This post is a continuation of my post of 9/29/14 (Prostitution / Everyone Has an Opinion /
Everyone is Wrong).
Margo St. James was the principal organizer of COYOTE (Call
Off Your Old Tired Ethics); which was considered to be, in late 70s San
Francisco, to be the prostitutes’ union (association).
I was an FBI Special Agent assigned to the Organized Crime
Squad in San Francisco. The Bureau, at
the time, expected all Agents to cultivate ‘sources’ that potentially could
have information of value to the FBI. It
was actually more than an expectation.
Part of an Agent’s performance evaluation was based on his ability to
establish mission-related sources-of-information in the local community or the
state. Margo was something of a Bay Area
celebrity with potentially all kinds of contacts, some with possible criminal
connections. I decided that I would
attempt to meet her.
I read everything I could find on Margo St. James relating
to her background, her current activities, and her expressed opinions. Having committed much of that information to
memory, I approached her at the offices of COYOTE. I showed her my credentials and introduced
myself. I had brought with me photos of
missing women and girls – a pretext of sorts.
San Francisco, in those days, was a magnet for girls and young
women. Pimps often roamed the bus
terminals looking for runaways and naïve young women seeking the hippy
lifestyle. And, as might be expected,
many young women simply disappeared; and more than a few ended-up as Jane Does
in the local morgues. When I first
contacted Margo, she seemed receptive to talking – apparently curious as to
what I was doing there. From that
initial contact, a somewhat friendly relationship gradually evolved.
As was customary (required in the Bureau), I formally opened
a file on Margo as a potential source.
This allowed me some protection against compromise, as well as allowed
me to buy her lunch on a few occasions – at Bureau expense. It should be understood that I never paid
Margo as an informant, nor would she have expected that.
Our meetings, unbeknownst to Margo, were monitored. For example, another Agent was always in
close proximity when I took Margo to lunch.
When I visited her, the other Agent waited discreetly outside,
monitoring my demeanor when I entered her offices, how long I was in there, and
my demeanor when I came out. Margo would
not have been above compromising an FBI Agent – and everything was done to
prevent that possibility. She once asked
me if I wanted to meet ‘a woman.’ “Just
describe her,” she said. “And I’ll have
her here in thirty minutes.” Was she
serious? She appeared to be. Although, I think her comment was meant more
as a test than an actual offer. If I had
showed the slightest interest in meeting a ‘working girl,’ she probably would
have quickly written me off as just one more sleazy cop on the ‘make.’ In her extensive career, I’m sure that she
had met a few. However, I made it clear that
she was the one I wanted to talk to; and she ultimately accepted that
arrangement. In retrospect, I think that
she welcomed, for what it’s worth, the possibility of having a perceived contact (a
source) in the Bureau.
What was Margo St. James like? It’s hard to describe. She was intelligent, articulate, interesting,
bizarre, outlandish, outspoken, profane and obscene. Everything I expected her to be, and then
some. No longer, at that point, a
practicing prostitute (to my knowledge), she described her early years, often
plying her trade dressed as a Catholic nun.
Apparently, according to her, this had a particular appeal to many
Catholic men.
Unfortunately, our relationship ended when, under The Freedom of Information Act, she
requested any information the Bureau might possess on her. Ridiculous as this might sound, the
Bureau told her that she was currently a ‘source’ of Special Agent Nelson. Upon learning this information, she called me
and chewed-me-out, telling me in no uncertain terms that she wanted no further
contacts with me. That ended our
relationship.
About a year after that, I resigned from the Bureau to
pursue other endeavors.
I have sometimes wondered if I owed Margo an apology. The status, as a ‘Bureau source,’ to which
she strongly stated her objection, must have smarted just a bit. It was, nonetheless, the only way I could justify
my association with her; and, furthermore, allow me to discuss with her the many
subjects that often had more to do with the protection of prostitutes and young
women from criminality, rather than the criminality of prostitution. Prostitution can be a dangerous, dirty
business, a magnet for crime and criminals; and it is especially dangerous for
young women or girls unfamiliar with all the aspects of the prostitution
business. In some respects, Margo and I
had similar goals. Anyway, in her own
way, she was quite the educator.
Regarding FBI ‘sources’ or ‘informants,’ many might have a
misconception as to how that works. The
FBI’s philosophy, at the time, was to have their Agents get out of the office,
get into the local community and cultivate contacts. Some might believe that the FBI only
developed relationships with members of organizations like the Mafia or the Hell’s Angels. This is, of course, sometimes possible and desirable,
but very rare. In attempting to gain
information about Mafia members’ activities or movements, an Agent might want
to build a relationship with someone close to a Mafia member, such as someone in
his family or someone who works in a restaurant he owns where money laundering
was suspected. With the Hell’s Angels,
who in the 70s were considered to be involved in several variations of
organized crime, someone who worked on their motorcycles might be a good
source. How so? Well, a motorcycle mechanic could furnish you
names, information on leadership, banking information, club member
personalities, etc.
As far as someone like Margo is concerned, it was a given
that participants in criminal activities also frequented prostitutes. For the Mafia, it was one of their passions.
Anyway, during the period that I knew her, she never gave me
any information that directly related to my cases, or organized crime with any
specificity. I came to doubt she knew
much about that sort of thing. We did,
occasionally, discuss lost or missing girls.
We discussed the prostitution business, and the reasons some women and
some men enter that business. When talking
about adults, who are not coerced in some manner to enter prostitution, Margo’s
description of the business was fairly straightforward and matter-of-fact. Some women like the trade, but most are there
for the money. She did, nonetheless,
acknowledge the many dangers involved.
To be continued…
True Nelson
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