The heat is on in West Midtown, New York City.  Read more at NJ.com…

West New York police to pimps and prostitutes: No more sex!
By Karina Arrue

Coy S. Gordon expected it to be a normal night of work — a transsexual sex romp with a “john” for anywhere from $100 to $180. But like his clients, Gordon got more than he bargained for one night last week.

Gordon, 42, was arrested by a West New York undercover cop.

If the 6-foot-2 Gordon — who was wearing a yellow splash negligee and 5-inch heels when she was arrested — had been reading The Jersey Journal lately, it wouldn’t have come as a big surprise.

Gordon is the latest in a string of arrests by West New York police, who received an anonymous complaint about her a few weeks ago, officials said.

The tip was corroborated by an advertisement at backpage.com in which Gordon, who goes by the name “Tasty and Silky the New Milk Ms. Society,” offered “transsexual escort” services for a steep price — $100 for 15 minutes, $140 for 30 minutes and $180 for an hour, police said.

Since Dec. 31, 25 people have been arrested in West New York as a result of eight sting operations. Of the eight busts, Gordon is the first that used the Internet to spur business. West New York police say the seven other times they received a tip about people handing out business cards in the street.

The arrests stem from “community outcry,” says Police Director Albert Bringa, who took the helm of the department Dec. 2.

Read more in the pages of The New York Post…

Naughty hottie beats lap rap
By LAURA ITALIANO

One lap dancer over the fence!

A Manhattan judge has dismissed the charges against one of two strippers embroiled in a salacious and wacky Manhattan prostitution trial, saying the DA failed to prove she sold anything more than a couple of jiggles and a dream.

That left her co-defendant and lesbian floor-show partner — buxom porn star Alexia Moore — alone to insist from the witness stand yesterday that the pair never, ever, offered a “threesome” to an undercover cop for $5,000.

All she did was flirt, the blonde testified.

“That’s what an entertainer does,” Moore said, her black tights and crocheted sweater straining to contain her professional assets. “To keep getting dances.”

As for her dance partner, Falynn Rodriguez, all charges were dismissed yesterday after her lawyer argued that when the undercover allegedly invited her to join the threesome, all she did was make an eyebrow-raising reference to a sex act.

Read more at The New York Post…

Dancers lapped it up at strip club: cop
By LAURA ITALIANO

It was just your typical nightclub.

OK, so there was a bed in the middle of the dance floor. And porno movies playing on a big screen — right above the buffet table.

Big Daddy Lou’s Lap Dance Club on W. 38th street was brought to life in vivid police jargon this afternoon, as an undercover vice cop took the stand in a wacky Manhattan prostitution trial where a pair of lesbian sex-act dancers are insisting they’re not that kind of stripper.

“There were also several females dressed in lingerie attire,” Undercover No. 0148 told the judge, describing the June night in 2008 when the two shapely defendants allegedly offered him a $5,000 threesome.

Porn star Alexia Moore and topless dancing partner Falynn Rodriguez say that while they do shake it — in a Thursday night sex show once highly touted on the club Web site — they don’t sell it. They’ve turned down a no-jail prostitution plea and are risking a 90-day jail sentence to clear their names.

Read more at NBC New York…

City Settles Granny Prostitution Arrest for $35K
Married granny had never been charged with a crime in her life
By JENNIFER MILLMAN

Talk about a case of mistaken identity. A Brooklyn grandmother was falsely arrested for prostitution by an officer with a rep for getting sued – and now the city has to pay for his error, according to a published report.

The 41-year-old has been married for more than a decade and never been charged with a crime in her life, according to the Daily News. But one fateful evening, walking to the hospital after suffering an asthma attack in the middle of the night, she was accused of trying to solicit men in Sunset Park and was arrested, the paper reports.

Police officer Sean Spencer, who has already cost the city $80,000 to settle four federal lawsuit against him, told the assistant district attorney that he saw the woman beckon to three men in the park, according to court papers obtained by the News.

He also falsely reported “that he was aware that plaintiff was previously arrested for [prostitution] when the plaintiff had never been arrested for this offense,” the papers said.

The case was set to go to trial, but Gonzalez opted to settle instead for a cool $35,000, according to the News.

Read more at Bloomberg.com…

Craigslist Not Responsible for Sex-For-Hire Ads, Judge Rules
By Andrew M. Harris

Craigslist won dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, that accused the classified ads Web site of creating a public nuisance by providing a forum for prostitution services.

U.S. District Judge John F. Grady in Chicago threw out the lawsuit filed by Sheriff Tom Dart, finding that the site was only a conduit for others to publish the ads and wasn’t legally responsible for their content.

“Sheriff Dart may continue to use Craigslist’s website to identify and pursue individuals who post allegedly unlawful content,” Grady said in a 20-page decision posted on the court’s electronic docket yesterday. “But he cannot sue Craigslist for their conduct.”

Read more at WCAX.com…

Ex-prosecutor sentenced for running NYC brothel

A former prosecutor-turned-defense lawyer won’t go to jail for running a Manhattan brothel but remains behind bars on federal charges of arranging a witness’ slaying in New Jersey.

The man said nothing as he was sentenced Tuesday to time served in the prostitution case: some hours in custody after his January 2007 indictment. He was accused of taking over an escort service after the 2005 arrest of its founder – 1 of his law clients.

The man was set to get probation after pleading guilty in May to misdemeanor conspiracy to promote prostitution. Then he was jailed without bail in the New Jersey case, making probation unworkable.

He has pleaded not guilty to murder, conspiracy and racketeering in New Jersey.

A creative, aggressive lawyer battles for the legality of the legitimacy of tax deductions for pay-for-play fun. Res Ipsa Loquitur. Read more at Forbes…

Tax Lawyer Fights Rulings Barring Deduction For Prostitutes
William Halby insists the U.S. Constitution protects sex-for-pay write-offs.
by William P. Barrett

A 78-year-old retired Brooklyn, N.Y. tax lawyer said Thursday he will continue to challenge state and federal rulings disallowing medical expense tax deductions he claimed for his spending on prostitutes and pornography.

“It’s a holistic approach to medicine,” William G. Halby told Forbes. He said he spent the money–more than $300,000 over five years–to fight depression: “I live alone. I have no regular sexual partner.” A father of three adult children, Halby said he has been separated for eight years but hasn’t filed for divorce because it would affect medical insurance for his spouse.

This week, the U.S. Tax Court disallowed Halby’s federal-tax-return deductions for 2004 and 2005. Last year, the New York State Division of Tax Appeals ruled the same way for his state tax returns from 2001 to 2005.

Besides noting that Halby’s course of treatment did not have a doctor’s blessing, both tribunals said prostitution is illegal in New York State and thus as a matter of public policy couldn’t be the basis for a deduction.

Read more at The Daily Sundial…

CSUN lecture to explore “The Life and Times of Xaviera Hollander” on Friday
By Donnella Collison

Dr. Kristyan Kouri will present a lecture titled “The Life and Times of Xaviera Hollander” about famed sex columnist Xaviera Hollander on Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. at the California State University, Northridge, in Sierra Hall Room 451.

Hollander, who was once a call girl and a famed New York madam in the 1970s, achieved mainstream success with the release of her bestselling book, “The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.” According to Kouri, Hollander then became known as someone who could write about sex positively and who could talk about women’s sexual pleasure.

Kouri’s lecture is part of a series of six colloquium presentations by CSUN faculty organized by Dr. C. Jacob Hale, the director of CSUN’s Center for Sex and Gender Research.

Hale said this series gives “faculty members an opportunity to present their scholarly work in progress in a supportive environment and to make more visible the expertise of CSUN faculty about sex, gender and sexuality.”

Kouri, who holds a doctorate in sociology from USC, describes the presentation as a “social psychological analysis of Hollander’s life.”

“I think that if she had had more opportunities, maybe she could have been a CEO. Her story speaks to the social constraints of society,” Kouri said.

Kouri added, “Prostitution is a Pink Collar occupation (jobs that are held primarily by women e.g. typists, secretaries). She fell into something that paid better (than her job as a secretary for the Dutch Consulate) and women are permitted to go into socially. Women are valued for their sexuality.”

She said that call girls like Hollander were usually poised, well-educated women, who moonlighted in the “high-class” profession.

“I believe that more women did than let on,” Kouri said.

The Love Gov’s high-priced escort, Ashley Dupre, elbows her way back into the news. Read all about it in The New York Post…

Spitzer’s vixen won’t stay down
By Brian Niemietz

Ashley Dupre — the escort who toppled a governor — is sick of hiding.

Eighteen months after the scandal that took down Eliot Spitzer, the 24-year-old wants to become a singer, a mother, an author — anything but that girl.

“Everyone likes an underdog story, and everyone likes a comeback,” she said during an exclusive interview and fashion shoot with The Post. “I’m the poster child for redemption.”

She’s recording pop songs and angling for a record deal, working on a book she calls a “cautionary tale,” and on her reactivated MySpace page, she talks about love, life and wishing “luck” to her former “Client 9.”

“What I meant by ‘I wish him luck’ is that I felt like there was hope in the news that he may be entering politics again,” Dupre said, though she declined to say whether the Luv Gov would get her vote. “If people could forgive him, they could forgive me.”

Sitting in the Midtown hot spot HighBar, Dupre scoffed at the idea she ever sought out fame.

“I didn’t ask for it, but now that I have it, it’s up to me to take advantage of this platform and do something amazing. I have a voice now,” she said.

$1 for a small bottle of water? Are they crazy? Read more at The New York Daily News…

Vice cops raid grimy midtown teen sex brothel; Episodes sign offered $1 water
by  Jeff Wilkins and Alison Gendar

The madam was a senior citizen and the prostitute was just a kid.

Vice cops raided a grimy midtown brothel called Episodes, where a 64-year-old hustler oversaw a stable of women – the youngest just 15 – giving “sex massages,” police sources said.

The W. 38th St. whorehouse was decidedly low-rent – mattresses on the floor of tiny rooms and a sign advertising $1 bottles of water, sources said.

“I know things are tough, but $1 isn’t going to break anyone,” read the sign in the fourth-floor sex pad.

Cloth butterflies and small “Phantom of the Opera” masks were the only decor in stark contrast to the majestic West End building where alleged madam lived.

Cops said the woman had been hustling prostitutes since at least 1997, which was news to her neighbors.

“She was just a normal, polite old woman. She’s always walking her two dogs. She doesn’t dress flashy,” said a stunned West End resident.

When cops raided Episodes on Thursday afternoon, the madam was booking clients, and a 15-year-old hooker was getting ready to turn a trick in one of the back rooms, sources said.