NEW YORK, April 24 (UPI) -- A father and son have been charged with running a sex ring in which they allegedly employed cab drivers to take prostitutes to New York hotels and apartments.
Prosecutors say Vincent George Sr., 55, of the Queens borough in New York allegedly taught his son Vincent George Jr., 33, of Allentown, Pa., how to work as a pimp, the New York Daily News reported.
Both were being held without bail on charges of sex trafficking, money laundering and prostitution.
Prosecutors said the ring took in millions of dollars a year but the prostitutes got to keep only enough money for food and essentials.
The prostitutes, officials said, had quotas and were threatened with violence if they were late turning over cash or did not make enough, the New York Post reported.
Some of the women were branded with degrading tattoos, including the nicknames of the two pimps and, in one case, a bar code on a woman's neck, prosecutors said.
The father and son allegedly handed out business cards to men on streets and in hotels, bars and the back of cabs.
The Georges established a phony business, Grip Entertainment, to launder money and sent some of the money they made to offshore accounts, prosecutors said.
The six livery cab drivers pleaded not guilty to promoting prostitution.
