000 clients, reports Paul Harris

Deborah Jeane Palfrey first knew something was wrong on a trip to Germany. She suddenly found her bank card was not working any more. Then, back in her hotel room, a journalist from a gossip website called her.

He had been leaked a court document detailing Palfrey's alleged sex empire in Washington DC, serving the rich and powerful with a ring of beautiful, university-educated call girls. Her assets had been seized by the government. As Palfrey struggled to understand what was happening, the journalist wanted to know if she was ashamed of herself.

The 'DC Madam' scandal had just been born. It is a story that has gripped Washington's usually staid political classes. Palfrey stands accused of running a prostitution ring for more than 13 years. It is a charge she denies, maintaining her girls dealt out only massages and erotic role-play. She made them all sign agreements not to engage in illegal behaviour. Palfrey has vowed to identify the men who used her services to prove her story, and she has years of phone records to help her. All across the Washington area there are now thousands of nervous, powerful - often married - men.

But the DC Madam story is much more than a titillating guessing game. The scale of her operation exposed a dark underside of Washington life. Often decried as a dull government town, it has shown how sex and prostitution are key to how Washington works. From Nasa to the Pentagon to the State Department, officials of all levels were using Palfrey's girls. The saga has also revealed a deep hypocrisy, showing how powerful men talk publicly of their 'family values' and then have escorts visit them in hotel rooms. As Rob Capriccioso, editor of Big Head DC, a Washington news and gossip website, says: 'Tawdry sex is everywhere in Washington.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2078409,00.html

Unless the Observer can match "family values" quotes to the numbers on that long list. But, let me guess, they haven't any names either.

So. So far as we know, the family values guys were at home with their wives. Except for the panicky fool who resigned. (Have Gonzales and Wolfowitz taught him nothing?

From here: http://www.deborahjeanepalfrey.com/


Here's a link to the pdf of the records: http://www.deborahjeanepalfrey.com/download/August1996.pdf

:kick:

The theory is they use this to blackmail important people like legislators and other prominent leaders to go their way in voting controlling the military etc etc.
It is the repugPEDOPHILElican way